How to Earn $325 Per Week Doing Nothing But Writing on Medium

If you want a part-time job alternative, Medium is your new friend

We’ve closed another profitable month on Medium and while there are just as many naysayers as their are Medium optimists, this is still a great place to each a bunch of money from your part-time writing.

…and recurring income at that.

While Medium isn’t for the feint of heart, or the dabbler who wants to write occasionally — if you’re looking for extra writing income, here we are.

There are some truths as well.

You will probably not make six-figures here. Those spots are reserved for a small handful of very prolific and beloved Medium writers — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for it.

There are some fundamentals that will help you. But Medium is wide-open for your interpretation. It’s the damn Wild West over here — the great equalizer are the claps and reads.

If you don’t create content people enjoy, you won’t be paid.

But you’re welcome to submit anything your little fingers can pound. Those of us who do well, write a lot. Like, a whole lot. A few thousand words a day — lot.

Make your own format and stick with it

I like the three-act structure for my stories. I don’t always use it, but do more than don’t. When you write with a structure, you’ll save yourself writing time. And time you must save, because you’ll need a lot of time at the keyboard if you want to earn money on Medium.

Your format includes your niche.

Some writers do well writing for everyone. I’m of the camp we need to choose a niche to serve. When you serve a niche well, your readers will come to appreciate not only your voice and story format, but also your choice of topics.

We want readers to return.

This is how you build higher read times and more claps. Yes, if the same people constantly clap your stories, you’ll earn less from them, but their appreciated activity will help get your work noticed by new readers.

Choose your niche carefully. Not all niches respond as well on Medium.

Use high-response tags. Don’t bother using tags for non-curated categories. Most people will never see those tags. Write your face off and dominate your niche. We need you to show up every time we turn on the computer or open the app.

Prepare for the long-game

Medium isn’t a make-money-tomorrow kind of place. Although you can do well in your first couple months out the gate, prepare yourself for a long process.

This process includes your daily workflow.

If you only want to write M-F, make sure you write extra stories to schedule over the weekend, when there’s a flurry of traffic on Medium.

You want the algorithm never to forget about you. The idea is to grow your readership over time. The reads and claps, the more you get paid.

Write on your phone — this will give you a ton of spare writing time.

Edit the story when you get a chance to sit, but you can get the bones of a great article written on your phone, using time you’d otherwise spend waiting for a stop light, waiting for the doctor, or waiting for your boss to reprimand you.

The long game means not worrying about the short-term losses.

Not every month will go up. Some months your income will drop. Over time, in aggregate, if you write every day your Medium income will increase. This is the long game.

Prepare for D-Day

There will come a time when the Medium model changes. It will get harder to earn money here. Maybe no longer worth our time. Instead of packing-up with nothing to show for it, make sure you keep copies of all your writing in a place you own, not just the platform.

Also, start building your email list today.

You need a way to get a hold of your tribe. You need traffic you own. If you don’t own your traffic you don’t have an indie publishing business.

This should be a list you control (instead of relying on social media or some other big-business platform). Tap the link below. Enroll in my Tribe 1K indie email masterclass. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 subscribers (and your next 1,000) without spending one hot nickel on ads.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.