How I Made $187.23 My Second Month on Medium

I examine my steps and activities to help the fellow writer write, publish, and earn on Medium.

Quick Takeaways to Earn Money in Your First Two Months

• Create a backlog of at least 2 month’s worth of stories BEFORE you start posting
• Read other writers work BEFORE you start posting
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Choose 3 niches to write in that are closely related
• Use one story idea to create multiple pieces
• Read within your niches to see which stories are the most popular
• Create a content calendar and strategy to keep you focused
• Join Medium social media groups
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Learn and master the rules of grammar, syntax, and SEO
• Read through the Medium Blogging Guide and Medium user guides as though they were textbooks — learn them, embody them, make them become second nature
• Engage with other people on the platform and in social groups
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Become a writer for all of the big publications within your niche

• Read publications most recent articles to learn voice, format, and what the readers engage with before submitting
• Write knowledgeable evergreen content well
• Write content that gives some sort of value to the reader
• Make sure the title and subtitle of your article are clear and tell the reader what they will learn
• Publish multiple times with a big publication so that you become a trusted name and brand
• Aim for commissioned or paid assignment work with one of the Medium owned publications.
• Have the days when you publish, share, and submit be different than your writing days so that you can put more effort and energy into getting eyes on your work
• Publish or share at least two articles a day at varying times in varying publications(this doesn’t mean you have to write them every day, just share)
• Share old stories like new stories to keep them earning money
• Share your articles widely and at varying times throughout the day
• Take time off to write
• Read your readers’ work
• Follow people who read what you write
• Interact with the people that you follow and that follow you
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Build a newsletter group for your Medium content
• Change the titles, subtitles, and SEO settings of older stories to get new engagement
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Take time off to live
• Experiment with your process and style

Who I Am and What I Am Doing

I go about my practice on this site very methodically. I strategize, experiment, and try to do everything I can to test Medium and myself. When I first began, curation and writing everyday was what everyone said would net you big bucks on this site. I’ve since learned that they are wrong.

Or at least confused, out-of-date, misinformed. The new Medium doesn’t care if you publish 5 times a day or zero times a day. What it cares about is if you write relational content well. So even if a piece isn’t curated, if it relates to what you normally write and what people come to you to read, it will get recommended and suggested at the bottom of your articles.

Instead of using what everyone says writers should do, I’m going to layout what I did based off of my professional experience and reading TONS of articles by Medium about Medium.

Yeah, sure, I love to dissect a good earnings post, but realistically, most of them don’t give real steps or takeaways. They talk about what worked for them or another top writer. On the other hand reading Medium produced content assures that you are playing by the rules of the house and the players.

If you know me, you know I love dissecting and examining my process. It’s mainly done so that I can be ever better, constantly improving and challenging myself. What’s great about introspection? My internal examination can be used to help others.

For the past two months, I have been documenting my journey on Medium and doing a weekly write up. It’s all in order to show writers a detailed way to make money on Medium. It is possible. You can write content on here and make hundreds or thousands of dollars.

But you can’t do it by just writing. You have to do a whole hell of a lot to even scrape by and have fun on this site. Well, unless you’re one of those writers who only writes for the joy of an empty room of mirrors. If so, this article really isn’t for you.

I’m a professional writer and editor off of this platform. I write a lot. I publish a lot. And I love to share my knowledge and experience with others. I want to make Medium another revenue stream and platform for building an audience. My BIG goal is to make $100 a day on this site by July.

December was my first full month on Medium. I started with a simple goal of making $1/day during that month and ended up making $36.38. I learned a lot about how to earn and gain loyal followers. Using what I learned and my own experience as a writer, I was able to up my earnings by 500% to just under $200 in my second month.

January Report of Strategies

I tried different things during the month to see what delivered the best results, what mattered more curation or engagement, and what were the best publications in my niche. Taking what I learned last month, I approached January with a new angle.

I focused on writing a lot, publishing a little, and engaging/reading the most. My goal was to publish and share 2–3 pieces a week, submit to more publications, write 6 articles a week, and read each day — except for on weekends where I took time off to write, love, and live.

During the month, my strategy changed — as it should and does. I began interacting and reading more of my readers work. I kept up with writing 6 articles a week and reading every day, but did not worry too much about my publishing frequency as my sharing frequency.

I started sharing an article once in the morning and once in the afternoon in social groups and on pages. I also started a Medium Writers’ Club within my writing newsletter. It’s a place where I can share more of my work with a select number of readers. But I mainly use the group to share other writers work and promote their pages.

While in December I focused heavily on curation, in January, I barely thought about it. In fact, most of my top earners weren’t curated stories. They were stories like this one. Stories about Medium or about how to make money writing.

Because that topic worked for me at the beginning of the month, I kept writing things like it. Each one took off and earned me more than a single article ever has. Which in my short time isn’t saying a lot. Will I continue writing about making money as a writer?

