Here’s How Much I Made After 6 Months of Writing on Medium

A full breakdown of earnings

Below is a breakdown of how much I earned after 6 months of writing on Medium.

I was interested in starting writing on the side of my day job but really didn't know how to get started. I didn’t want to go through the hard slog of setting up a blog, working hard to post everyday and then still getting no traction. I had done this previously and found it very difficult to generate and maintain an audience. Please no SEO/blog experts in the comments, this is not what this post is about!

During this period, I came across a video talking about Medium and the Partnership Program and thought, what the hell, I will give it a go. As an experiment if nothing else.

My first post was a mock motivational piece about Billionaire habits. I don't know what made me think of this idea, but I was just happy to get off the mark.

My first article was published on June 3rd. I posted regularly and went on to make $3.07 for the month. At this point, I was just happy to be writing consistently and wasn't too concerned about the low earnings.

I tried for 6 months to publish as often as possible, without spending too much time on a piece. I went on to publish 96 articles.

Below are the results for the first 6 months of writing:

In total, for 6 months and 96 articles, I made $386.26. My best month was September with $133.06.

Was it worth it?

Was I happy with the performance and taking the plunge to write on Medium?

Overall, it has been a worthwhile experiment. It has shown there is some interest in the content I have been making. I have also made over 300 followers organically, without doing much to encourage people to follow me. Appreciate you all, you have been a great crowd!

The Downsides

If you look at it in terms of ROI, making $386.26 for 96 articles is not amazing, financially speaking that is.

$386 in 6 months is unlikely to push the needle and has not given me the confidence to ‘burn the ships’ and go all in with my writing. If I am being brutal about it, a part-time minimum wage job a few times a week in the US/UK would exceed this with less hours spent.

But this medium (yeah I went there) is about harnessing your creativity so financial gains should not be the number 1 aim.

Having said that, unless you are in a position of extreme previledge, generating money through your work is always going to be a key motivator. There is no denying it (unless you are in denial). Most content creators crave money.

With this in mind, there is so much hype surrounding the notion that we should all quit our jobs, go off and live our dreams. We should stop selling our time doing soul-destroying work for a paycheck. The 9 to 5 way of life is outdated and wrong.

And look, I get it. I agree with ALL the above. But what is the alternative? Going all in in a project, with no guarantee that you will have enough to pay rent or enjoy life? Maybe that is what it truly takes. But a risk many of us cannot afford.

I love the concept of pursuing your dreams and still hold on to the idea that one day I will achieve financial freedom and be able to do what I enjoy everyday. But I am not sure Medium is the place this will happen.

And to be totally honest, I lost my desire to write towards the end of the year. One reason was Christmas and having fun with new people in London. But also, I was less interested in the content I had been writing the previous few months. I was mainly writing pieces to try and get views. Like this piece for example.

I think many writers fall into this trap and it inevitably ends up killing their desire to write. I will post more about this topic soon, as it deserves a lot more time.

Despite not writing at all in December, I made $57.04 from the previous article.

This highlights to me the benefits of putting your work out there. Although it isn’t high returns, I still viewed it as money from doing no work for a month. So it isn’t all bad.

I am hoping to get my writing mojo back soon and write about things that entertain myself and hopefully you as the reader.

If you are thinking about getting started on this platform, I would encourage you to do so. But be realistic with you ambitious. If you just want money fast, may I recommend you find a job in a bar (when they are open).

I will leave you with a Top Tip (from someone who has earned less than $400 in 6 months)

Consistently write about topics you ACTUALLY enjoy writing about. You never know where it may take you.