CONVERSATION WITH WRITERS
Can You Solve the Fifty-Cent Mystery?
Taking the mystery out of our earnings one step at a time.
You know the mystery — how earnings are figured. I hear about it all the time.
“Medium is so vague.”
“It’s not clear.”
“Why don’t they just tell us the formula?”
I understand. However, it’s not bugged me. When I first started on medium, Meg Stewart explained this to me and it stuck. “When a Medium member reads a lot of articles, the earnings on those are lower than when a member reads a few pieces.”
When a writer earns $0.01 on a story, it is because the member who read that piece reads a lot on Medium.
Let’s see how that works.
When I opened my earnings page I noticed several past stories with earrings around $.50. Most past stories earn $0.01. So I clicked on the stats of those pieces to see what was going on. Let’s solve this mystery together.
- Go to Your Partner Program page.
- Find an old story with posted earnings.
- Open the piece.
I found this old Story published on December 9th, 2023.
It’s important to read with a critical eye, but often even more important to read with your heart.
4. Click on View Stats.
Here’s the screenshot for that story.
I’m not happy with the reads ratio. I’d like it closer to 80%. Oh well, off topic.
Here’s the screenshot of this month’s earnings.
$0.53 so far this month. What did you find on your search?
Here are the views.
Oops, 2 views. Will I be able to solve this mystery?
Here are the reads.
That’s bad. Only one of those who opened the piece read it. That action lowers the overall reads ratio. Which is a marker of the quality of my work.
The engagement stats for this piece.
1 Clap and 1 response. The person responding will be the one I thank for the earnings. What did you find? If you found multiple reads go to a different story. Keep looking.
Bingo — means I win!
One Reader One Clap One Comment 53 cents on the 14th of January.
I found my fan.
I went to the story to see who read, clapped, and responded to that story on that day.
Kathy!
Kathy Seavey Benson gave me one clap. The most recent claps are on top.
She responded to my story on the day I earned the money. This made it easy for me to find
Kathy is a new writer on Medium who writes at The Daily Cuppa. She’s one very busy woman who only reads a few stories. She reads some of mine and a few other writers. 2 to 4 hours of writing and reading per week is all she has.
I earned $0.53 from her read.
If Kathy was a Friend Of Medium, I would have earned 4 times as much for the read.
However, if she read a lot of other writer’s stories, I’d earn less.
Remember, when a writer earns $0.01 on a story, it is because the member who read that piece, reads a lot on Medium.
Let’s see if Kathy read more of my stories so far this month.
The Daily Cuppa Celebrates 4,000 Followers — Yeah Writers!
1 view, 1 read, no claps, 1 response, $0.49 — was this Kathy?
Indeed.
On to the next:
Jan 16th: Australians want to know, “When was the last time you treated yourself to a day nap.”
Bingo: one view, one read, one clap, one comment, and $0.42, so let’s see who that reader was. Nope, it was not Kathy. However, I know the reader and it is another reader who is selective.
Enough!
What did you find searching your Partner Program page?
That is one step in the mystery.
I think a little ranting is okay. We are humans and we are curious. However I find there are answers to be found if we work together.
We solved this one by looking at the stats behind my story. Did you solve a fifty-cent mystery?
Taking the mystery out of our earnings one step at a time.
Let’s continue this conversation in the comments. Was this clear? What did I miss. What shall we look at next?
Time for tea.
Happy writing. Katie