Satire and Humor

Almost $25k a Month and $7k a Story? The Secret Behind the Biggest Medium Earners

Now, you can discover how some writers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year writing on Medium and follow in their footsteps.

There has been a lot of discontent expressed over the amount most Medium writers earn. According to the Medium Partner Program (MPP) updates sent to members, from 55 to 65 percent of writers who wrote at least locked story earn nothing, while 90 to 93 percent earn under $100 a month. Yet each month there are also these incredible figures that are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

For example, according to the update, in October, one writer earned $24,438.59 while $6,783.28 was paid out for an individual story. The monthly salary alone based on these earnings, calculated for the year would amount to almost $300,000! Compare that to less than $1200 that 90 to 93 percent that active MPP writers earn, and it’s not hard to understand why there is a bit of an uproar.

Medium doesn’t disclose other earnings so there is no telling how many writers might make tens of thousands a month or six to seven thousand a story but given the first set of numbers there can’t be many. Now, you can discover how the few but mighty writers at Medium earn this kind of income and join their ranks. The secret is the Medium Investment Program.

Never heard of it? You’re in good company since only those members who have a minimum of $100,000 to invest are approached with the opportunity to participate. These lucky ones, though, can boost their yearly earnings well into the six figures.

Now, Medium has added a few new lower minimum options for those who don’t have as much disposable capital they can invest. There are three basic options in which a writer with the program can invest,. These are The Writing Rules Naming Investment, The Medium Betting Pools and The Medium Mutual Fund.

The Writing Rules Naming Investment

Perhaps you’re familiar with the popular T.V. game show, Wheel of Fortune, where if you get stuck trying to figure out the word or phrase, you can buy a vowel. Well, now Medium writers can “Buy a Rule.”

When anything is named after someone, it is assumed that the person must be a major success in the area. Few people if any would choose to go to Joe Shmoe School of Architecture and when they instead could attend Frank Lloyd Wright School Of Architecture. Those who invest in writing rules receive significantly increased traffic and earnings because those who come across named rule frequently look up the writer to read what they publish, assuming they must be a writing authority.

The name of this investment strategy is a bit misleading since you don’t actually own the rule itself, but you get to have it named after you. The amount to have a rule renamed after yourself varies according to fame, popularity and the degree to which they are considered “evergreen.” Some of Steven King’s rules are still available for purchase as well two of Ray Bradbury’s rules.

Some rules can be bought outright by a single individual or writing team, while others can be purchased as a timeshare where you pay less but only have your name on the rule for one week out of the year . The most famous can’t be bought outright but keep your name as long as you are able to continue paying the rather large yearly fee.

For example, the Show Don’t Tell rule is one that can continue to bear your name for the paltry yearly sum of 100,000. If you think that is exorbitant, consider this: The last person the rule was named went from making a lousy $3200 one year to over a quarter of a million dollars the next year, and almost three quarters of a million dollars the year after that.

For renewing rules, the fee must be paid in full by 11:59 pm GMT on January 1st or the person forfeits the name and it goes to the first person on the waiting list. There are currently 57 Medium writers on the waiting list, so if you think you might be interested in having this rule named for you, you should start making arrangements now.

It usually takes at least a month to get added to the waiting list for this rule because you have to disclose all of your income and savings for the committee to check. You are also required to provide a down payment that amounts to anywhere from 3 to 10 percent of the yearly price, depending on how high up you are on the list. They just announced that they are planning on adding three people to the list for this years award in case the current “namee” is unable to come up with the cash.

The Medium Update and Earnings Betting Pools

Do you feel lucky? Although not technically an investment, this opportunity might be an attractive option for those who enjoy enjoy fantasy football and office betting pools. This opportunity lets you bet on a date during the upcoming year that you think the next Medium Update will be announced.(Monthly earnings updates not included.)

You need at least $10,000 to buy into this pool but the guaranteed minimum payout is $100,000 for the closest date, $50,000 for the second closest date and $20,000 for placing third. However, the amount won can be considerably higher depending on the number of people who bet.

If this is too rich for your blood, there are other bets you can make for smaller amounts. For example, for $5,000 you can bet on whether the next update will be a major one or a minor one. A major update is one where at least 10 writers who didn’t take part in the pool and aren’t associated in any way with someone who did, complain in a Medium Facebook group about the update being unfair in the first 24 hours after it was announced. A minor update is one where less than three writers complain in the first 24 hours.

For $3000 you can bet on the exact number of writers who will complain about the update in the first 24 hours. For the same amount you can also bet on the number of locked articles that will be written by the end of the first week that will just spin the Medium announcement without adding anything additional information.

There are two new opportunities that have been added for the coming year. For a $2000 buy in you can bet on the number of stories that are written during 2020 that mention the amount a writer made the previous month in which the writer either complains about the amount or brags about it. Other than the Main Medium Update Pool, the other payouts will be determined by the total number of writers who bet in that pool which will be divided equally among them.

The Medium Mutual Fund

This investment opportunity is for those writers who prefer a safer investment. It requires an initial $10,000 contribution and an additional minimum contribution of $5 a month or $50 a year.

The fund invests in a variety of writer related options such as real estate sold to writers retreats, book stores, high interest loan funds made to writers who can’t earn a living and companies that create writing software. You are required to reinvest your earnings for the first year. After that, you can choose to either continue reinvesting your earnings or to receive a monthly payout provided your earnings are at least $100 for that month.

All Medium investments report winnings, earnings and payouts to the Medium Partner Program monthly so that they can be included in each investors monthly earnings report and the monthly earnings update sent to all MPP members. Any of the investment programs can be closed to new investors or discontinued or the terms and conditions can modified by Medium at any time. New investing options may become available in the future.

Medium investments have a “no whining” clause, which states that anyone who chooses to invest in any of the opportunities listed here, will have their investment account closed, and forfeit all interest and earnings received should the whine or complain that other writers are earning more than they are and it’s just not fair.

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