One of My Stories Touched a Nerve
The problem is people selling courses offering unrealistic expectations
I wrote a story about angry Medium writers and it seems I touched a few nerves. One person told me I should be ashamed of myself, and another took it to heart, which wasn’t intended at all. I’d never even read her complaint about Medium.
I know some people used to earn a lot more on here and have seen their income fall. I’m sympathetic to how frustrating that must be. We’ve all got to do whatever is right for us, and if we’re not making much, and we’re not enjoying it, there’s no point in continuing.
One reader told me that she’d been lured to the platform by people selling Medium as, “a good place to start an online writing career”.
Honestly, it isn’t. If you want a career as a writer, you need to look at options where the payment is guaranteed, like journalism, marketing, agency work, or content mills. Medium is a gamble and slow game. It takes time to build an audience and while you’re doing that, you need to enjoy it.
She told me that some people who’ve done well on Medium have made a business, “out of bringing more writers into Medium through their affiliate link”. If that’s the referral link that earns us a grand total of $2.07 a month, it’s hardly a solid business model, but apparently, they’re selling services as writing consultants after a year on Medium, which probably earns them a lot more.
She wrote an article about her experience:
“I was misinformed by one of Medium’s biggest names into thinking this could easily be a full-time job.”
I think she’s taken one of the courses that some writers offer here. I’ve heard differing reports about these courses. Some people think they’re great. But this reader feels tricked. I don’t blame her. She told me…
“They convince you to join Medium by showing you their stats and assuring you that if you just give them hundreds of dollars, you too could have the same success.”
I’ve never been tempted to pay for a course. There are plenty of articles offering good advice on how to improve your Medium earnings, which you can read for the $5 membership fee when you join.
I was attracted to the platform by the success of someone who’d started blogging here three months earlier. He’d obviously cracked the audience and was making a lot of money early on. I’d hoped to achieve the same dizzy heights of success, but for some of us, it takes longer. He writes tech and side hustles. I write different stuff. His topics are a better fit for the Medium readership, and that’s OK.
My expectations were always based on realism and the knowledge that it could be a waste of time.
I’m still here today because I want to be. No one’s forcing it. It took me about 6 months of daily publishing to get into the $100 club, and I only achieved that because one article did well. Ironically, it was a rant, not all that different from the story that people are complaining about now. And after a couple of months, my earnings fell again and my time in the $100 club ended for a while.
In my first month on Medium I earnt $1.04 and almost gave up. So yes, I understand the disappointment of being new, with high hopes, and finding it’s perhaps not as easy as you’d hoped. But also, I know when it’s time to take a reality check and focus on the day job. I’m doing that more now.
The difference between me and some people complaining is that I don’t think this is Medium’s fault. If people have been mis-selling Medium as an easy way to make money, that’s the fault of the sales people and a lesson for those who are too easily parted with their money.
I admit, I’d hoped to scale it up quicker than I’ve been able to. I am acutely aware that I need to get back to focusing on magazines, because I think I’ve been doing too much on Medium at the expense of the day job. But that’s the point — there are other options and if Medium isn’t meeting our expectations, it makes sense to try to sell those pieces elsewhere.
I’ve sold my articles to magazines a couple of times. There were times when I nearly pressed ‘publish’ on Medium, but paused, thought about it, and offered it to a magazine instead. They took the story and paid me for it.
I recognise that Medium doesn’t owe me anything, and neither do the readers owe me anything. If I’m not earning enough on Medium, I need to look at what I can do to improve that, or spend less time here and more time elsewhere.
On the topic of other opportunities, if I was in the US, I’d be on Newsbreak like a shot, but they won’t let Brits join. So that might be worth exploring if you can.
I know I could get more money working in a supermarket than I do on Medium, but I do it because I like it. And that, I suppose, is where we all need to distinguish between work and a hobby. I spend too much time on my hobby! And now, I should get on with my real work!
Oh, and I was told, “it looks a bit pretentious when you punch down at people who are not thriving like you are”. In my defence, I wasn’t punching down on anyone. I’m in the same boat as everyone else.
I earn an average of $6 per article, so while it’s improved from the early days, it’s not a living. If my totals look good when I share them, it’s because I publish a lot of stories and I engage with readers. Some of my stories still earn less than a dollar, but I’ve had a couple of viral articles that have improved the average.
Here are some tips to improve your earnings:
- Consider your headlines. Some of the headlines on Medium are just boring. They tell you nothing about the story. A headline that is intriguing, or a bold statement that gets people’s attention, should improve your view rate.
- Make sure the opening paragraphs are good, so they draw readers into your story and keep them reading.
- Publish regularly because you’re less likely to do well if you’re not publishing frequently.
- Tell readers something they don’t already know.
- Write relatable content because people love the stuff they can relate to.
- Edit your stories carefully to make them good as possible.
- Don’t skip proofreading.
- Persevere — because quitters don’t succeed.
- Don’t ignore people who comment on your stories. They’re your readers. They’re the people who pay you. Reply to them.
- Good luck!
Want to complain? Here’s my offensive article…
More from me…
