How I Jumped From $0.17 and 147 Views to $500 and 30K
Here are my 10 lessons learned in 10 months to help you jump to the next level. Yes, you can make money on Medium too!
Recently, I answered this question on Quora:
This uplifting and insightful story received several upvotes and shares.
That’s why I wanted to republish it on ILLUMINATION and even add exclusive insights for you, which I didn’t share on Quora.
Let me start by saying:
Yes, you can write, jump to the next level and make money online on Medium!
Great intro, isn’t it?
I’ll show you how do-able this whole online writing thing can be for you, when you’re new(ish) to Medium.
I just need to say, you’ve got this, dear new writers.
You can build something bigger than you ever dreamed possible.
I started with zero followers, earnings and views
Over the past 10 months, I’ve written around 330 articles on Medium and accumulated more than 80k views on my work.
December 2020
I started my writing journey at the end of December 2020 with 147 views and $0.17.
January 2021
As a new mom, I started writing on a niche topic: parenting.
Within one month I became Top Writer in #Parenting.
April 2021
After three months on this inspiring platform, I started writing seriously. I wanted to make a 30-Day-Challenge.
Unfortunately, I failed — due to my Mummy duties, and Mother’s Block.
Still, I managed to publish 24 articles, became one of the Top 1,000 writers on Medium, and received my first $500 cash bonus.
Moreover, I tripled my earnings, increased my views by 180%, and gained 200 new fans.
Do you want more details? In this popular article, I shed a light on my first bonus month and took a closer look at the key metrics.
May to September 2021
From May to September, I’ve become a Top Writer in 14 different categories — # Writing, #Advice, #Social Media and so on.
October 2021
Within the last 30 days, I got around 30,000 views.
My earnings increased to around $500.
You can earn money on Medium too
My motto is: If I can do it, you can do it too!
As you may know, I love to share my experience and help other writers on this platform.
I’m beyond excited to share my lessons learned with you. I’ll break down what it really takes to earn money on Medium.
10 lessons I’ve learned over the past 10 months
I used to be a travel blogger, studied journalism and media comms.
I’ve been in the Medium online writing game for 10 months now.
If you’re wondering what it takes to earn money on Medium, I’m here to help.
#1 — Show up and be willing to do the work
It takes work and time to succeed on Medium as well as on any other online (writing) platform.
You have to be willing to put pen to paper and improve your writing with every new story you publish.
But for me, work is far more than that.
It’s your growth mindset that helps you to push through challenges that arise and stick to the goal you have: to become a prolific writer and earn decent money online.
#2 — Make writing a micro-habit
We’re all blank slates. Our daily habits shape who we are as human beings.
Everything we do should be built around taking micro-steps that are too small to fail and together add up to something big.
Even if it’s only 15 minutes of writing per day you can build a micro-habit.
Break the bad habit of not writing and build a meaningful writing habit instead.
Follow my simple 15-minute rule for writers and write at least one post per day:
#3 — The best stories happen in the comments section
Including other writers’ comments and /or work is part of this platform's netiquette, I think.
My writing is inspired by so many amazing writers. I love to quote them and link to their work.
The subtitle of ‘Dear New Writers, Watch Out For Bots’, for instance, is inspired by Patricia Haddock who commented on one of my short stories the following:
Based on this comment, I wrote a long form article about bots on Medium.
Well, as Patricia said ‘bots are like ants at a picnic. No matter what you do. They keep coming back.’ LOL. 😂
#4 Good writing karma is key
Within the past last 10 months, I’ve learned nothing on this platform happens without your reason.
Medium, as a social media platform, is all about relationships.
Helping others is a very good way to move forward.
Whatever you do now will impact your online writing business at some point in the future — positively or negatively.
What you get in a couple of months depends on what you build now!
Here’s more about what writing karma exactly is and how you can make it happen:
#5 — Find inspiration from other newbies and emerging writers
When you’re new(-ish) on Medium, you often start searching for inspiration from Medium’s Top Writers.
