3 Lessons from Making 4K on One Story
It is repeatable.
OK, so it is really $3940.07, that’s just not as catchy of a title.
Writing on Medium as a newbie is like hiking up a mountain for the first time. If you’re focused on where the top is, you’ll be miserable. It will never come. If you complain, look up and curse the mountain because the top seems to get farther and farther from you, your hike will feel like it takes forever. However, if you concentrate on the one step you’re currently taking, and then the one after that, your journey will be much more enjoyable.
The same is true with Medium.
Success is built by writing one great story at a time.
I posted The One Book That Will Change Your Life on November 14, 2019; it didn’t take off until a full five months later, on April 22, 2020.
Had I been disappointed in the first few hundred claps it received when I posted it, that disappointment would have stopped me from writing the next story and the one after that.
I didn’t see success right away, because I had no proof, but I kept writing like success was right around the corner, and it was. You have to believe success is in your reach, even though you can’t see it.
Your greatest success will often come just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken you.
Lessons learned
One.
Compelling personal stories with a strong takeaway do best.
The stories which have made me the most income are ones that have nothing to do with “How to Write Better,” or “How to Make Money on Medium” — like this one.
Medium doesn’t curate stories about Medium.
I write a lot of those stories because it gives me great satisfaction to help people succeed. I have something to say about making it on Medium since I have been here for a while.
The articles that do really well on Medium are the stories where I share some personal struggle and what I’ve learned from my trials and tribulations, and stories that help the reader live a better life.
If you can do that well, you will find success.
It is tough to be a new writer, there is so much great content on Medium, and the sheer number of writers makes it hard to stand out. I’m here to tell you it is consistency and quantity plus quality that makes the most significant impact. If you don’t have a daily writing schedule, you will not make it as a writer. Full stop.
There are those few who go viral with their first post; however, there is no guarantee that the writer who strikes it out of the park the first time at-bat will make it long-term. They will not have a viral post each and every time. No one does.
Remember the mountain. The same goes for writing. You need to put one word after the next. One sentence after the next. One story after the next. Gain one reader after the next.
Concentrate on writing the best story you have for that day. Do that day after day, and you’ll see success and eventually write a post that makes you 4K or more.
Two.
Follower count counts. But it is overhyped.
My viral story had nothing to do with my follower count. I posted The One Book That Will Change Your Life when I was a naïve newbie on Medium in November of 2019. I had been writing for Medium for a mere five months and had no idea what I was doing.
Now, I have a grasp of what kind of story will do well, and in which publications I need to submit each story to get the right audience.
When this story was published in Publishous, I had around 1K followers. Although Publishous has over 40K followers.
However, I’ve had stories rejected from publications, only to have them do well in my own publications with a follower count of only about 600 people.
Like these three,
Choosing Your Words Carefully Makes Love Last
Four Negative Communication Patterns That Accurately Predict Divorce 95 % of the Time
Seven Books That Will Change Your Life
All three did well right away. All three were rejected from a publication.
Three.
A story might not go viral until months after publication.
What I find most interesting about The One Book That Will Change Your Life is it didn’t take off until months later.
When the story was first published, it received around 500 claps, and then nothing. It stalled for a while. It didn’t take off until April 22, 2019. A full five months after it was published.
Writing compelling content that teaches the reader something is what lands on Medium, even if it is not right away, but eventually.
Each article I’ve written that has earned significant money, and received engagement is clear, concise, and compelling.
What you can do to make money from your writing
- Write every day. I know this is the annoying advice successful writers on Medium give, but they give it for a reason — it’s true. Do you know what the giants on Medium do to make a full-time income on Medium? They write every day. It doesn’t sound glamourous, because it isn’t. They sit or stand at a writing desk, uninterrupted, and write. Sit. Write. Edit. Pick a fabulous photo. And post. Repeat.
- Take a writing class. When I posted my first story on June 26, 2019, I was taking a writing class. The course helped me write better by giving me confidence and ideas to write. There are many great writing classes online. You can take a class at a university or from one of the big influencers online. Jeff Goins offers one.
- Write for one whole year without taking a day off. If you can write for an entire year, you have what it take to write full-time. Making money from writing is a pursuit that is filled with rejection and competition. It requires persistence and tenacity because there will be days when you do not want to write. Professional writers write on those days. They also write when they go on vacation and during the holidays.
- Don’t mind your stats. While stats can help discern what is working and what isn’t, for the writer just starting, it may be prohibitive. It is hard enough to put your work out into the world, especially if you have little writing experience. Measly stats may make you stop altogether. Unless you have absolutely no engagement (in this case, you need to take a hard look at your writing, something is off), keep writing and improving your craft without obsessing over stats.
- Writing is a skill that can be worked on with critical thought, learning, and practice. If you have some engagement when you share publicly, keep going. After a few months, and after you’ve firmly established a daily writing habit, start digging into your stats for clues about what your readers are attracted to. If I had looked at my pathetic stats after two months of daily writing and publishing once a day, they would have made me want to throw in the towel, and I wouldn’t have written the $3940.07 story.
I’m glad I kept going.
Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned writer on Medium, write stories that people want to read.
And do it often.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering Type A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
