Here’s How I Made Over $3000 on Medium in 17 Months

Here’s my journey

Everyone writes these posts. I’m going to start by saying that I really don’t know much more than the average Medium writer. I’m not the best. I’m not the worst. But I’m pretty happy that I’ve been able to make a nice little amount of change from writing stuff that I enjoy and by being me.

This is story #312.

I write about sex

Not all the time. But a lot of the time. I write fiction and I write articles about my experiences. I’m pretty transparent about my sex life. I am more comfortable doing that because I use a pen name.

I am perfectly aware that I could easily be outed. I’m ok with that though. The people that matter to me won’t care about my sex life. I’m still me. My adult children know my pen name and if they really care to, they could find my articles. That isn’t a big deal to me though because I’m pretty transparent about my life with them.

But a great deal of my Medium success comes from writing transparently about sex and writing fiction that makes people happy.

What about curation/wider distribution?

I don’t think it has affected me at all. I’m pretty sure that not even one of my stories — even the ones that have nothing to do with sex — have been selected for wider distribution. It used to bug me. Now I don’t care. Curation is not everything.

14 out of 15 of my top stories were published in My Erotica

I know not everyone has the same experience with this publication but my fiction that gets published there always does well. Some better than others.

Here are my top three earning stories:

Nude Sunbathing on the Boat was only published at the beginning of June/2021 and it quickly rose to the top to be my #2 best earning story.

I’ve written several erotic fiction series on Medium, too. My best earning series is this one:

It’s a 6 part series, and it earned enough that if it were one story, it would have been placed in my top 5 earning stories. So, even though I didn’t earn massive amounts from each part, I consider it a success.

What about the stats and the data?

Sorry, you won’t be seeing any of that from me. I know some writers are focused on read time and what other interests their readers have and so on.

I don’t care about that. If I care about that, this becomes my job. It becomes a chore. I’d have to focus on writing more about specific topics because I know they earn more money.

I love a good stats binge as much as the next person but I only get into them once in a while. I don’t look at them on a weekly or monthly basis. Maybe if I did I could make Medium my job. I’ve never wanted that though.

Medium is my happy place. I don’t want it to be anything else.

About that $3000…

I converted the amount I earned to Canadian money. Because I’m Canadian, duh. The US equivalent is about $2500.

I had good months and bad months. My first few months were under $10. As I started publishing more, reading more, and being more interactive, my earnings went up.

The total amount does include one $500 bonus. I don’t know if I got it for June yet or not.

My fiction is the biggest earner. Non-fiction stories about sex are the next biggest earners. Articles that aren’t about sex are barely worth mentioning.

Where do I go from here?

I love writing on Medium so I’m here to stay. It’s not just about the money.

It’s about you — my readers. I love it when I get comments or when someone highlights a section to let me know they liked the wording of it or that it stood out to them in some way. I love readying YOUR articles and stories, too.

I love writing based on my inspiration and what turns me on.

Will I stop writing articles that aren’t about sex because they don’t make as much money? Not likely. Sometimes I just feel like writing something that is on my mind.

Write on Medium because you love it.

Write on Medium because it’s good practice.

Write on Medium because it’s a great place to connect with other writers and share ideas.

Write on Medium because you can grow and learn here.

That’s why I’m sticking around.