$9: The Difference Between Newsbreak and Medium this Month

Summary

Susie Kearley's Newsbreak earnings surpassed her Medium earnings by $9 in November, despite facing challenges with story distribution and virality on Newsbreak.

Abstract

In November, Susie Kearley experienced a slight edge in earnings from Newsbreak over Medium, with a $9 difference in revenue. Although her stories on Newsbreak performed well, they did not reach the exceptional earnings of the previous month. Kearley noted the unpredictability of story distribution on Newsbreak, with some articles receiving zero circulation, which she found frustrating. In contrast, Medium lacks transparency regarding story circulation, leaving authors without insights into impressions and their impact on views. Kearley emphasized the importance of impressions, views, and earnings on Newsbreak, suggesting that publishing undistributed topics is futile without a strong social network to boost readership. Despite the financial incentive of Newsbreak, Kearley appreciates the community on Medium and dedicates more time there.

Opinions

Kearley acknowledges the better average pay-out per story on Newsbreak compared to Medium, despite publishing more stories on the latter.
She expresses frustration over some of her Newsbreak stories not being circulated at all, highlighting the platform's inconsistency in distribution.
Kearley points out the lack of data transparency on Medium, which leaves authors without information on how story circulation affects views.
She observes a clear correlation on Newsbreak between impressions, views, and earnings, which influences her publishing strategy.
Kearley suggests that without a robust social network, it's pointless to publish stories on Newsbreak that the platform does not distribute.
Despite the earning potential on Newsbreak, she values the community aspect of Medium and prefers to spend more time there.

Two platforms, neck and neck

Image created by author

They’ve been neck and neck all month. But my Newsbreak earnings beat my Medium earnings by $9 in November, which wasn’t entirely unexpected.

My stories on Newsbreak have been doing well recently, although November’s earnings were nowhere near the four digit figure I achieved on the platform for October. That was surprising and delightful, but not something I expect to achieve every month.

Virality was much more evasive in November. Good distribution and solid performance of my Newsbreak stories was less reliable.

I published 28 stories on Newsbreak and 33 stories on Medium, so the average pay-out per story on Newsbreak was better. But I’ve also had stories on Newsbreak that they literally haven’t circulated to anyone.

Not one person. Zilch. Zero. No one. And that’s kind of annoying!

Screengrab of Newsbreak’s circulation on my stories

Of course, if this data was available on Medium, we could tell when they’re not circulating our stories on Medium too, but for now, we’re blind to the impressions. We cannot tell how they are affecting views.

There is a very clear link on Newsbreak between impressions, views, and earnings. It’s interesting to see what happens when I publish.

There is literally no point posting topics on Newsbreak that they won’t distribute… unless you have a fabulous social network who will read those unloved articles and turn your fortunes around.

How has your month been? I find it interesting comparing the two platforms, but I enjoy the community at Medium, so I spend a lot more time here than on Newsbreak.