MEDIUM SUCCESS | READING RHOMBUS

4 Perspectives on What Will Make You a Success

Is there a rhyme or reason to the Medium madness?

It’s not a secret. I started writing on Medium because I wanted to make money.

I am a literary whore. Even though I have to depend on Grammarly to correct my spellings and grammar most of the time.

The Pros, too, need makeup and perfume.

At 66 years of age, nobody is interested in my body, so all I can do is sell my words, instead.

I became a paid member of Medium in April 2019 because I wanted to read. For about six months, that’s all I did. I enjoyed reading all manners of stories until I came across one by Shaunta Grimes that mentioned that Medium was changing the way it compensates the writers.

I didn’t even know there was compensation involved. I had tried blogging before without success because I couldn’t attract an audience. Medium had a ready-made reader base.

I was intrigued, yet I didn’t feel that I could succeed because my writing was not up to par with the writers I was reading. Then something interesting happened…

Do some cool shit.

I read a story by Tom Kuegler that got me thinking.

I’ve done cool shit. I’ve done a lot of cool shit. I can be a “Successful Blogger.” I’ve done so much cool shit I can write a book about it. (NTS: Write more stories on Medium about cool shit I’ve done.)

I read more of Tom’s stories. He said he made $10,000+ in one month on Medium. Whoa! That got my attention. He said he wasn’t bragging; he wanted to inspire me. Inspired, I was. I knew I could write as well as Tom, maybe better.

Don’t give up, he said. It may take six months, and if one of your stories gets hot, you’ll make a lot of money.

Eight months and 250+ stories later, the most I have made in a month is, well, let’s just say that I am NOT amongst the top 5.7% of the Medium writers.

As I dug out his old stories for the research for this piece, I realized that I was a victim of Selective Bias. I only read what I wanted to believe, not the complete story.

He said if; I read when. He said might; I read will. (NTS: Write more stories about the things I’ve done.) However, I am hopeful. You’ll see why when you read the next part.

Keep on Trucking.

I had never heard of Kristin Wilson, or read any of her stories, but when I saw the title “6 Reasons Why It Doesn’t Matter if Your Stories Have Zero Claps or Fans,” in my favorite publication, ILLUMINATION, it caught my attention. It was a catchy headline, but it was the subtitle — Lessons from going viral — that compelled me to open it.

To complete the trifecta — headline, subtitle, and featured image — she added a stunning shot of herself in front of a funky, multi-colored wall.

She opens the piece with a powerful, attention-grabbing statement.

After two years of writing (somewhat consistently) on Medium, I had an article go viral for the first time. Within 72 hours of getting curated in three topics, it took off — careening across the internet and making appearances on the likes of Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, and YCombinator. Within a month it garnered nearly 200K views, 10K claps, and $6,000. In the meantime, I did what any writer would do — I kept writing.

The first sentence, and the last, tell you everything you need to know.

Kristin learned that you have no control over how or when it will happen. All you can do is what’s 100% in your control — keep writing your best stories. Make each one count. Sooner or later, the Universe will conspire for you, and you’ll make bank.

She writes,

I’ve been doing it for free since I learned how. I have enough journals to fill a bookshelf, started blogging circa 2007, and I was rambling on Medium years before the Partner Program came about.

Here are her six reasons.

• You’re getting better at writing.
• People are reading your work, and it’s helping them.
• You‘re expanding your personal and professional network.
• It will lead to new business opportunities.
• You can build a business or personal brand here.
• You can rank at the top of Google.

She doesn’t just list them; she backs them up with experience and stories to read. It’s informational as well as inspirational. She was a “Successful Blogger” even before her story went viral.

Bet on your assets.

As I mentioned before, I came to Medium to read, and that’s what I enjoy the most about the platform. I am always looking for things to read, other than how to make a gazillion dollars on Medium.

One person that I discovered early on who’s an excellent writer is Helen Cassidy Page. Helen enjoyed early success on Medium because she knew what she was doing. She had decades of experience in the writing, editing, and publishing arena.

I wrote about Helen in my last piece, Four Feisty Females of Medium.

She was very intentional about the title of her debut story. I’m 80 and I fantasize about sex. Deal with it. She knew it will work, and she was right. It was a hit, and she rode the wave for a couple of more.

In her first month, she was amongst the top 7% of Medium writers who earn more than $100 per month. It is possible to follow a plan to earn big if you know what you’re doing.

When she wrote about one of her stories going viral, I was excited. I read it with the intention of learning what I can. After all, she’s been writing and editing for half a century, just not on Medium.

A piece she wrote on Jan 20th, went viral, and she wrote her first analysis on the 22nd. She has written a few since then, and all of them are worth a read. Her viral piece is promptly featured on her profile page.

In the aforementioned analysis, she had a message for me (at least, I would like to think it was for me, selective bias and all).

For you newcomers to the platform hankering to shoot the moon with your articles, thinking you can clear a thousand reads or so and quit your day job, let me burst that balloon right now before you shoot yourself in the foot.

I just found the gem again. I hadn’t even highlighted that part, but I did highlight the next paragraph, being the eternal optimist that I am.

If you are the writer with the skills and finger on the pulse of a significant number of readers to write thrilling articles that hit the mark several times a day, chances are good that a publication with a huge readership will make an offer for a column and you will earn big bucks on the platform.

As I said, she has written a few stories about her viral experience — not COVID-19, the Medium story — and this one came about three weeks later.

In her typical Helen way, she wrote,

Now I can say I’m no longer a viral virgin, and, all I can say is, yes, it was good for me.

Make a plan, Stan.

Serendipity played a major role in all three success stories above, and this next one is no exception. However, in this case, it was a part of the plan and not just a “coincidence.”

Sinem Günel is another writer who knew what she was doing. She had been writing on Medium for 18 months, averaging $30 per month and never more than about $200; when she decided to “go all in.”

What that meant for her was that she was writing on a topic she was passionate about and also worked in that field. She knew that the topic was very popular on Medium and she had learned enough in the 18 months to shoot for the moon.

In her third month after making the decision of going all in, she earned more than $7,000. She credits her success to the strength of her intention and her faith in the universal laws.

Sinem treated her writing as a business. She says it’s all about being an entrepreneur.

As writers, we write because we can’t help but write. Most of us don’t see it as a business and definitely don’t treat it as such.

Whether you write just for fun, or fun and profits, most of us do it as a service to ourselves and others. In our commitment to serving others, we are contributing to the growth and evolution of the universe. And it is in the best interest of the universe to see that we succeed.

Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, that no man could have dreamed would come his way.

~ William H. Murray

Moral of the story.

While this may have sounded like a rant at first, and I had no idea where I was going with it either when I started. That’s how I write most of my stories. Just start rambling and see what comes out of it.

It is fun, and most of the time I can do something with it. Though I have 49 unfinished rants in my drafts folder. They come in handy when you don’t even have anything to rant about.

The bottom line is, I’ll keep writing as long as it is fun. When it stops being fun, I’ll reinvent myself and do something else that is fun.

As long as you have fun doing what you love, think long term, and show up every day, rain or shine, the money will take care of itself.

(Special thanks to Holly for all the valuable feedback. I also owe my gratitude to Toastmasters International for teaching me all about transitions.)

As always, thank you for reading and responding.

More about me:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author, and a regular contributor and editor for ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where writers support each other.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship.