avatarJosh Spilker

Summarize

Here’s How Much I Made on Medium in December 2023

A 40% increase (true, but lol)

I’ll start with the teaser.

Medium Income for December 2023

My income on Medium did go up 40% but it was from $65.77 to $93.27. A full 41%

I’m chuckling, because that’s not much money.

But it’s growing, right? Progress.

My goal was $100 for the month of December, but it was also the holidays so I didn’t write as many articles.

You can see the full breakdown below.

  • August: $9.05
  • Sept: $58.58
  • Oct: $59.55
  • Nov: $65.77
  • Dec: $93.27

Medium Views

  • August: 1804
  • Sept: 4277
  • Oct: 4662
  • Nov: 4659
  • Dec: 5100

That’s only a 10% increase in views, so it shows there is not always a correlation between views and money made.

What articles did well?

Here’s a list of my highest-producing articles for the month. It’s really a long-tail effect, as I wouldn’t say I had any homeruns.

My most popular article, income-wise, only made $11.35.

Popular topics for me are note-taking and productivity, so I’ll continue to lean into those while experimenting with some others too. I like writing and creativity, so I’ll continue to write and add to the conversation with those.

Follower Count

Follower count also seemed on average compared to the past 3 months. I haven’t focused on this too much (i.e. asking people to follow me on Medium) even though I close most of my articles with my Medium profile link.

I’ll take that off for the next set of articles and only use my CTA to a product to see what happens.

August: 11697

September: 11774

October: 11841

November: 11909

December: 11972

Followers are a lagging indicator. They grow after you’ve already proven yourself a few times with stories and insights. Once you’ve demonstrated value, then the followers come over, in my opinion.

Gumroad & Products

I keep tweaking my products on Gumroad, trying to find the right mix.

I’m finding the right lead magnet, but am having trouble getting upgrades at the conversion rate I’d like to.

Most of these are Notion templates, but I may create a different product, such as an ebook and a video upgrade to see if I can improve my overall sales.

But let’s take a look at the growth.

Most of the “sales” are free downloads of my Quick Note-Taking Cheat Sheet & Template. I started offering an upgrade to the Productive Writer Starter Pack and have sold only a few.

The conversion rate went down slightly, but revenue did increase a little.

I’m looking for a few steadier, consistent products to take this to the next level and I don’t think I’ve hit it yet.

Offering Changes

I took off something I called the Online Writer Starter Pack and combined it with my Productivity Pack to create this 10x Writer Starter Pack, with a daily focus template, weekly to-do list, Medium article tracker, book notes and more.

It’s kind of like a bundle.

Future

As mentioned, I think I’ll try:

  • An ebook, as a paid offering. Maybe something about writing online, Medium, or SEO
  • More Notion templates. I see other people doing this, so I know there’s a market. It’s a balance between creating some ones that I’m interested in versus what the market wants. I’m looking for that overlap.

Hit me back with any questions, and here are my products on Gumroad if you’re interested.

  • Any other product ideas?
  • Questions about the writing process?
  • What else do you want to know about Medium?

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