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Abstract

h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*xRL5BiKZRLm93WjZ)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><h1 id="a1f2">My big ‘mistake’</h1><p id="6b40">I write my Medium stories in a three-act structure. Most of them at least. Sometimes I do train-of-thought pieces which never do well. But for the intentional ones I use the first two acts for the reader and the third act is for me.</p><p id="06a4"><b>I use the last third of my story to encourage readers to join my tribe — away from Medium.</b></p><p id="4343">Because I took this aggressive approach to self-promotion, it worked. I’ve increased my daily subscribers by 30%, all due to this added push.</p><p id="888a">By taking the time to give a longer reason why each reader should join my tribe, I give her some extra time to think about the benefits, versus relying on one, single link at the very bottom of my story.</p><p id="6354"><b>Readers stop seeing that little link if we repeat ourselves too often.</b></p><p id="c58c">It’s like a wet floor sign in a busy hall. If no one removes the sign periodically, we stop seeing the sign. It becomes background noise.</p><p id="8d09"><b>I didn’t want my call-to-action to become background noise.</b></p><p id="6dc6">So I now use the bottom third of my stories for me. You get the other two-thirds. I feel it’s fair. Especially since I’m working for free. You might feel the same. I know not everyone does. This is a hot topic. To each, her own.</p><p id="f080"><b>Anyhoo, this practice got me banned from curation.</b></p><p id="cb1e">My partner income was cut in half. From $2k to$ 1K (even a little less some months). But it didn’t matter. Because I’m growing my own tribe faster. This is a list of my best readers. The cream of the crop. The folks I’m meant to serve with my best work.</p><p id="4b1f">As I treat them well, providing them with a ton of value, they, in-turn reward me. I now make a steady, predictable stream of automated income, using the welcome email sequence in my list.</p><p id="b170"><b>The partner income was great, but I had to trade time for money.</b></p><p id="0ccd">With email I don’t have to. I have emails that get sent daily, but I wrote those emails more than a year ago.</p><div id="761a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-get-medium-to-pay-many-of-your-basic-living-expenses-68b0d24ba175"> <div> <div> <h2>How to Get Medium to Pay Many of Your Basic Living Expenses</h2>

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            <div><h3>…even if you don’t have a large following</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
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    </div><h1 id="e95c">The tribe gets the prize</h1><p id="0f64">I’m happy to trade half my typing-for-dollars income for the ability to grow my tribe faster. This is a choice. The choice may not be right for you. There are a lot of sassy folks who get real excited about using Medium for list-building.</p><p id="aa5a"><b>I think there’s room for both. It all depends on your endgame.</b></p><p id="d6f7">By the way, this is the part of my stories where I self-promote and do my best to encourage you to join my tribe.</p><p id="a6bc">The practice may get you banned from curation, but curation isn’t as important as it was six months ago. Now your best followers will see your stories more often, anyway.</p><p id="503c"><b>But non-curated stories don’t live long — days instead of years.</b></p><p id="cef0">This is something to think about. My practice has caused me to write a lot more than I had to before, with less partner income as a result. I also write a lot of ‘how to earn money with Medium’ stories which have a VERY short half-life. Just a couple days.</p><p id="c045"><b>If you want to build your writer’s tribe, I’ve got something you might enjoy…</b></p><p id="0c68">I hand-crafted, a hand-made, <a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/tribe1K">free, 7-day email masterclass</a>, with my own hands. I call it the Tribe 1K. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads.</p><p id="ad28"><b>Maybe you’ll lose half your Medium income too.</b></p><p id="8b74">…you might love the results.</p><p id="f0e6"><b>Consider yourself warned.</b></p><p id="070e"><a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/tribe1K">Tap the link.</a></p><p id="3fd9"><b>Guarantee your seat.</b></p><p id="8ab0">We’re waiting for you.</p><p id="bd91"><a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/tribe1K"><b>Enroll in my Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers</b></a></p><p id="2164">August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.</p></article></body>

I Made a Big Mistake with My Medium Stories and Halved My Income

Here’s why you should make the mistake too…

This story is for the rogues and the rebels — those who put their shoes on without untying the laces. Those who goose the yellow lights a little longer than they should. And those who refuse to eat their pizza crusts.

