Here’s My Two Cents Worth
Literally. Read This Post and I Get Two Cents
We Medium writers are paid solely on the basis of how long you spend reading our posts.
If you write long posts, you get more money. (Provided, of course, that anybody reads them.)
If you write short posts, like I do? Not so much.
I recently become curious about exactly how much money I actually make from each read. It wasn’t difficult to figure out.
On most days, I get around 300 reads (Thanks, readers! You rock!)
And on most days, I make about $6.
That’s 2 cents a read.
So every time you make it to the end of one of my posts?
I earn two pennies!
This, for me, has given new meaning to the expression “putting in my two cents worth.”
Since, as it turns out, that’s exactly what I am doing whenever I publish a new humor piece or personal essay on Medium.
Every day on Medium? I put in my two cents worth.
Although I’ve used that expression all my life, I’d never given it much thought, so I did a little research.
Most agree that the expression is used when you want to downplay what you’re about to say.
You’re not boasting, “What I’m about to say is worth a million dollars!”
Instead? You’re being modest. “What I’m about to say is worth two cents.”
It’s an expression of humility.
The origins of the expression are a mystery. Some people trace it back to the Biblical story of the Widow’s Mite, and others to the amount of money needed to buy into an ongoing poker game.
But everyone agrees that it signifies a small and inconsequential amount.
One commentator translates the expression as:
“Here’s my little bit of nothing.”
So? Medium Readers?
Here’s my little bit of nothing.
I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)