As far as I’m concerned, I love to read newbie writers as well as emerging writers, for instance, Kristina Segarra, Yana Bostongirl, Burk, Robert Ralph, or Yousuf Rafi and Edina Abena Jackson.
The beauty of reading the work of new or emerging writers is that they aren't biased.
Their stories have their own touch and new insights.
They share their lessons and learnings and oftentimes can help you more than experienced Top Writers.
#6 — Read, read, read
Have you ever wondered what the top writers on this platform do differently? They read extensively📰. Every single day.
That’s smart! By reading the work of others you are constantly improving your own skills and can learn a lot.
If you want to learn what’s popular on Medium, here’s an easy hack:
- Type in the domain of the publication you love, for instance, ‘Know Thyself, Heal Thyself’ (KTHT) by owner and chief-editor Diana C.
- add: /archive
- You get to the archive of stories published by KTHT. Sort by ‘most read’. Voilà! Here’s my friend Yousuf Rafi with his viral article.
Hint: You can use this archive-hack with every pub you like and where you want to read a story that resonates with the community.
#7 — Become a data-driven writer
I’m a marketing manager. From a marketing perspective, every single piece of content you create is a data point.
- experiment with different headlines
- experiment with different (niche) topics
- listen to the data on your ‘Stats Page’ — they are telling you what’s working and what’s not working.
The ‘average read ratio’ is the key metric in regard to earnings.
But there’s more. On your ‘Stats Page’ you can also see the views (=people who clicked on your article), reads (=people who read your article), and the read ratio (ratio between views and reads).
Oftentimes claps and comments are only vanity metrics.
Moreover, this article shows claps can mislead you:
‘Quora’s New Passive Income Model Could Make You A Millionare‘ only received 345 claps in the front end BUT 8.8K views and 4.8K reads in the back end, which is awesome.
Here’s the article:
#8 — Dare to write short form
Oftentimes I wonder why so many writers think longer is better.
From a lot of new writers I heard they think there is a standard of 3 minutes read plus.
Here’s the inside scoop: there is no such standard.
A short form post can just be as good as a long one and can go viral too.
At the end of last year, Medium introduced short form writing — meaning short pieces with 150 words or less.
I’m an avid writer for ‘The Shortform’ by Tom Fenske and Top Writer in #Short Story. I wrote several viral short form posts and trending articles.
Here’s the proof:
#9 — Become a Top Writer
Do you want to know how I’ve become a Top Writer in 14 categories within 10 months?
- There are 73 tags (=labels) that are eligible for the Top Writer badge, for instance, #Virtual Reality, #This happened to me, #Love…
- With the right tag for your stories, you might get hundreds of extra eyes on your articles.
- Write frequently about the topic you’re passionate about, such as VRITANT did. He loves to write about writing and used the exact tag #Writing. Recently he received an email by Medium informing him about his Top Writer badge.
Here’s more about tagging correctly:
PS: I’ll write an article about ‘How to Become a Top Writer’ soon. (If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section I will include them in my upcoming article.)
#10— It’s the golden time of content creators
There’s one common question many new writers are obsessed with.
It’s:
Where should I be writing online in order to be successful?
The answer is simple.
Anywhere. Because it’s the golden era of content creators. There are success stories on every platform.
All fast-moving platforms, such as Quora, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium are investing in its content creators. There will be more attractive rewards in the future.
I’m intrigued, and I think you’re at the right place at the right time (if you want to) or have already started to write online.
Medium can be your primary writing platform.
Still, it’s also smart to make use of other online writing platforms and republish your content there. For instance on Quora.
There’s never been more demand for content creators than there is right now.
Final Takeaways
Start to take writing on Medium seriously.
Although it’s unpredictable since you never know how much you’re going to earn, you will become a better writer with every single story you’ll publish — and you will earn decent money for your work.
Here’s to releasing the overthinking, getting started on Medium the right way sooner than later, and jumping to the next level.
In case you have further questions, I’m happy to help you get started.
Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
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