Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

out, taking the sabbatical from Medium allows me further clarity on my decision to start writing on Medium.</p><h1 id="df81">Royalty</h1><p id="8a3d">I’ve written about this previously and I’ll repeat it again. One of the beauties of writing in Medium is the <i>royalty-like </i>payment. You could essentially earn from a story that you have published for your entire lifetime, as long as a paid member reads your story. It doesn't matter if the story is published today, last week, or several years ago.</p><p id="52f5">This couldn't be more apparent than during my downtime. While I stop writing for Medium, I couldn't stop myself from logging in to Medium to check my stats daily. After all, I wasn’t really on a vacation. I’m still stuck at home, working on my full-time job at home, caring for my family, and re-evaluating my priorities.</p><p id="3085">During that week-long, I have daily viewership and readership, which caught me a little bit by surprise, if I’m being honest with you. It was nice seeing that there is still some stats even when you have stopped writing.</p><p id="386d">Even a penny or two daily is a pleasant <i>surprise</i> to me.</p><h1 id="dc4a">Give it some time for it to nurture itself</h1><p id="7751">Going through the stats now revealed another interesting trend. As earlier mentioned, viewership and readership were dropping. Although there are still daily numbers, one trend sticks out for me.</p><p id="d854" type="7">Recent data shows that most of the readership this month is for my older stories.</p><p id="1854">Now, I can assume that the stories I’ve written recently were bad in comparison with my earlier work. But I have not changed the way I write, the topics that I write, nor the publisher that I have chosen. It simply doesn’t m

Options

ake sense that that is the reason.</p><p id="ca0c">However, I have a theory and a very simple one at that.</p><p id="435b">Sometimes, you need to give it time to nurture itself. Much like a habit, say eating healthy. You don't see much of a result if you are eating healthy for a week. Does it mean you are doing it wrongly? No. It simply means you have to keep at it for a longer period of time for the changes to materialize.</p><p id="9e57">Sometimes, you just need to give what you are building more time to see the fruits of your labor.</p><p id="7395">Another fine example is this. On that week and the following weeks as well, I have gained new followers for my earlier stories. I know these as a matter of fact, as I gained followers during the week, and the weeks after only because readers are reading and liking my older work.</p><h1 id="f9bc">The more stories the better your chances.</h1><p id="5409">As time goes and you have written more stories, it’s going to do your chances of making it successful higher. With the number of stories I have written so far in Medium, and by that I mean a small number, I have been getting readership on a daily basis on the week and after my inactive period. If that could happen, imagine if I have written 10x more. Imagine if I have written more years than the months I was on Medium. Writing on Medium is really <a href="https://readmedium.com/writing-in-medium-the-numbers-game-7f42e3c2b6d2">a numbers game</a>.</p><p id="74c0">I’m old and wise enough not to be naive. I know that if my sabbatical has been longer, I may have unbuilt what I have built so far. But I did not regret it one bit. Having the sabbatical just make things much more clearer to me. The only thing to do now is to continue writing.</p></article></body>

As Viewership Drops, I Took a Short Sabbatical, and It Vindicates the Reason I’m Writing On Medium

I’ve learned as much away as I was writing, and a couple of things cleared up for me.

There were a few events that coincide at the beginning of this month for me. For a start, I just got off from the most productive month on Medium. I have been able to produce the most stories in a month. Secondly, as a result, I felt like I needed a small break from Medium. Thirdly, and the most significant one, it seems like the readership has been dropping for no obvious reasons since the start of the month. This was confirmed by another fellow writer, without me suggesting the topic in the first place. I was recently reminded as well of this as I have seen similar headlines on my recommended list.

Only 7% of Medium writers earn over $100 a month.

Unfortunately, I am at the wrong end of the scale. I was planning to take a few days off. It turned out to be a week-long. The few aforementioned incidents have me questioning my commitment to writing in Medium (again), and its worthiness. Hence, I took the time off to re-evaluate, to a certain extent, the priorities in my life.

As it turns out, taking the sabbatical from Medium allows me further clarity on my decision to start writing on Medium.

Royalty

I’ve written about this previously and I’ll repeat it again. One of the beauties of writing in Medium is the royalty-like payment. You could essentially earn from a story that you have published for your entire lifetime, as long as a paid member reads your story. It doesn't matter if the story is published today, last week, or several years ago.

This couldn't be more apparent than during my downtime. While I stop writing for Medium, I couldn't stop myself from logging in to Medium to check my stats daily. After all, I wasn’t really on a vacation. I’m still stuck at home, working on my full-time job at home, caring for my family, and re-evaluating my priorities.

During that week-long, I have daily viewership and readership, which caught me a little bit by surprise, if I’m being honest with you. It was nice seeing that there is still some stats even when you have stopped writing.

Even a penny or two daily is a pleasant surprise to me.

Give it some time for it to nurture itself

Going through the stats now revealed another interesting trend. As earlier mentioned, viewership and readership were dropping. Although there are still daily numbers, one trend sticks out for me.

Recent data shows that most of the readership this month is for my older stories.

Now, I can assume that the stories I’ve written recently were bad in comparison with my earlier work. But I have not changed the way I write, the topics that I write, nor the publisher that I have chosen. It simply doesn’t make sense that that is the reason.

However, I have a theory and a very simple one at that.

Sometimes, you need to give it time to nurture itself. Much like a habit, say eating healthy. You don't see much of a result if you are eating healthy for a week. Does it mean you are doing it wrongly? No. It simply means you have to keep at it for a longer period of time for the changes to materialize.

Sometimes, you just need to give what you are building more time to see the fruits of your labor.

Another fine example is this. On that week and the following weeks as well, I have gained new followers for my earlier stories. I know these as a matter of fact, as I gained followers during the week, and the weeks after only because readers are reading and liking my older work.

The more stories the better your chances.

As time goes and you have written more stories, it’s going to do your chances of making it successful higher. With the number of stories I have written so far in Medium, and by that I mean a small number, I have been getting readership on a daily basis on the week and after my inactive period. If that could happen, imagine if I have written 10x more. Imagine if I have written more years than the months I was on Medium. Writing on Medium is really a numbers game.

I’m old and wise enough not to be naive. I know that if my sabbatical has been longer, I may have unbuilt what I have built so far. But I did not regret it one bit. Having the sabbatical just make things much more clearer to me. The only thing to do now is to continue writing.