I Made $616.93 in My Second Month on Medium

Key lessons from writing my first 100 pieces on this platform

I’ll confess: I have no idea what I am doing.

For some reason, people are surprised when I tell them I rarely do.

And I definitely had no idea what I was doing when I decided to start writing on Medium on October 2, 2019. I just knew that I had to start, and I wanted to experiment with this new (for me) platform, as well as challenge myself to write in English.

Last month I wrote 40 articles and told the world what I’ve learned from that. This month, I’ve written 60 more, which makes a grand total of 100 articles published in two months.

As I am writing this, I am looking over my financials and see that I’ve made $616.93 in November from writing on Medium. It’s not a lot, but it was my second month writing on this platform.

I’ll not lie and tell you that 100% of these earning were from the Partner Program. This money actually came from two sources on Medium.

$116.93 came from the Partner Program itself:

While $500 came from a commissioned (and so far, the best performing I’ve written) article for a Medium publication called Better Humans:

Of the 100 pieces I’ve written, some of them were curated, most of them weren’t. Some of them were self-published, while most of them were written for publications like The Startup, Better Marketing, Post-Grad Survival Guide, and The Ascent.

In this piece, I want to reflect on my last month and talk about three key lessons I’ve learned about becoming a successful writer on Medium.

A little disclaimer, though.

I am not an expert. And I still have a long way to go to become somebody like Tim Denning, Tom Kuegler, or Ayodeji Awosika — some of the writers whom I respect and look up to. I mean, I only have ~500 followers.

But one of the key lessons I’ve learned is that followers, numbers, and stats don’t mean much. Whether you show up regularly does. And whether you have anything worthwhile to say does too. All else is secondary.

And as I keep going, I want to tell the world what I’ve learned, and I am grateful that I can do that here.

I hope it will be helpful to those writers who are just starting (hey me, two months ago!) and probably insightful (and a bit nostalgic) to all those veteran writers out there.

Without further ado…

Takeaway #1. Woody Allen Was Right

Showing up is 90% of success. And I would add that showing up regularly with something valuable, insightful, and meaningful to say is the other 10%.

One of the most important things in life (also one of those they don’t teach you at school) is that consistency is the key to success in anything.

If you write, you might as well write daily. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter, as long as you stay consistent and show up much longer than anybody believes you will. Nothing beats showing up regularly and being patient about results.

With that said, showing up has to be meaningful, not just showing up for the sake of showing up. I made this mistake in my first month, when I published 40 articles.

I’ve read advice such as “To become a good writer, become a prolific one.” So I started being prolific, and many of the things I wrote were cliched, generic, and not that interesting.

You see articles such as these all over Medium. For this reason, I didn’t start writing on this platform earlier, say in 2017. I thought Medium was stupid. You know, full of “5 Ways to Become Productive” type of pieces.

But writing one home-run piece is much more effective than having ten average pieces.

In my second month, I decided to become even more prolific (and wrote 60 articles) — but I also decided to create meaningful content. I would sit down and ask myself daily what do I really want to say to the world today, and I would just say that.

Everybody has something to say. I realized that you don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not, and you don’t have to write stuff you’re not interested in. You can be yourself, write for yourself, and find people who like you just the way you are.

“90% of success is showing up.” — Woody Allen

True. But you’ve got to show up with something to say.

Takeaway #2. Forget About the Numbers (No, Really)

This sounds pretentious from somebody who started this piece boasting about his numbers in the second month.

But it’s true.

I started my writing journey being obsessed with numbers. I would refresh the page every hour after publication of the piece, and I would sit and wait for something to happen. I became a dashboard addict. I didn’t even know what I was waiting for, I just wanted some kind of result — quickly.

At some point, I noticed that it doesn’t help my writing at all. On the contrary, it makes me write shit.

By obsessing about stats, you become obsessed about what other people think and how they will react (will they read, clap, share your stuff, etc.). But the best content you create is the one you create for yourself.

Numbers don’t matter. You can write for the biggest publications on Medium even if you have ten followers and be next to somebody who has 100K.

The beauty of Medium and its community is that everybody has a chance. It’s completely merit-based.

There is no tactic. There is no secret. You write good stuff and you’re noticed. You write shit like everybody else, and you won’t be curated and you won’t be heard.

Your choice.

Takeaway #3. How To Get Curated on Medium

With that being said, I found that there are certain things that Medium curators like about certain pieces. Having them increases the probability (but doesn’t guarantee) they’ll choose your piece for curation.

Have a juicy photo at the very top

Preferably, full-screen and above the headline and the subtitle. You can have a second photo somewhere in the middle if it makes sense to put it there.

Have a headline and a subtitle

Remember: A good headline is 90% of success. Today, pieces are being paid for by the reading time, hence you want people to click on them.

If your piece is underperforming, it’s probably the headline.

Use all of the Medium built-in features

This one is interesting. I discovered that the pieces that were curated the most were the ones that had as many different tools and features in one article as possible. I mean two types of quotes, headline and a subtitle, two types of heading, links, photos, all five tags, etc. — all of them.

These tools are there for a reason. Use them. Turn your writing into an art and an experience for the reader.

Strategy behind curation

All of the above are tactics. The strategy behind Medium curation is that you should write something either

• Deeply personal or
• A brand new idea that hasn’t been said before

Ideally, both of these. So whenever you write, ask yourself is it one or the other or both. If it’s none, try adding something that will make you stand out.

Remember, however, that you should always write for yourself. So keep in mind what Medium curators are looking for when you edit the piece, not when you write it.

But when you edit, realize that curators are looking for a well-written, good-looking, juicy piece with a stunning headline that will attract viewers and readers and make them smarter.

You represent Medium like you would a magazine or a newspaper if you were a contributing writer.

Deliver accordingly.

Advice to Myself in the Past

If I could go back and give myself advice when I was just starting out on Medium (like two months ago), I would say a few things:

1. Write every single day. Your job at this stage is to build momentum. But write no more than one good, insightful piece per day. Focus on quality, not quantity.
2. Approach writing as a (spiritual) practice. Not as work. Say what you really want to say, and don’t try to be liked by everybody. The whole point is to learn to get your most sensible, interesting, and deep stuff out there. Writing is more like meditation or therapy than work.
3. Follow the six-month rule. Meaning, keep doing what you’re doing without looking at numbers, changing course, or quitting until six months are done. This will allow you to stay patient and consistent, and not quit when it’s difficult (as it will be).
4. Publish exclusively in publications. Try all of them to see which ones are yours and try to get in the top ones for exposure, like Forge. When you do, learn about them and really read the submission guidelines. With that being said, don’t write for publications, and don’t change your voice just to get published.
5. Set your expectations right. You won’t achieve any kind of success for the first six months. Just write daily. Look for your writing voice. Experiment. Try. Learn. Teach. Be honest. And don’t be a dick (which is easy when you try teaching others).

I Still Have a Long Way to Go

And I am completely OK with that because writing is something I really want to be doing full-time. When you feel impatient and want results quickly, it’s probably because you’re motivated by the wrong things.

When you’re serious about something, you don’t rush it and you enjoy the process.

So the last bit of advice I would give to all my fellow writers, marketers, and entrepreneurs, both beginners and veterans, is to enjoy it more.

And whatever you create — we will enjoy it too.