SYNERGY
How to Make Six-Figure Income on Medium
A quick taste of my realistic perspectives and editorial insights
The more you earn, the happier I can be. I am on your side as a writer.
However, this story serves the purpose of checking reality to prevent disappointment, rejections, and withdrawal from practice.
I am inspired to write this story after reflecting on writers who make substantial money and share their earnings with pride. There are two sides to a coin and multiple sides to a three-dimensional fence.
Being on multiple sides of the metaphorical fence, I am not saying it is impossible to make six figures if you put in the required time and effort and make substantial trade-offs. In fact, I admire those who can do it, sacrificing some valuable aspects of their lives to do it. I wish I could, but my values and goals are different.
While some of us dislike high-income earners for various reasons, they are functional components of the ecosystem. For example, on our platform, high-income earners who share their earnings can inspire many people to join Medium. What else could be better for us here? The more, the merrier. Sometimes, not necessarily, depending on the angle you use to look at it.
My concern is different. The problem, from my perspective, relates to newbies who follow the advice without even challenging their beliefs. Many claims are belief-based rather than fact-based. More importantly, the advice is subjective and context-sensitive.
Why I specifically focus on new starters: because they see only one side of the fence and are amazed by greener pastures. These beginners cannot even get a one-figure income but aim for a six-figure. What is wrong with this aspiration?
Aspirations are essential for growth, but not factoring, in reality, can cause rejections, disappointments, loss of motivation, giving up, and even regrets from irreparable damage.
I have witnessed many new writers who have experienced this lifecycle.
Was the advice wrong, or didn’t the newbies know how to follow the instructions, or something else?
All the above!
The advice might be solid in theory but may cause a struggle in reality. Just the one-time success of an idea does not necessarily make it valid. Only after repeatable success can a piece of advice relate to a more significant population and be used in practice.
Being on this platform for over 12 months and publishing hundreds of stories read by thousands, I still see only two figures in my stats, let alone six figures.
This data is an indicator for me to challenge the claims and beliefs in “expert” advice. Just showing a single article and highlighting how much it earns can sound interesting and exciting but has little to do with six-figure earnings.
Please don’t see this perspective as discouragement. I am optimistic with a growth mindset and entrepreneurial aspirations but always operate in reality for good reasons. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed and hurt by false premises. The competition is fierce.
Let’s take the point of writing consistently. The advice for writing every day is solid, but it is no panacea for high earnings. If your stories are only reaching five to ten people a day, even if you write 15 articles a day (Medium’s limit), you still have a long way to go.
To confirm, yes, as advised by high-income earners, I am writing every day.
Then, let’s touch on advice for large followers. Having many followers does not make much difference in Medium. Ask Julia E Hubbel if you don’t believe me. When I had 100 followers a year ago, I used to get around 1,000 views a day. I now have many followers, but my stories receive half of the views. Some stories are even performing worse. As I mentioned, it does not make sense to me. But it is a reality.
As recommended by high-income earners, I am actively engaging with the stories of other writers. I have read at least 150 stories daily for the last ten months. I highlight them, applaud them, and even religiously tweet them. Yes, I am also very active on social media and always amplify my stories on my networks.
I even managed to get thousands of views from some of my articles indexed and referenced by Google and other search engines. My Pinterest boards receive 1.1 million impressions in a month. My Quora spaces get thousands of impressions. I have over 25,000 followers on LinkedIn.
Those engagements bring a lot of views but not reading time to my stories from members. In other words, those viral articles don’t bring any revenue. I witnessed pieces of some friends who got half a million views but earned only a few dollars. This is reality.
Of course, I am grateful to the new audience introduced to my content via traffic coming from external sources. They provide me with intangible values. However, intangible values do not necessarily bring six-figure income.
My situation may sound slightly different as I don’t write for money on Medium. However, my interactions and current situation may reflect insights into those who do it for money.
By the way, I am not against those who write for money. Far from it, I support them as money is a motivation for creativity and productivity. Therefore, I established SYNERGY on Medium to help writers to increase their earning chances.
Enough of introducing hidden roadblocks and negative consequences; now, let me focus on possibilities so that you get some hope and a smile on your face.
From my perspective, there appears to be only one way of earning six figures on Medium consistently. The only way is to get lucky in broad terms. Yes, luck plays a critical role in making money on Medium.
You need luck for your stories to go viral. But, as I touched on earlier, there is a caveat to this statement. Instead of external sources, your stories must go viral in the Medium ecosystem.
In other words, thousands of paid members must read your stories. If you are just receiving viral views from external sources, they are not enough to earn money. Most of the time, they are unable to earn income. Of course, there may be other benefits as I experience them in my writing practice.
Realistically, you may need at least one story per week to go viral. Is this possible? Yes and no, because this was a case for some top writers in one of my publications. We used to get a story per week going viral. Not anymore. Out of thousands of writers contributing to my publications, we experienced only a few viral stories within the last three months.
Luck is a complex topic.
Can everyone have luck? Yes, why not?
People can create their chances. However, creating luck requires a lot of work. Actual work! It is not as easy as it looks from a distance. We need to learn how to deal with uncertainty. Tolerating ambiguity is a critical skill required for creating luck.
