Alvin Ang Medium Monthly Breakdown — January 2021

I made $780 this month — a new record.

Hello, my dear constant readers!

It’s the conclusion of January 2021, the first month in the year of measured hope. I’m going to be 100% truthful with my earnings and my stats, my successes and my failures. And the truth is that January has, once again, been a rather lucrative month.

Earnings-wise, January 2021 was my best month ever. I made $780, surpassing my previous record of $739. Here’s proof.

Once again, seven hundred bucks is a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, but boy am I glad to see my earnings inch upwards, month after month. This is a pretty neat feat in the world of online writing.

I’m even happier about being able to write stories that people actually want to read, stories that a site like this will pay me cold, hard cash for. The fact that I can buy groceries with my words never ceases to astound me. To paraphrase Bukowski:

“Getting paid to write is like going to bed with a beautiful woman and afterwards, she gets up, goes to her purse and gives me a handful of money.”

Whether it’s seven hundred or seven hundred thousand is not the point. Being able to potentially make a living from doing something I love is.

My most popular story for January 2021

I spent over a week researching and writing this story. Much of the time was spent selecting the most appropriate artwork and editing, editing, editing; moulding the words until they come out just so, like a gardener trimming dead leaves from a tree. It was painstaking work…and it paid off.

As of now, this story has brought in 8.2k views and over 300 bucks. More importantly, it’s the kind of evergreen article that will continue bringing in the views years after it‘s conception.

The surprise success of January 2021

I wrote this story because I had to.

I read Fante’s “Ask The Dust” a month ago, and like Bukowski before me, I was thunderstruck. Fante wrote like a madman. He had flair, he took chances, he was romantic egotism infused with the madness of poetry. When he was at his best, his words sang across the page.

I’ve never read anything like it before, and I couldn’t believe Fante wasn’t better known. The story was curated but only has 650 views and an accompanying 25 bucks, but it’s not really about the statistics for this one.

It’s about paying tribute to an old master.

My personal favourite story of January 2021

I’ve been tinkering around with an article about Epicurus for months.

The premier philosopher of happiness and his merry band of friends in The Garden has been a source of inspiration for me since I read about him in Adrian Drew’s fantastic article.

This one did a little above 1k views and made me 55 bucks, but like the Fante article, was more about the love of the material than the money.

I simply had to get it out of my system, and paradoxically, it’s usually the tales that beg to be told that performs best.

A Brutally Honest Review Of January 2021

• Total earnings: $761.38
• Total stories published: 12

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. I was unable to succeed at several goals I set for myself. Namely:

• I failed miserably at my 30 articles in the month of January challenge
• I didn’t make my first $1000 on Medium
• I didn’t write the amount of fiction that I wanted to

I’m not going to beat myself up too much, though. I, like many others, an probably still suffering from 2020 hangover.

I was able to write a dozen articles and achieve my best-earning writing month ever — all done while travelling to Kyrgyzstan during what is possibly the most unfriendly time to travel in recent history.

I’ll satisfy myself with that for now. Here’s to a better February.

What’s Next?

Having my first four-figure month is still priority number one. I’m looking forward to the day where I can write what I’ve learned from my first $1000 Medium month, much like what I did with my first $100 and my first $500 month.

And that means re-doubling my efforts. In the game of online writing, consistent, quality content trumps everything.

A curveball I’m pursuing is repurposing my old content on Newsbreak, as well as creating original content for Vocal.

Vocal, in particular, excites me. They have some interesting challenges that pay good money, and their recent little black notebook one with the $20,000 reward sealed the deal for me.

At the very worst, I’ll get some practice in. At the very best, I‘ll be able to bring home the bacon from writing works of fiction — something I’ve wanted to do since I was a child. Win-win.

As always, dear constant reader, I appreciate you reading my work. Without you, all I’ll be doing is yelling into the void, a madman typing lonely letters to himself in a cheap apartment. You make me the writer I am.

And I’ll never forget that.

Yours, always,

Alvin.

P.S: I have some very exciting stories I’ll be legally allowed to share in the next few days. Stay tuned!