This story might be for you too.

Starting in October of last year, I made a change to my Medium stories. I started using the last third to help grow my platform — the platform I have, away from Medium.

While we’re allowed to have a link at the bottom of our stories, it’s frowned-upon to use the Medium platform as a sounding-board to grow your own email list.

I get it.

If I owned a giant platform I’d get a little sassy if some smart-mouth writer tried to up-and-grab a bunch of my hard-earned customers too.

…but there’s more to it.

See, when we write on Medium we work as free labor. Medium get our content, regardless. They only have to pay us a tiny portion of the reader’s subscription fee if anyone reads our content.

Medium is a perfect business model. Test everything and only pay for what works after it has already worked.

Medium was genius when they developed this model. Most businesses must use trial-and-error to uncover their best work. Medium gets it for free.

So, I don’t feel bad about how I use their platform to build mine.

And I don’t think you should either.

…but there’s a catch and you’ve got to pay close-attention.

I’ll share what I did, what happened because of it, how I lost half my Medium income, and why it didn’t matter.

Keep reading. You may want to copy my method… if you you’re into that kind of thing.

How to Get Medium to Pay Your $500/Month Student Loan Bill

…it’s like an on-demand cash machine

medium.com

My big ‘mistake’

I write my Medium stories in a three-act structure. Most of them at least. Sometimes I do train-of-thought pieces which never do well. But for the intentional ones I use the first two acts for the reader and the third act is for me.

I use the last third of my story to encourage readers to join my tribe — away from Medium.

Because I took this aggressive approach to self-promotion, it worked. I’ve increased my daily subscribers by 30%, all due to this added push.

By taking the time to give a longer reason why each reader should join my tribe, I give her some extra time to think about the benefits, versus relying on one, single link at the very bottom of my story.

Readers stop seeing that little link if we repeat ourselves too often.

It’s like a wet floor sign in a busy hall. If no one removes the sign periodically, we stop seeing the sign. It becomes background noise.

I didn’t want my call-to-action to become background noise.

So I now use the bottom third of my stories for me. You get the other two-thirds. I feel it’s fair. Especially since I’m working for free. You might feel the same. I know not everyone does. This is a hot topic. To each, her own.

Anyhoo, this practice got me banned from curation.

My partner income was cut in half. From $2k to $1K (even a little less some months). But it didn’t matter. Because I’m growing my own tribe faster. This is a list of my best readers. The cream of the crop. The folks I’m meant to serve with my best work.

As I treat them well, providing them with a ton of value, they, in-turn reward me. I now make a steady, predictable stream of automated income, using the welcome email sequence in my list.

The partner income was great, but I had to trade time for money.

With email I don’t have to. I have emails that get sent daily, but I wrote those emails more than a year ago.

How to Get Medium to Pay Many of Your Basic Living Expenses

…even if you don’t have a large following

medium.com

The tribe gets the prize

I’m happy to trade half my typing-for-dollars income for the ability to grow my tribe faster. This is a choice. The choice may not be right for you. There are a lot of sassy folks who get real excited about using Medium for list-building.

I think there’s room for both. It all depends on your endgame.

By the way, this is the part of my stories where I self-promote and do my best to encourage you to join my tribe.

The practice may get you banned from curation, but curation isn’t as important as it was six months ago. Now your best followers will see your stories more often, anyway.

But non-curated stories don’t live long — days instead of years.

This is something to think about. My practice has caused me to write a lot more than I had to before, with less partner income as a result. I also write a lot of ‘how to earn money with Medium’ stories which have a VERY short half-life. Just a couple days.

If you want to build your writer’s tribe, I’ve got something you might enjoy…

I hand-crafted, a hand-made, free, 7-day email masterclass, with my own hands. I call it the Tribe 1K. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads.

Maybe you’ll lose half your Medium income too.

…you might love the results.

Consider yourself warned.

Tap the link.

Guarantee your seat.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.