How To Maximize Your Medium Earnings

How to gain followers, become a top writer, and make an impact

I’ve only been contributing regularly to Medium for a short time, but I’ve already had a month where my earnings surpassed $800. I regularly receive emails from other writers with questions about how to improve Medium earnings, so I thought I’d gather all my advice into one place.

This article is a collection of my best craft of Medium articles. Feel free to bookmark it and use it as a reference. I’m also happy to answer questions if you don’t find the answer you’re looking for here.

The basics

I recently sat down with a friend of mine to show him the basics of Medium, and I was surprised at how much information I’d picked up over the last few months. Like with anything new, it can be intimidating when you start out, but keep your chin up and keep plugging away. In a matter of a few days you can go from Medium novice to expert writer.

This article provides an overview of the first steps you need to take to get started:

How to get added as a writer to publications

One of the best ways to increase the visibility of your profile on Medium is to write for the large publications. Some publications have hundreds of thousands of followers, and being featured there ensures new people will be introduced to your work.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to wait around for a publication to approach you. Most publications have information about becoming a writer on their submissions page. In this article, you’ll get a step by step tutorial on how to get added as a writer:

Don’t fret too much if your articles are rejected from certain publications. I’ve had articles rejected only to have them accepted and curated elsewhere. Here’s an article regarding the best approach to placing your articles:

Maximize your productivity

I’ve found that the best way to have success on Medium is to contribute regularly. Two to three articles a day is a good baseline for beginning writers to shoot for. Although it may seem like a lot, there are several tricks you can employ to ensure you’ll hit your writing goals. Read about them here:

Gaining followers

You will gain followers naturally as you write, but there are other pro-active steps you can take to help build your following. Commenting, clapping, and highlighting articles are three great resources that can get you noticed. For more on gaining followers, click here:

Top writer tags

If you look at the profile pages of some writers, you might see that they are listed as a top writer in several categories. Here’s my profile page as an example:

Medium simply selects you as a top writer based on the frequency and the quality of your work. Whenever you publish something or submit an article to a publication, you have the option of putting in tags. Choosing tags that are affiliated with top writer designations helps increase your chances of being selected as a top writer.

For more on becoming a top writer, and to see a list of the tags, click here:

Monthly summaries

I’ve gotten into the habit of writing a quick summary of my previous month at the beginning of a new month. These reflection pieces have been very helpful, and they allow me to set goals and manage my expectations.

If you read through these reflection pieces in order, you’ll get a good sense of how your comprehension of Medium should develop over time.

Final thoughts

I’ll continue to update this article as I write more tutorials on how to get ahead on Medium. Medium is constantly in a state of evolution, and as they roll out new features I’ll write new articles on how to take advantage of them.

Thanks so much for reading! For more insights, please follow my publication. Comment with “add me” below if you wish to be added as a writer!