Why You Need to ‘Read for Read’ as Opposed to ‘Follow for Follow’
Did you know that your number of followers, claps and comments have ZERO effect on how much money you earn on Medium?
We all are aware of the 100 follower rule. Monetary gain cannot be achieved until you have reached 100 followers. Thereafter however, followers hold less weight.
A user who has 2,000 followers and no reader engagement, will earn $0. A user who has 200 authentic followers and substantial reader engagement, will earn money.
Allow me to illustrate the above. I am going to present you with two very real scenarios, involving… let’s call them Jack and Jill. You decide which scenario would result in higher earnings!
2 Types of Medium Users: Jack Versus Jill
Scenario 1:
Jack has been a medium member for 5 months. He has 12,000 followers. He is a part of the partner program and is therefore eligible to earn money from his articles.
Jack’s article, ‘5 Ways to Live a Better Life’ received over 6,000 claps and 89 comments. This article consisted of a 4 minute read time.
A number of Jack’s readers were external (not a medium member). Furthermore, many of Jack’s readers skimmed through his article, spending an average time of 22 seconds reading.
Scenario 2:
Jill has been a medium member for 3 years. She has 734 followers, unlike Jack who has 12,000. Like Jack, she is also a part of the partner program.
Jill’s article, ‘How to Be More Productive During a Pandemic’ received just under 4,000 claps and 76 comments. Jill’s article also consisted of a 4 minute read time.
The majority of Jill’s audience were internal readers (Medium members). Additionally, Jill’s readers spent an average time of 3 minutes reading her article.
Who earned more from publishing their Medium article?
Jack or Jill?
If you answered Jill, you are correct!
READING MATTERS
Even though Jill had substantially less followers, and a lower number of claps and comments on her article, it was apparent that Jill had authentic readers.
We know this because the average time her audience read her article, was significantly higher in minutes compared to Jack. Furthermore, she had less external readers, and a higher number of internal readers.
Having your followers READ and ENGAGE with your content, is key in earning money on this platform. I cannot emphasise this enough.
We all know that writing quality content on Medium is challenging. To start off with, gaining an audience on Medium that engages with your content, can be a taxing goal.
Therefore, I think it is silly for any of us to judge Medium users who promote ‘Follow for Follow’ or challenges that could increase an aspiring writer’s exposure.
It is however, important to keep in mind that to earn money on Medium, your number of followers, claps and comments hold less significance.
Only having medium members read (and hopefully enjoy) your articles, is what has a direct correlation with monetary gain.
Hence, this article is a call to all writers!
Let’s all band together and support each other’s goals.
- Comment on this post with your profile link enabling other readers to follow you and read/engage with your content. You might want to add a comment on what your niche is, or what topics you tend to write about. https://medium.com/@IndigoV
- Follow me if you like my articles, and I will follow you back if I like yours! But most importantly, read at least 2 of my stories and I will do the same for you. Follow other accounts on this thread if you are engaged by their content.
- Clap this post! You can clap up to 50 times. As you’ve now learned, the number of claps does not increase earnings, however, it’s still nice to support one another with claps.
Happy reading, following, clapping and commenting!
I have launched a ‘Read for Read’ club if anyone’s interested!
3 Tips To Earn Money On Medium
Medium is a great platform to write and share your stories. If you’re interested in joining Medium, here’s my affiliate link for you to get started!
