How to Use Medium’s ‘Letter Feature’ like an Email List
Start building your tribe.
I’ve been publishing on Medium for less than a year, and I’m seeing some success in earnings that I wasn’t sure possible. There is no easy way to do this, except to put in the writing time.
There is no ethical way for me to say that you can make a decent part-time income on Medium within a certain amount of time because we are all different. It depends on so many things, like how much writing experience you have and whether you are willing to put in the time to write daily.
I made over $1,700 last month, and I don’t think there is anything special I’m doing that makes me earn this much, except writing every day.
One of the things I did at the start was to set up two publications based on the topics I like to write.
One concentrates on writing, blogging, and productivity, while the other one focuses on life: relationships, love, and other things I like to write about, like self-improvement — these are all topics that do well on Medium.
Check out the categories at the top of my publications under the image. These categories tend to be in topics widely read on Medium.
Between 7 and 10 percent of all Medium writers earn more than $100 per month. Only a little more than half of all the Partnership members write at least one post in any month. The more you write, the better chance you have of crossing the $100 per month mark.
My guess is if you are consistently curated and publish several times a week, you increase your chances of engagement, followers, and the number of people who recognize your name when it frequently appears across the homepage.
If you are writing on Medium and don’t yet have an email list outside the platform, the ‘letter feature’ is a great way to reach your audience, even if your audience is one person.
That one person counts.
Especially in the beginning, when you aren’t sure what you are doing yet. You will hone your voice and style, it just takes practice and consistency. The only way to access the ‘letter feature’ is to own a publication.
Here is a post I wrote teaching you how to start a publication.
After you start a publication, follow these steps.
- Write a post.
- Publish it in your publication.
- Send out a ‘letter’ to your publication followers. Don’t only rely on curation. You, too, need to promote your post in Medium Facebook groups and through the letter feature. Also, you want to start thinking seriously about an email list so you can distribute your stories to your list of subscribers.
- In the letter feature, share your friend link.
The friend link
In general, readers who are not paying Medium members can read three posts a month before they hit the paywall. Your posts are part of the Medium Partnership Program (MPP) and behind the platform’s paywall if you’re writing on Medium to earn money.
All writers have access to a ‘friend link.’
You can share the friend link as often and widely as you like. The friend link allows readers to bypass the paywall. When they click that link, they can read your story without using one of their three monthly freebies.
When a reader is a paying member, and they click your friend link and read your post, you are paid just as if you used your regular link.
I always share the friend link when I share on social media, in the letter feature, and when I send an email to my subscribers. That way, the reader can always read it, and I always get paid for that story. `
How to send a letter to your followers. Step by Step.
- Click on your publication’s logo (upper right -my logo is blue) and click “Letters” in the drop-down list.
2. In the “Subject” line, write the title of your story. For example, “How to Stop Waking up Tired,” (this story was curated right away). Write it in title case, just like you did for your story.
3. Next, add the same image you used in your story and make sure you cite the photo properly to give the artist credit.
4. Add the first part of your story, about 100 words. Choose an endpoint that makes the reader want to continue to read your story. Like so,
5. Make a “Click to Finish” banner using an app like Canva. Insert the “Click to Finish” banner immediately following the excerpt. While holding down the “command” button on your keyboard, hit the letter “K.” A black link box will appear; in that box, add the “friend link” to your story. When the reader clicks the banner, they will be redirected to your Medium link and will be able to finish reading your story.
6. Add appropriate tags, the same you used when you published said story and hit “Send.”
That is it.
You just sent your first letter to your publication followers. YAY. Great job. Do that every time you write in your publication.
Here is my Medium strategy
It is pretty easy to follow. It just takes persistence.
- Write every day — I heard what other writers were making on Medium, and I couldn’t believe it. So I committed to writing every day for one year, starting June 2019, I’m nearing of the one year mark. I have written mostly every day, and have seen my earning increase every month, except for one or two months, but they remain steady or climbing.
- Start a publication or two — niche down in the beginning. I started two publications within the first month of writing on Medium, and I took them seriously. I publish in them a couple of times per week, my other posts go to other larger publications like P.S. I love you and The Startup.
- Send out an email using Medium’s ‘letter feature’ to your followers.
Until you are a Medium star and everyone knows your name alternate between posting in your own publication and submitting to publications that work for you and your articles. I do this all week.
I send my best work to publications. They usually publish it within 24 hours, if they don’t, I wait longer or publish it in my own publication. I’m thinking of conducting an experiment in which I publish only in my publications for one month and then publish only in larger publications the next month to see which month generates the highest earnings.
When you publish in your own publication, send a ‘letter’ to your followers.
Do this even if you only have four followers.
You need to get in the habit. Those four followers really like your work, because they were the first ones to follow you when no one else had. They didn’t jump on the bandwagon, they genuinely like your work. You can label them your true fans.
You want true fans. True fans follow you everywhere.
Write on.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering type-A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
