Summary

The article discusses strategies for writers to increase their earnings on Medium by building an audience and leveraging email marketing.

Abstract

The author acknowledges the frustration of writers on Medium who are not making significant money despite the platform's potential. With a vast number of active writers and possibly more content than interested readers, standing out is challenging. The article suggests that to earn more, writers should not rely solely on Medium's direct earnings but should also focus on building a tribe through email marketing. By doing so, writers can maintain control over their audience and promote their work more effectively, potentially surpassing earnings from Medium alone. The author emphasizes the importance of engaging with an audience that enjoys the content and suggests using Medium as a stepping stone to grow an independent platform, ensuring that writers can continue to practice their craft while moving towards replacing their day job.

Opinions

Medium's growth and changes have attracted many writers, but the platform's earnings potential may not meet expectations for all.
The volume of content on Medium may exceed reader interest, making it difficult for individual writers to gain traction and earn money.
Writers should consider Medium as part of a broader author platform and not just a direct source of income.
Building an email list is crucial for authors to have direct control over their audience and to promote their work independently of any platform.
Medium's incentive structure prioritizes overall platform engagement rather than promoting individual writers, especially newcomers.
Writers need to actively promote their stories if they want to earn money from reads on Medium.
Email marketing is seen as an insurance policy for writers, allowing them to retain their audience regardless of changes on Medium or other social platforms.
The author offers a free "Tribe 1K email masterclass" to help writers build their email list and grow their readership without relying on paid advertising.

How to Make Money on Medium When You’re Not

Sometimes the answer lies within your tribe

There’s nothing more frustrating than writing your face-off on some platform you just joined, where you’ve been convinced you’ll earn money, and not making enough for coffee.

I get it.

Medium is still a growing platform. It’s been stuffed with changes and challenges over the past few years. And it’s convinced a ton of writers to toss their beanies in the punch bowl.

There are something like 30,000 active writers on Medium.

I have no idea of their daily traffic, but I’m sure there is more content being produced than interested parties able to consume it.

This makes for a problem when you want to earn money from your stories.

It’s hard to keep writing when you might earn pennies per hour. If you’re not here for commercial reasons, that’s cool too. But if you want to earn more than a ditch digger, it’s time to boost other aspects of your author platform.

While you may to continue to earn little from Medium directly, you can earn a whole lot more with a few tweaks in your process.

When you earn money from your writing you get incentive to write more tomorrow.

I know many writers write for the pleasure of the process. However, the opportunity to practice your favorite craft, while moving closer to replacing your day job, is a big incentive for many more.

What gives?

How do we keep writing, even if we barely generate a couple nickels from our Medium stories?

First, it might be time to look at your content with a critical eye. Perhaps no one is reading your content, because you don’t have an audience interested in your content.

It might be time to change focus.

If you know your audience likes your work, you an move to step two — build a tribe away from Medium.

While the Medium carrot is highly motivating (it worked on me), if you’re not earning much money on the platform you can still use the platform to help you earn more.

We’re talking email.

When you build an automated email marketing back-end to your Medium stories, the process will help you build a tribe of people. You control the message. You control the list.

No platform can take your tribe from you when you build a list you own.

Not Medium.

Not spacebook

Not the tweeter.

Platforms have a different agenda than we authors do. We want readers to keep returning to our work. The platforms want readers to stay on the platform (and keep the subscription dollars coming).

Medium has no incentive to promote your writing, in particular.

Especially if you’re a newer writer to the platform.

This means you’ve got to do all the legwork to promote your stories. If you want to be paid for reads, you’ve got to tell the others. This can be very discouraging for a long time, before you finally see money worth ‘writing home about.’

Build yourself an insurance policy.

You may not have many readers now, so it’s even more critical you don’t let them get away from you. You need a platform to help remind them you’ve got more to read, you’ve got books to buy, and maybe a course to offer them.

Email helps automate your writing sales.

Email is the great equalizer for writers.

Most writers look at Medium as a passive experience.

We write. Readers read. They leave. We write some more stuff and hope readers find us again.

This is a bad way to earn a steady, job-replacing income. We need a way to remind our readers why they like our work to begin with.

Writers need email.

If you want, I’d like to invite you to guarantee your seat in my Tribe 1K email masterclass. The masterclass is free. I’ll show you how to gather your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads.

Tap the link.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my 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.