How to Grow a Large Medium Income From a Small Following
It’s easier than you think
I love myself a good Medium title. This one made me chuckle. You probably hate dad jokes like most mortals, but I had to get this one off my chest.
No, clever titles don’t work well on Medium. But sometimes you have to write them anyway to make yourself laugh.
Here we are.
Now they I’ve wasted 30 seconds of your life, let’s get to the eggs and bacon.
You can use Medium to do well for yourself, even if you have a small following.
Recent changes to the Medium app (and soon to be website) will make it easier for good writers to make a steady income. The partner program has been a roller coaster thus far.
The new, reader-centric changes will help fix some of these income dips. You can read more here:
How to earn more with fewer
If you’ve got a small Medium following your stats board may be discouraging. There’s nothing worse than spending two hours writing a story, publishing, and waiting — only to find zero reads after three days.
Maybe you thought about quitting.
Before you toss your hands and blame ‘the man,’ try these five strategies to earn a large Medium income from a small following.
- Publish daily — Don’t want to? OK. I understand. I do. But there are another 5,000 writers in line behind you, who will. If you want people to read your work you’ve got to give them plenty to read.
- The partner program is a small piece — Make you’re writing work harder for you. It takes a lot to earn a new reader. If all you offer is your stories, your income is at the mercy of the platform, at pennies per read.
- Sell something small — Don’t wait until you finish your giant course before you make an offer to your readers. Start with something small. Build a micro-course (a single solution under $50, that can be consumed in less than an hour). Sell a handful of short stories. Sell a little consulting package. Not only does this establish a commercial relationship with your readers (you’ll sell this through email, not on Medium), it also brings in a steady income flow as you build your mega course.
- Start your own publication — Anyone can start a publication. You get the added bonus of an email newsletter and a pseudo website. Grow yourself publication as you grow. You’ll have the ability to reach your Medium readers directly. You can’t do that with a civilian account.
- Start your email list today — Every creator starts at zero. If you stay an email list today, you’ll be that much closer tomorrow. A single Medium reader might be worth three cents a story, but that same person could be worth thousands over her lifetime as a customer, off the platform.
Build your tribe today
Whether you’ve got a small Medium following or a large one, email is the great equalizer.
When you’ve got email you have a direct way to each your audience. No so with social.
With email you don’t have to pay for ads to reach your entire customer list.
Email allows you to sell you best work, automatically, while you sleep, using an automated welcome sequence.
Your email will actually do the hard-selling for you, so you’ve got more time to practice your best work.
I’ve got something. Just for you…
When you build a tribe around your best work, even if you’re starting-out, you’ve got an instant audience when you’re ready to fly.
I built a free email masterclass for you. I hand-crafted the whole thing. It took me a couple months. I call the masterclass the Tribe 1K.
I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads. Past students include New York Times bestselling authors. Yep, the ones you see in the bookstore.
Your email list will help you build a legacy creative business.
If you want to grow your creative business you need email before you lose that valuable reader. Start your list before you need one. Once you need a list it’s almost too late.
Guarantee your seat before I charge an enrollment fee.
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 email marketing expert for writers and creators, August helps indies make more work that sells and sell more work they make. The core of August’s process is your email list. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August hangs-out with his beautiful wife and handsome son, carries a pocket knife, and shaves his head with a safety razor.
