6 Months in the MPP
Results of an Experiment
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Like many other writers, I’d been noticing a drop in my numbers — views, reads, fans, and consequently, money. For two or three months, I’d been posting about four or five articles per week, but only making around a dollar per day. I wanted to improve upon that.
Is Less More?
One of my followers/fellow writers, Natalie, suggested that if I post only three times per week, I might make more money. The reasoning was that when writers post every day, readers simply don’t have time to read every one of the articles posted — especially when those readers follow many other great writers.
This is true of me as well. I follow a lot of talented and entertaining writers, but I can’t keep up with everything they post. I try to catch up when I have time, but I still have to pick and choose what I read.
Based on this logic, I decided to conduct an experiment during the month of April. I would post only three articles per week, hoping my followers would find the time to read at least those three at some point throughout the week.
Results
In December, January, and February, I made about a dollar per day (a bit more in January, but not by much). March was a bit less — $24.92 for the month. At the end of April, I made $18.57.
As you can see, my experiment did not produce the results I was hoping for. In the past 30 days, I’ve had about 1,000 fewer views, 700 fewer reads, and 300 fewer fans than the 30 days prior.
I’m still gaining followers, though, and have reached over 900 now. I think that’s great but I’m skeptical of many of those. Many times I’ll see that someone started following me but I’ve never received a notification that they’ve clapped for or commented on any of my stories. So, why did they start following me? Are they bots? Some of them, probably. My number fluctuates all the time. I’ll have 910 one day and then 908 the next, 909 the next, etc. Overall, the number is increasing.
Do any of you have these issues?
What You Can Do About It
If you’re posting articles and not receiving the number of readers you feel they deserve, you have options.
Option #1 — Money, Schmoney
Don’t worry about what your articles are making. Don’t concern yourself with the stats or earnings. Just write for the fun of it. Does writing take time and effort that could be spent earning a living? Yes, but who cares? Do you really need food and clothing? Some might say so. You’ve probably got clothes hanging in your closet that you haven’t worn in years. They’re out of fashion, you say? Everything comes back in style eventually. You’ll be ahead of the trends.
Option #2 — Wait Tables
If you’re so concerned about money, get a job at a restaurant. You can take home cash every night from the tips you make while you write during the day. Yes, maybe you’re older now and you can’t remember things. Did the dude order the lasagna or the spaghetti? His wife said she was allergic to something, didn’t she? What was it? Wait, did he say wife or daughter?
So, you may need to write things down. Yes, it’s impressive when servers remember your name, what everyone ordered in a party of six, and even what you ordered last time you were there, but who needs to be impressive? Just be correct. That’s all that matters, right? You may not get a hefty tip, but something is better than nothing.
Option #3 — Medium is Your Job
Quit your regular job and write on Medium full-time. Research trending topics, spend hours coming up with the perfect headlines for all your articles (according to my buddy, That Medium Hack 🌟, work on this one especially), and tag a list of Medium writers that takes at least three minutes to scroll through. That’ll also increase your article’s reading time. It’s a win-win.
With all this writing during regular working hours, you won’t have time to read other articles. You also won’t have time to respond to many individuals who leave comments on your articles that are sure to go viral. That’s where the next option comes in.
Option #4 — Marry Your Computer
When you’re not writing, you’ll be reading articles and responding to them. Engagement is crucial, so you’ll have to respond to EVERY COMMENT left on all of your articles.
But I won’t have time for anything else!
That’s right. You enjoy piddling around in your flower plots? Sorry, but now you have a weed garden. TV? I don’t think so. That bachelorette will have to find the love of her life without you accompanying her on those group dates. They’ll be divorced within six months of the “tell-all” season finale anyway. Your cat needs to be fed? Sorry, Schnookems. Go outside and catch some mice.
What about dating?
Hahahahahahahahaha…😅 😂🤣
Oh, I needed that. No, I’m sorry; you won’t be dating.
“I now pronounce you husband and Chromebook.”
What Did Relatively Well
No, my articles didn’t earn me as much as previous months, but take a look with me at the ones that did the best this month, comparatively.
#1 — “Month 5 of the Medium Partner Program”
One thing that didn’t change was the fact that the article about writing on Medium earned the most.
#2 — “I’m Glad I Answered THIS Phone Call”
This one was pretty funny, according to many people.
#3 — “Blind Hookups”
Several people said this one should go viral. It didn’t, but I did pin it to my profile so it would get more views. I guess it worked. I’m still debating on whether or not to republish it with a different title and see if that garners more reads.
#4 — “Are You… ‘Funny’?”
A humorous article based on a writing prompt. It is about a different meaning of the word “funny.”
#5 — “Beware of the Bunnies!”
Rounding out the top five is this response to an Easter-themed writing prompt.
Now, the article that had the most views, reads, and fans was “I Love Dick.”
Yes, this one received more attention than even the article about Medium. So, why didn’t it earn much money? Because it’s a poem, and it has an average reading time of only 56 seconds. Writers have been complaining about this for a long time, but I’ll save my soapbox for another article.
Experiment Failure?
In an experiment, one is attempting to discover the results of a trial. In that respect, no experiment is a failure unless you didn’t see it through to its completion. Instead, it is a learning opportunity. You can hope for a specific outcome and in this case, my hopes did not come to fruition.
I tried something different to see if I would get better results than my regular course of action. This is not to say that this particular experiment won’t work in the future. Sometimes it’s about timing.
Should I focus more on followers? Jason Provencio might say so. He follows a lot of writers every day. Some of them may stick around to be regular readers and some won’t. The reason I don’t adopt this strategy is mainly because I don’t want all different kinds of articles to show up in my daily feed. There are some types of articles that I don’t care for and would like to avoid having to weed out.
If you’re new to Medium, you may not have developed a particular strategy yet. If you’ve been here for a while, do you follow a routine? What has worked for you?
If you’d like to follow my Medium journey, here is my progression in the program:
Before ending, I would like to recommend reading any articles by Jordan Lewis-Iles.
I’m halfway through a year of Medium and possibly halfway to insanity.
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