But, I don’t use the term luck much, I replace it with “serendipity”, as it resonates better with me. So, how can we create serendipity?
Let me drill down the facts in plain language with relevant examples to unfold this complex concept.
First of all, your story must be controversial. This means that some readers must like it, and some readers must hate it. The bigger the dichotomy you have between these groups, the better outcomes you can have. Finding this balance requires substantial writing experience. Gaining this experience and developing these complex skills from books or course materials is not feasible.
But writing something controversial does not mean you need to compromise the rigor of facts and quality standards. You still need to deliver high-quality content that can mesmerize your readers and encourage them to spread the word.
Remember this term “spread the word” as it is the key player and can make a real difference in creating serendipity. Another useful term that can add clarity to this concept is synergy. To create serendipity, we first need to create synergy.
Viral stories do not just happen passively in readers’ inboxes. They must metaphorically burn the inbox by compelling the readers to share them with others. Spreading the word can initiate your content to go viral. Not many high-income earners touch on this blind spot.
You may comment and ask, if so many people write on controversial topics, how come their stories don’t go viral? Good question. There is more to this point.
The story must have an irresistible and compelling title to urge and encourage the reader to open it. It takes the reader just a few seconds to decide to read it. Can your title create an instant emotion in your readers? This is a question you need to ask when creating titles for your potential viral stories.
Your initial readers browse the first paragraph. It takes them a few seconds to decide to read the rest of the story.
If your story is too difficult, unappealing, and low quality, it instantly loses its chance even though you deliver the most tantalizing title. Worst of all, they will blame your title as clickbait. This is not a desirable situation for writers trying to reach out to a broad audience and sustain their visibility.
Not only does the reader stop reading it, but he or she also wouldn’t even care to share it. And most likely, they will never consider rereading your stories. You may get blacklisted, in other words. I witnessed many readers mute offending writers. It is a common thing on Medium.
Do you think I am demanding with these statements? Not at all. I reflect on reality by wearing my reader, writer, and editor hats. I have been on multiple sides of the fence, therefore providing practical and useful perspectives.
You may ask, what do editors have to do with viral stories? Editors play a hidden role in this process. For example, as an editor, if a story resonates with me, I read it and spread the word about it. And those who receive it spread the word to their contacts. It makes a ripple effect. So my recommendation is to submit stories with high editorial standards to any publication.
Let me elaborate on high editorial standards, as this is a crucial factor for viral stories. Editors enjoy reading and recommending clean and coherent stories. They endorse proofread, formatted, structured, well-argued, interesting, engaging stories that give readers value.
If you positively get the editors’ attention in any publication or platform, they can be a catalyst for viral stories. Featuring your story can be a catalyst for going viral. And featuring stories is an editorial role in many publications.
Even though it is different in other aspects of life, emotions prevail over logic for viral content. In other words, the more emotions your story can create, the more chance it can create of getting viral. Not necessarily good feelings. Bad emotions can sometimes trigger the reader to take action to read, criticize, and share.
Did you notice that many viral articles have substantial comments on them? The audience seems to be torn between choices. Some make the author a hero, and some the villain. And some stay neutral in between.
Reading the comments from viral stories can give us valuable insights.
2023 Updates
The most important update for 2023 on Medium is boosting, which can make a significant impact on earnings. I documented my perspectives and created a valuable and helpful checklist for new writers.
I also document my five decades of experience in generating income from writing in various formats like books, articles, stories, research, and blogs.
I have written over 100 articles about writing and content development. I hope you may find some useful stories from my collection.
Conclusions
This was a quick taste to earning a good income from your content.
Every writer wants to earn a good income. And some writers want to make a six-figure income. Creating viral stories frequently appears to be the only feasible way. You can check my formula to creating viral stories.
I have provided some preliminary and intriguing perspectives. However, I will continue to follow up on this matter. It is close to my heart because one of my goals as a publication owner is to help as many writers as possible, leading to financial gains. The more you earn, the happier I will be.
I want to explore this topic by collaborating with many writers by bringing them to a central place. To this end, I have established a unique publication called SYNERGY.
By sharing the insights of many top writers, we will discover ways to generate income. We will learn what to do and what not to do.
Modeling successful writers is the right approach, but we need to go beyond that. We need to customize what we plan to model.
By engaging in SYNERGY posts, we will have a chance to customize our learning to individual requirements.
I hope this brief introduction to earning a six-figure income provides you with useful perspectives.
My aim is to challenge your beliefs and what you learn from others realistically. Something right for someone may not necessarily be right for you.
A reasonable approach is to take the advice, test it, fail fast, and start the next iteration. Unless we secure one, two, three, four, and five, it will be very difficult to reach six figures.
Some pay the premium price to earn status in life, and some are reluctant to do so. A good start is to know our capability, capacity, and motives.
A powerful question to ask is: What are we really trading off while earning a six-figure income?
If you are a freelance writer, you may check out my thoughts on creative non-fiction writing. Do you want to write content to generate steady income? Do you want your stories to be boosted? Do you want to grow your audience and build your mailing lists? If you have writer’s block, check this out. If you feel stressed and are facing burnout, here is guidance.
Here are my stories that might contribute to increasing your income.
Join us on SYNERGY, learn from, and collaborate with top writers.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on cellular, mitochondrial, metabolic, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
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