Yeah, for sure. I know how to do it. People want to know how to do it. It earns me money doing it. That’s a win-win for me. Will it be all I write about? Hell no!

January’s reports and earnings also showed me that while my pieces about earning money were getting lots of reads and earnings, my older pieces that never took off were also getting read. Somehow my non-curated pieces were getting views from people who didn’t normally read my stuff.

That’s partly due to the fact that I earned 3 top writer badges in Writing, Poetry, and Fiction. But it’s more due to that relational thing Medium is doing. I’ve been writing consistent quality content in my niche(s) for two months. If someone reads poetry, they’re more likely to get recommendations of my stuff after they read a poem or another one of my articles.

People are reading me because they know I deliver.

When I first started this, I charted out how I was going to steadily increase each month’s daily earnings. January, I was supposed to make $2/day, but I thought I’d challenge myself and aim for $3/day. I ended up making an average of $5/day in January ORGANICALLY.

Some days I earned close to $30 a day and some days I earned less, but toward the end of the month, I steadily earned at least $5 each day while not doing any promotion. Today’s the last day of the month, and I am on track to making at least $5.

Worst Story of the Month

Like always, my fiction is my lowest performer. It is what I love to write, though, so I have decided to change the way I publish fiction.

After reading through the stories in the Fiction tag that got the most engagement, I realized that they are all packaged as though they are real stories. The headlines and even subtitles are written like top earning Medium articles. Using that knowledge, I’ll be publishing fiction that appears real on the surface

Best Story of the Month

Writing about making money from writing pays well, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t experiment a little.

Instead of focusing on the big picture in February, I’ll spend sometime writing detailed articles about each point on my list of things to do to make money. These will be complimentary pieces for the writer who wants to do deeper study into the craft of earning.

Takeaways for Any Writer on Medium

• Land a spot in all of the big publications within your niche
• Choose 3 niches to write in that are closely related
• Read publications most recent articles to learn voice, format, and what the readers engage with before submitting
• Publish multiple times with a big publication so that you become a trusted name and brand
• Share your articles widely and at varying times throughout the day
• Take time off to write
• Make sure the title and subtitle of your article are clear and tell the reader what they will learn
• Build a newsletter group for your Medium content
• Read your readers’ work
• Use one story idea to create multiple pieces
• Read through the Medium Blogging Guide and Medium user guides as though they were textbooks
• Engage with other people on the platform and in social groups
• Change the titles, subtitles, and SEO settings of older stories to get new engagement
• Share old stories like new stories to keep them earning money
• Show yourself without showing your ass
• Learn and master the rules of grammar, syntax, and SEO
• Follow people who read what you write
• Interact with the people that you follow and that follow you
• Join Medium social media groups
• DON’T BE A DICK
• Take time off to live
• Experiment with your process and style
• Create a content calendar and strategy to keep you focused

Plans for February

My aim for February is to make at least $280 in the whole month or $10 a day. I’ll keep interacting and engaging with my readers, so that I can keep my base earning $5/day going. I also have several high quality articles waiting on acceptance or scheduled for publication at top publishers.

Since it’s Black History Month and Women in Horror Month, I want to write a flash story a day featuring Black characters and storylines in horror settings. I usually do something like this every August so am accustomed to the output. While doing that, I’ll continue crafting more articles in my expertise.

I want to shot high when it comes to publications this month, so I will be aiming to get articles in Better Humans, OneZero, and Forge. In accordance with my own advice, I’ll be aiming at having multiple pieces published in The Writing Cooperative. The publication is one of the biggest in my niche. By doing this, I’ll be establishing myself more as an expert in my field.

In January, I reached 1,000 followers. Holy shit! Thanks. But that means there are tons of you out there that I haven’t met or read or interacted with. What a shame. I want to start going through and engaging more with the people who support me.

By doing so, I’ll get to know my audience, make friends, and earn more. If you’re familiar with how Medium calculates earnings and pay outs, then you know that the more time a member spends on your stories over other stories, the more you earn. I want to have people see me as a regular in their daily reading and learning adventures.

All of these goals are pretty doable and challenge me, but none as much as my final goal. I want to gain 1,000 new followers in one month. It’s taken me 2 months to reach the number I have now, but if I want to see true organic returns on my content, I need people who want to read it, who yearn to read it.

I want readers who factor my content into their daily lives.

It’s going to take a combination of everything I listed above and more to reach that number. But I believe in myself and have a kick ass practice, so it’s achieve-able. I just have to put in the work and commit to the process. Just like we all do.

Aigner Loren Wilson is a 3x Top Writer in Fiction, Writing, and Poetry. Her work has appeared in P.S. I Love You, Better Marketing, The Writing Cooperative, and more. She offers a writing craft newsletter to people who want to become better writers and publish quality pieces.