Three Dollars Shy of $200 in My Fourth Month on Medium

Eight lessons from my first five months

I was aiming for the $200 mark when I saw it was a possibility. I dug deep ad wrote five stories on the final day of March, staying up well past midnight.

I wrote about my cat acting in a play before a Pulitizer Prize playwright.

I wrote about how we’re all one step away from lunacy to slap someone.

I wrote about why it’s helpful to have an imperfect Christian marriage.

And, of course, I wrote a couple of stories about Medium. One was a meta-story about going from an emotional low to a high from checking my stats. The other was my realization Medium is a reading, not a writing platform.

Still, earning $197 on my fourth month on Medium is pretty good, right?

I shared this screenshot because I hate those bogus stories on “How I earn 5K a month writing about boring subjects.” This is my honest story, and what I’ve learned along the way since I started writing on Medium in October 2021.

Here are the eight most important lessons I’ve learned:

#1) Read just as much as you write on Medium

Do you think everyone is reading your stories because they’re so good? I noticed something about the stories I read last night in my follower feed.

They were the writers with whom I know the best … I wasn’t looking at the titles of their stories. I was looking at the names of the writers I recognized.

I actually believe my earnings could be higher if I read more. Maybe I’m a bit slow … but it’s simply how it works on Medium: People are going to mostly read stories by the writers they’ve built an online relationship with over time.

Obviously, that’s a bit of a generalization, but I think it’s true as a principle.

When you read stories by another writer, they read yours and you get to know each other after a while. The hardest part is getting the relationship off the ground, but it’s the same with any other relationship: It takes time and effort.

And it’s a win-win if you focus on reading as much as writing because you’re cultivating a relationship and the reads from your friends earn you both money.

#2) Write a lot on Medium

I read in a story by Susie Kearley that she noticed her earnings start to go up when she reached the 150 story mark. But a few writers like Susan Wheelock responded to my story and remarked that it was a lot closer to 50 for them.

Actually, fifty was the Magic Number for me. I wrote 32 articles in my second month, but if these were spread out over several months, I’m sure I wouldn’t have made it to the $100 a month club in just my second month on Medium.

Of course, if that sounds like a lot of writing, I had an advantage. I published a lot of previously written Word Press blog posts about adventures with my son.

I try to use writing as a way to grow. I think about whatever is going on in my life and see how topics can become stories that relate to others’ lives. This is how I come up with most of my stories: Just by paying attention to my life.

#3) Learn how to stay in a creative flow

I’m not going to write about how to stay in a creative flow state. Tim Denning has done that. I’ll just say that I try to go from writing one story to the next.

Kristina God has the best metaphor I’ve heard related to flow states. As she puts it, the goal is to have a hula-hoop mentality. With a hula-hoop, you keep your hips constantly moving; with writing, your creativity keeps moving.

Tim advises focusing your mind for two or three-hour blocks of time. That’s all a flow state really is … it’s just getting into a rhythm where you can block out all distractions and just let the words flow freely out and run down the page.

I haven’t had a story go viral yet, but to use an analogy Sreese would enjoy, I’ve hit a lot of singles ($3 stories), doubles ($10), and a few triples ($25) by remaining in a constant creative flow and keeping the hula-hoop moving.

#4) Create a regular routine for your writing

I’ve found there are two theories on writing, and I think both are correct. Steve Pressfield states in a blog post the wisdom of just “showing up” to write.

He cites several thoughts from Patricia Madson’s book, “Improv Wisdom,” on why it’s so important to “show up” for a daily regular writing routine.

“Just show up. Move your body toward your dreams. Go to where they’re happening–the gym, the office, the yoga class. Be there physically.” — Patricia Madson

Steve says that when you show up — even if you don’t feel like writing — your muse acknowledges this and will grant you support in the writing process.

He calls this putting your ass where your heart wants to be and says this is where the magic happens. But I think you can also “just go there” to write at any point of the day whenever or wherever you get in a writing state of mind.

#5) Write to add value to your reader’s lives

This is one of the most important lessons I’ve been learning recently. I’ve been striving to think about my reader more before and during my writing process.

I think this is so important because — duh! — they are going to be the ones reading your story, and you want to think in specific terms about how they will benefit from what you write in your stories.

As I was scrolling through stories in my feed last night, this is what I was consciously looking for in headlines to stories … stories that would provide some kind of value to my life.

And the truth is, a lot of stories seemed narrowly focused on the writer as if they were sharing a journal or diary entry rather than writing for a reader.

So I recently put a post-it note beside my coffee cup. It says, “Write for your reader,” and so I’m constantly considering my reader as I craft my story.

#6) Write for publications

If you’re looking to grow your audience, it makes perfect sense to write for publications. I am constantly on the look for new publications to write for to add another chamber to my writing gun to shoot out stories to new readers.

I try to focus on three or four main publications to write for that relate to my niche subjects and to build connections with writers in these communities.

But it’s still wise to ask to be added to publications focused on certain subjects because you will have places to share stories with already built-in audiences.

It makes no sense to self-publish a cat or travel story when there are publications with built-in audiences for this content. Try Louise Peacock’s Catness for cat stories and KL Simmons’s Taking off for your travel stories.

#7) Write to have fun and enjoy the process

I do have one rule I try to follow as a writer every day. I write only about subjects I want to write about and write only because I love to write.

Okay, I may have broken this rule in an occasional writing binge, but for the most part, I write everything to have fun and because of my love of writing.

And that’s a formula to make money on Medium: If you’re just writing because you enjoy writing, you will likely see your earnings going up.

And if it isn’t obvious by this article, I don’t see anything wrong with writing about money on Medium. I love to read these stories. One of my favorites was by Klara Jane Holloway about her earning 19 only cents in one month.

I was curious and looked at next month, and she absolutely killed it.

We all make money for the work we do, and I don’t see anything wrong with stories about making money for our creative work—as long it isn’t a writer’s only subject they’re writing about.

Thanks for reading my story.

Tagging my buddies: Michael L Butler, Ryan Barnes, The Sober Vegan Yogi, Jane Kelley, MarkfromBoston 🌻Ukraine, J.R. Spiers, Paul Walker, Deborah Camp, Sandy Maximus, Lisa Osborne, Harold Zeitung, and Gerald Sturgill.

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