Writing on Medium
Four Lessons I Learned After Having My First $100 Month on Medium
The experience took me by surprise
On December 15, 2022, I had my first $100 month on Medium.
The earnings started trickling quickly since the beginning of the month, so I had been waiting patiently for me to cross the mark finally.
I was ecstatic when I finally saw my Medium earnings amount to $101.75.
My earnings are still going up every day. The pace has slowed, but I'm satisfied with what I have so far. In addition to my earnings through the Partner Program, I also got a good number of followers and several email subscribers.
And the most outstanding achievement is that I also got my first Medium referral!
I don’t know who this person is that decided to become a Medium member through my subscription link. But if you are reading this, thank you!
It's unclear how long this sudden wave of success will last, but I'll ride the tide while it lasts.
In the meantime, I'm using this opportunity to reflect on things and gather lessons I can carry even after my party ends.
So far, here are four important lessons I've learned:
1. Medium content has longevity.
I published my most successful article this month last September.
For months, the views on this story hovered just a little above 100 views and got a handful of comments. It was only in mid-November that attention started to pile in. Before that, I've written off that article as a dead piece of content.
But as my experience has taught me, writing on Medium can pay dividends in the long term.
An article that's a few months old isn't that old, but it is in social media time. A tweet can fall into oblivion in a matter of minutes. Posts on other platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook become largely irrelevant after a day or so.
Medium content is different. It is a lot more like YouTube videos. If you keep your article live on the platform, it will continue circulating in people's feeds.
When I look at my feed, I still see articles published in 2019 and 2020. The people who own those articles are still potentially making money from stuff they wrote long ago.
2. It pays to differentiate yourself in a popular topic.
My highest-earning article also happens to be the one with the most comments.
Most people responded to my story with sympathy, which I appreciate. But a few comments, in particular, caught my eye.
Those comments pointed out how different my article was compared to what's out there.
People noted how many stories about YouTube were about how to make money from the platform or grow a following. They mentioned that my story was different because I wrote a personal story about my failure as a YouTuber.
When I wrote that article, I had no intention of "sounding different." I was just upset about making a foolish decision that cost me several thousand dollars and thus wanted to write about it.
It just so happened that that bad decision involved YouTube.
Now, it is clear that being different does have its benefits. I'm not planning to force myself into being different, though. I'm sure people will be able to tell if I'm trying to pull a hack.
What I am taking away from my experience is that if I have a unique story, especially about a fairly trendy topic, I shouldn’t think twice about writing it. Even if that story is about mistakes or failures.
3. The real work begins when success happens.
The attention that one of my articles received isn't going to last forever.
Once people have moved on, I'll have to write the next article or set of articles that will bring me similar success. The question is, "How do I recreate that success?"
Now that I have a solid data point, the work of analyzing what worked and what didn't work begins. I cannot afford to be complacent if I want to sustain my momentum.
I've written in the past that Medium earnings can be unpredictable. And they are. But it can't be all random. There has to be at least a bit of science to it.
I haven't "cracked the code" yet, but I have some theories. I'm testing them out one by one to see which one clicks. It's much better to reverse engineer success while I still have it.
4. Medium is not dead.
I have to throw this in here. This is not a new realization, but it is a lesson reinforced by my recent achievement.
Medium. is. not. dead.
Recent changes on the platform have been met with a mixed bag of feelings from writers. On the one hand, writers felt more empowered by Tony Stubblebine's responsiveness to our requests. At the same time, many of us saw our views tank, and there was an exodus of writers earlier this year.
I never lost faith in Medium. At least not entirely. I had my doubts, but my gut has always told me that this platform is onto something.
Tony has a lot to do with it, honestly. Any CEO willing to listen and have genuine conversations with their content creators has my respect and attention. He's been interviewed multiple times by writers like Sinem Gunel and Zulie Rane, and each time he showed up to these interviews, he held nothing back about his plans for Medium.
His plans are all good. I can feel the wind blowing in the right direction.
With my recent success, I'm even more committed to staying on the platform. In many ways, I see myself in Medium. It's a platform that's undergone multiple changes over the years.
I'm the same way. I build in public, just like Medium does. Changes are sometimes uncomfortable, but with the right mindset, they work out in the end.
So what’s next in my journey?
I have no idea.
Most of my earnings in the past month are riding on the success of one article. I have other articles making money, but their numbers are far from my top earner. So the future is still a big question mark. I'm not about to declare myself a Medium superstar.
What I do know is that this platform will remain central to my plans as a creator in the near future. The recent dopamine hit of crossing the $100 mark re-energized me, but it has also challenged me to aim higher.
Making $100 on Medium has typically been viewed as some rite of passage. And it does feel that way.
But as anyone who's gone through a rite of passage will tell you, things are just getting started.
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