A BOOST MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT

How I Earned $2,150+ in One Month on Medium

Being Boosted and what I’ve learned

At the end of February, I experienced a milestone in my Medium journey when one of my articles was selected for a Boost, Medium’s new process for providing distribution to the articles they deem worthy. This unexpected turn of events not only helped me understand the elusive feature but also provided valuable insights into my writing strategy, audience engagement, and the potential for making a living on Medium.

My Advice on Getting Boosted

While I had never even heard of the feature when the selection was made, I’ve come to learn a fair amount about it in the weeks since.

First, it doesn’t seem as though there’s a simple trick to being selected. From the selections that I’ve seen so far, I’m thankful to say that it doesn’t exactly appear to be a result of hacking the system as I had feared. There were guidelines that Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine laid out, although if there are any crucial distinctions in this new selection process from the previous distribution system that Medium had in place, they’re fairly minor.

I did feel as though the article I wrote fell pretty well within those parameters, but I still don’t know who made the selection or precisely why.

The truth is, I don’t feel as though the majority of what I write would be a candidate for this sort of distribution. The guidelines were pretty clear, for instance, that articles about earnings and Medium itself were disqualifiers — so it looks like this article’s off the table. I doubt any of my dream-related or fiction pieces are very likely to get picked up either. I’m also not so sure about my satire.

If I had to narrow down why my article was selected to just one point in Stubblebine’s guidelines, I would say it’s because I attempted to tackle an important subject with insights I hadn’t heard elsewhere.

I think the article owes a lot of its success simply to the fact that it was a clearly written piece about artificial intelligence. So if I had to provide my advice on how to get one of your own articles selected for a Boost, it wouldn’t exactly be in the form of shortcut offerings. I would say to avoid writing clickbait, hone your craft and really lean into your own voice on the subjects you feel most strongly about. I think having passions that appeal broadly can’t hurt either.

The Effects of Being Boosted

One of the other things that I’ve learned is that not all boosts are created equal. Stubblebine himself has said as much, so this may not come as a huge surprise. He explained that these Boosts could vary in magnitude between swells of 500 views and 100,000 views. I’m not sure if there’s a decision making process that goes into deciding which articles receive which levels of Boost but mine appears to have gotten the latter.

As of right now, my piece has actually reached 112,000 views. Although it didn’t stop completely after passing over that 100,000 bench mark, the initial momentum of the piece has nearly died. It almost felt like the Boost knew to end itself when it began to near the goalpost. Where at 80,000 views it showed almost no sign of slowing, once the piece passed over 95,000 it began to seem almost as though I was being systematically weened from the spotlight.

As it’s coming to an end now, I’m gaining a perspective, though, on just how huge of a Boost this was. I’m not sure how it’s possible, but my article has done significantly better than even most of the pieces posted by Barack Obama, Zulie Rane and Tim Denning. I’m not sure which should impress me most. Although my averages still haven’t reached President or semi-famous Youtuber status, I have a lot to be thankful for.

I’ve reached goals I didn’t expect to reach for another year at least. I’ve gotten a glimpse into the bizarre notion that, when treated seriously, Medium can actually provide a full-time income.

Knowing how many deserving writers there are on Medium, I was a little reluctant about admitting the financial impact that this had. Given that in my first year I hadn’t passed over that $100 a month goal even once in spite of my nearly 250 articles posted, though, it was nice to see my work finally rewarded.

With the rush of views and engagement of the past few weeks though, I hardly made less than $50 a day all throughout March. I earned $2,160 total in March. The Boosted piece alone has now earned $2,387 from the cumulative 605 hours spent reading it.

One of the other opportunities that I’ve found in this Boost was the ability to see how effectively some of my Medium strategies are working. For awhile, I’ve been conflicted about whether or not it’s really worth the effort to include box links or affiliate sign up links at the end of each of my articles. Before the Boost, it was impossible for me to tell whether the method had any use at all.

Having a piece viewed over 110,000 times, though, put the strategy through a large scale test. Perhaps one of the clearest things that I’ve learned here in moving forward is that those links certainly work. Even if it’s only one in a hundred who click on them, they’ve done their job. My three most successful articles of the month behind my Boosted piece were each of the three articles that I included box-linked at the bottom of it. The affiliate links certainly work, as well.

All in all the Boosted piece has received 5,000 claps from 723 people. I’ve managed to gain 13 new referred members from it. It’s totaled over 100 comments. If I include the comments of all the spammers whose accounts got deleted within the day, it might have reached well over 150.

The Downside to Being Boosted

Perhaps the only downside to this whole experience is the sheer number of spam accounts that I’ve encountered. I had realized beforehand that this could sometimes be a serious problem on Medium, but it had never before occurred to me just how bad it can be. Going strictly off of my personal experience here, I’ve begun to conclude that Medium is less effective with addressing this bad faith behavior than some of the other comparable social media apps.

One of the strangest aspects of all of these spam accounts was how few of them even appeared to be goal-oriented. The cryptocurrency scammers are annoying, but at least I understand what they’re trying to accomplish. That they could be very successful on Medium is something I’m a little cynical about, though. Oh well, to each their own.

These other accounts, though, behave in ways that are simply perplexing. I’ve been added to “lists” no less than a thousand times now. What they could hope to gain by simply adding me to their read lists without even spamming me I really can’t fathom. Obviously, they’re not trying to read my articles… six different times. Most of the accounts are deleted within only hours.

That one of the lists I was added to was called “Bounty” wasn’t reassuring. I want no part of any bounty lists!

It’s hard to overstate how many of these notifications I got in total.

Equally confounding, though, are the highlighters. I’ve encountered masses of people now who appear to just highlight one single word from my article before promptly leaving. Not a paragraph, not a sentence, not a phrase — just single words. It’s not quite as pervasive of a problem as the list-adders, but it’s left me equally stumped.

Did you just really connect with the way I said “speculating?” Did you feel impacted by the lone word “ignore?” If there’s something you want from me, just say it!

And then there are the users who highlight only individual words, but repeatedly.

What is going on here? Is this a code? Because if “lofty sentiment dilemmas fetishes nefarious pervaded” means something, I’d like to know. Just for my safety — in case they know the bounty list maker.

Or is it an acronym? Does LSDFNP mean anything to you guys?

How about PNFDSL. Any cryptologists in the crowd? No?

I digress.

In conclusion

This Boost has been pretty huge for me. It hasn’t exactly catapulted me into viral fame, but it’s a step in the right direction. March marks the first time in my life I’ve made a livable paycheck from doing something I love. In fact, it’s probably the largest monthly paycheck I’ve ever seen for anything.

I can’t quite afford a home, but that I can even afford to buy meals is a little more than I expected at this juncture. Even fast food is tasty when it’s paid for by speaking sincerely on the subjects in life I feel most strongly about.

My experience with the Medium Boost has been nothing short of revelatory. It’s made clear to me that dedication, passion, and authenticity can lead to success in the world of writing.

You know what costs just over 3/5 of a gum ball per day? Supporting the aspiring writer whose article you just finished! Additionally, by the powers vested in me, I’ll grant you unlimited access to the work of all the writers on this platform. All you have to do is sign up through this link here! Can you spare the equivalent of just over 3/5 of one gum ball per day? 🧐