Here’s Another Great Way to Start Earning Money with Your Stories!
Does writing to get paid on Medium feel like a popularity contest?
If you’ve been writing on Medium for any length of time, and you happen to have a growing number of worthwhile stories; chances are, you’re still among the thousands of writers who earn less than $100 a month!
Whether we like it or not, or whether we even admit it to others; it is, what it is…
Reality Check:
Not every writer who shares info about their earnings and success on Medium, is as truthful or transparent as they seem.
Reading stories about the success of other writers in the community can sometimes make a Medium writer question themselves, and wonder what they’re doing wrong.
If you’ve ever felt that way about your earnings on Medium (or lack of earnings), you’re probably on the band wagon with those who strive to be a “top writer”.
In many ways, trying to reach this particular goal almost amounts to being a popularity contest.
Think about it:
Earning money on Medium from the stories you write, is all connected to: how known or popular the writer is, as well as the amount of followers and degree of community interaction.
If you notice, these are crucial factors, regardless of what the writing consists of.
Lately, many good writers have left Medium. Some have apparently grown weary of trying to build followers and curry favor, in hopes of becoming a top writer.
Trying to turn into a social butterfly, while still being a productive writer is exhausting. This has caused many good writers to drift away from Medium and look for other places to earn money.
Recently, I found another new website where writers can take their previously published stories and get paid for them.
The good news is, your earnings aren’t based on followers or the amount of reads or views you earn!
Not all stories about stats and earnings are true
By now, you may have already realized that not ll stories about stats and earnings are necessarily true.
Here’s what you should know about writers who claim to earn huge amounts from their stories. They fall into one or more of the following categories:
Category #1
- They have hundreds of stories, thousands of followers, AND they spend an excessive amount of time reading and responding to other writers — continuously.
As a prolific writer myself, and a big supporter of other writers, I WAS on the path to falling into this first category, until I recently burnt out. I decidedly, stopped spending all my time on Medium.
Prior to my most recent burnout, I regularly earned just under or slightly over $100 each month (with hundreds of stories, and publishing every day , and while I spent lots of time engaging in the community:
My latest earnings amount to roughly $1 a day (with hundreds of stories, and 1–3 new stories published, and with little to no engagment in the community:
Category #2
They exaggerate or inflate their numbers, and give the appearance of earning more than they actually do (in other words, they lie).
Category #3
They go beyond a simple lie or stretching of the truth, and commit fraudulent acts, such as bogus accounts and followers, creating fake stats, etc. (it might sound extreme, and these may be relatively rare cases, but it still happens).
This is not to say that you can’t legitimately earn a decent amount of money from your stories here on Medium, because I’m sure you can.
But what I’ve noted from past experience, is that the first category is the only way to do it, and that means virtually working your ass off, night and day.
Forget the popularity contest
In an effort to stop being drawn into the ongoing top writer popularity contest on Medium; I purposely stopped engaging in the community, just to see what the result would be.
As I indicated above, the results haven’t been good for me, but they were expected.
Sadly, this has only confirmed what I suspected about the correlation between Medium earnings and community interaction.
A huge majority of readers only read stories for the purpose of reciprocation.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. I’m a big fan of collaborations and cross promotion, and I have no problem with one hand washing another.
But I don’t want to keep writing in vain, if the only way I can get readers is to keep competing in the contest.
Recently, I stumbled upon a website that appears to offer another solution.
Allow me to tell you about it…
I just want to write and get paid
If you’re a writer who cares more about writing than you do about reading, you’re definitely not alone.
Many writers simply want to write and get paid for their writing, not for their popularity or other notable attributes.
In a previous story, I shared some details about a website called Constant Content. This site has been around for decades, and they offer a way for writers to earn a fee from their stories and articles, instead of accumulating revenue shares (like here on Medium).
As far as I know, Constant Content is still around and provides the same opportunities for writers, but now, there’s another site that operates in a similar fashion.
The website is called Marker, and it’s definitely worth visiting and checking out.
Unlike the Constant Content website that I was once very familiar with; I only just learned about the Marker website.
From what I’ve read so far, they offer the same type of advantage when it comes to earning money with your stories.
You can re-post your previously published Medium stories (with or without editing them, depending on the content).
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since originally posting this story, I’ve discovered that only “original” content is accepted, which may require you to consider removing previously published stories. Learn More.
You get paid over and over, when buyers purchase your stories.
Here’s what the website had to say about the stories you’re allowed to upload and earn money from:
“…Lots of our customers use articles just like yours as templates, they change a few things, pop in their own brand maybe, whatever they like really! Either way if they bought it, you get paid.”
In other words, your ability to earn money on this site, is solely reliant on the stories you write and/or upload, that are purchased by a Buyer.
Final Thoughts
So basically, this new website will allow you to simply post stories, and rely on the content to help you rake in the money. You don’t have to worry about building followers and hope they really read what you write!
Of course, there’s more for you to read and understand about the site, and questions that you no doubt have.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer them, because I just signed up myself, so consider this story as a preliminary review.
You can find answers to frequently asked questions about the site and then decide for yourself if it’s worth joining.
What’s really cool, is the fact that you can even remain in Medium’s popularity contest, all while you join and experiment with earning money on Marker.
More on this story in the future…
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