How I Made over $1000 on Articles From November 2021

What worked, what didn’t, and what’s to come

When I first started writing on Medium, I used to always do a monthly recap. I got out of the habit, but I think it’s a good practice so I’m starting up again.

Overall, I’m pleased with how my articles performed in November. I decided to give up on Newsbreak despite making over $2,000 on that platform in October and gaining almost as many followers as I have on Medium. I might go back to them at some point, but it won’t be for a while.

As the title says, I made over $1,000 on Medium in November. That’s the first time I’ve broken that barrier without a bonus. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

I found it interesting to go through my titles and reflect on how they’ve performed and what inspired them. Thanks for reading! If you haven’t yet signed up for Medium, please use my referral link (I appreciate it more than I can say):

November Articles

This was for the weekly column I write for The Writing Cooperative. I’ve been doing this column for almost a year now and I appreciate the opportunity. The articles are always distributed, and TWC is a great publication.

This one was for Johnny Silvercloud at AfroSapiophile. Mr. Silvercloud had promoted me to editor for the publication at one point, but I told him I preferred to have another set of eyes on my work. This article is a futher explanation of that sentiment.

I have a book review publication that I don’t work on enough. I managed to get up a review this month for the work of an author friend. The picture is the window next to my writing desk.

Cultured is the excellent publication by Allison Gaines. I’m an editor there, but I try not to abuse it. Honestly, I feel more pressure when I’m an editor than when I’m just a writer.

I was a little annoyed that this one didn’t perform better. It’s at 104 reads but it wasn’t distributed. I think the word “must” in the title might have hurt it.

This one has been my top performer for the month with 7.2k views at this point. It’s earned me $438 dollars for the month all on its own.

We knew it was going to happen didn’t we?

This one featured an intentionally punchy title. I expected greater pushback. Instead, I received some very insightful comments.

This article was written in response to an ongoing argument I’ve been having with a co-author. He’s wrong, I’m right.

I originally wrote this one for Newsbreak, but it was rejected and I received a “strike.” I’m not to big on being told I just received a “strike.” After I published it on Medium, somebody commented that they’d recommended it for an award, which was nice. I prefer awards to “strikes.”

White people are overrepresented in the teaching industry and this is not an accident. I’m going to have to address this issue again because this article didn’t perform as well as I would have liked. It should have.

This one was a tough one for me. I shared it on the Pantsuit Nation: Wisconsin Facebook group and they told me it was right on the line of what they would allow. That’s pretty much the line I live on.

I need to do more parenting articles. All the political stuff wears me out.

I’ll revisit this concept again. Rich people always attack anyone who fights for the working class. It’s been going on a long time.

The punchy title probably hurt this one, but I stand by it. What else can you call it when a political party is dedicated to halting affordable health care and cutting social security? Also, I did the drawing.

Johnny Silvercloud took the picture featured in this one. I assume his life was at risk when he took it.

This one was a result of a long weekend of ranting.

I drive past the house in the image every morning when I drop off my children at school. Every day I wonder, “Will this be the day the lunatic starts shooting?”

I hate the title of this article so much that I wrote another whole article about how much I hate it.

Democrats are refusing to listen to progressives, refusing to act, and refusing to listen to progressives about how to win elections. It’s infuriating.

I keep taking swings at this teacher problem, none of them have landed. I’ll keep swinging.

Yet another attempt at appealing to reason. It failed.

At some point I expect conservatives will label it “The War on Christmas” when schools tell students they can’t call their fellow LGBTQ students “sinners.” Maybe this fight is already happening.

My first response after the jury came to the wrong decision.

Conservatives were mad at Big Bird for a few days there. I did the drawing here too, it turned out pretty good I think.

I wrote this in response to a discussion that turned disrespectful and led to me blocking the individual involved. I do that a lot. I’ll block people and then write an article about how they’re wrong.

We have to restore some sanity to the discussion of gun laws.

Another article on the Rittenhouse verdict. I include the full text of the Wisconsin statute that the judge said was “confusing.” I don’t agree it is confusing.

I did an interview with a radio station this month. The host called me after reading this to congratulate me on it.

Many of our social conventions are just put in place to cover up behavior that is detrimental to our whole society.

I took the picture here. True story.

This was my own response to the “Hidden Gems” article.

This one appears to be picking up some steam. I hope so. It’s important.

Reflections on family, cathartic to write.

I wrote this for a local publication and they were too cowardly to publish it. It was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see if they would take it or not. Too bad.

A poem. Kind of a different approach. It’s performed pretty well actually.

I changed the title at the last minute. I wanted to write about how our government should reflect the demographics of our population but I couldn’t say that in a way that sounded sexy.

I kind of expected this one to perform better. People need to say this more, it’s the other side of the coin after all.

This one is a general frustration to which most people can probably relate.

See you in December

It’s been a busy month. One of my daughters is in basketball, the other is taking piano. This means that most days of the week are busy until about 6PM.

My wife’s work is an hour drive away, so the winter weather always makes me nervous. Fortunately, it’s been mild, although I don’t know what that portends for the health of the planet.

For those of you who need the reminder, get your Christmas shopping done. These last few weeks fly by. I’ll try for 2 articles a month for December.

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has signed up to Medium through my referral link. I notice that and it helps a LOT! Happy Holidays!