MEDIUM | EARNINGS | MAKE MONEY ONLINE
I Made Some Solid Earnings On Medium In 2023
I’m happy to say that the changes have helped me
I debated whether to write this article or not. On one hand, I don’t want it to be seen as bragging. On the other hand, I am celebrating my success on this platform. If there was such a thing as a third hand — I just want to show people what is possible.
I wrote my first article here on January 31st, 2022 — almost 2 years ago. At that time, I aimed to make just $100 per month. It took me about 6 months to accomplish that feat, writing well over 30 articles per month (sometimes up to almost 60!) for most of those first few months. In fact, I maintained a pretty huge output into the beginning of 2023, and then I fell a bit flat.
In March last year, we arrived back to Canada after being away for over 3 solid years. But even before our last visit (which was just 4 months in 2019), we were in the Caribbean and Central America for 2.5 years.
So, really, this is our first time coming home where we felt like we wanted to stay. Actually, I shouldn’t say that we wanted to stay, we had to stay. We didn’t have the financial resources to get back out quickly, and we were exhausted.
I can’t even begin to explain how exhausted we were. It had been over 5 years of full-time travel at that point.
In all honesty, it has taken us almost this long to start to feel like we are rested and ready to take on traveling again. However, we still have a couple of commitments that will keep us here for the next 3–4 months at least. I can say with authority that we had NO INTENTION of staying in Canada for this long, but I will admit that it was needed.
I know that some people are not interested in earnings articles, but if you are interested, I’d like to take you through each month of my earnings this past year and discuss which article I earned the most and why. Maybe there are bits of information that will also help you to craft articles that grab attention. Trust, me, I’m still trying to figure this out as well, but I believe that I do know the types of articles that get boosted these days as I have had a total of 16 boosts so far.
January
In January I was still riding the wildly successful coattails of an article that I wrote the previous November about why we had such a hard time traveling in Egypt. Looking back, and after now having some rest time, I can see how frazzled we were when we were in Egypt in 2021. There were many factors at play that affected our experience, but the two main ones were Covid and lack of money.
We were traveling on a very small shoestring budget, and we only went to Egypt because our Turkish visa was expiring and our flights were just $50 each. We also wanted to head south because it was getting cold in Istanbul. This was the cheapest option to accomplish that at the time. Plus we had many traveling friends that we had met that had gone there over the previous months.
I can see now that our financial situation did not help matters in a country where the locals aim to make as much money off of foreigners as they can. Plus it was during Covid and we were some of the only foreigners around. It made for a terrible combination and we really had a miserable time almost from the moment we touched down.
Of course, there is no going back and we don’t regret going to Egypt because it led us to Sudan and the rest of Africa. And hey, going there ended up making me a bunch of money after I wrote about our challenging time there ($3200 to date!). Who would have thought it?
January earnings: $713.48
Top earning story: Why We Hated Egypt and Likely Will Never Go Back ($554.04)
February
In February I wrote a story about why we will likely never use Airbnb again. In both this and the Egypt article I used the word ‘never’ in my title. Is this some sort of secret? I haven’t really tested that one out since, so I can’t tell you if it will work every time. But give it a shot — because it might be worth it.
February earnings: $ 772.86
Top earning story: Why We Will Never Use Airbnb Again ($591.36)
March
March was a combination of earnings from both the Egypt article and the AirBnb article. I made over $300 from those two alone. As this was the month we returned to Canada, I didn’t write too many articles, but I did write an article that has now been seen by 93k people! Too bad most of them were external views!
March Earnings — $431.88
Top earning story — Why We Hated Egypt and Likely Will Never Go Back ($212.76)
April
In April we traveled around a lot to visit friends and family and I didn’t write much, but I did write one article that I am proud of. Despite it getting a boost, it still only earned me $23 in April. However, this wasn’t my top earner, it came in second to — yep, you guessed it — the Egypt article.
April Earnings — $206.94
Top earning story — Why We Hated Egypt and Likely Will Never Go Back ($87.16)
May
In May we started a mural project where we ultimately spent 100 hours painting in my hometown of Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Needless to say, I was too tired to write most days. It looks like I only wrote 8 articles in May, and they were not my best efforts. This month, my earnings coasted, yet again, on my Egypt article.
May earnings — $151.97
Top earning story — Why We Hated Egypt and Likely Will Never Go Back ($61.17)
June
In June we finished our mural project and got ourselves ready to paint another one on the main street of Canmore. I really didn’t feel like writing at all in June and was likely at the height of my exhaustion on many levels. Again, I wrote just a handful of articles that earned small amounts of money. Looking back, I can see that I only wrote as a way to stay relevant on the platform — it wasn’t for the love of writing. I can see how this was reflected in my earnings. I’m embarrassed to admit that the Egypt article was the top earner again this month.
June earnings — $112.79
Top earning story — Why We Hated Egypt and Likely Will Never Go Back ($20.21)
July
After completing both murals, July was mostly a rest month. However, we had 3 visits from fellow travelers who found themselves in Canada, plus a weekend that brought Chris’ family to Canmore. I wrote just nine articles and, again, feel like I was only writing to stay relevant on Medium. My heart just wasn’t in it. This was the first time since the previous year at the same time that my earnings dipped below $100.
July earnings — $96.17
Top earning story — How To Rid Yourself of Stuff and Finally Get Traveling ($12.60)
August
In August we found ourselves moving around again and my burnout was really starting to rear its ugly head. I was miserable, unmotivated, and trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It was during this month that I finally started to put some pieces together about why I felt so off, but it would take me a month or two to truly reconcile with it. But at least I climbed back up over $100!
August earnings — $117.65
Top earning article — Street Art Can Be Found No Matter Where You Look ($14.65)
September
After the official arrival of the Boost program in August, I was off to the races in September. In total, I had 6 boosted articles for the month and was back to my usual writing self producing 19 articles.
During this month we were staying at a beautiful farm that had the most wonderful garden just outside our door. We only left the property 2 or 3 times over the month and spent much time resting and getting back to working on our online projects.
My top-earning article was about the forest fires in Canada — an on-the-ground look at what most Canadians were dealing with last year with regard to smoke pollution. I think the articles that I write about the environment are boosted because I am reporting from first-hand experience. Obviously Medium sees the benefit in getting this information out to others.
September earnings — $697.97
Top earning article — Canada Is Burning ($193.00)
October
In October I finally wrote about my realization that we had been through a lot. The story got boosted but it came in second (by two cents!) to an article that I wrote about Ukrainian Borscht which was also boosted. I will share both below because I really think they are tied.
October earnings — $342.71
Top earning stories — A Ukrainian Soup Called Borscht ($48.52) and It’s Time To Admit That We Have Been Through A Lot ($48.50)
November
By November we had relocated again to Chris’ aunt's property just outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan — which is where we are now. We came initially to help her winterize the property and get things organized before the snow flew. However, after our arrival, we learned that her and her business partner needed us to help them with the initial interior construction phase of a new veterinarian clinic that they were building. So, we were preoccupied with that but were also earning some good money, which was nice.
My top article is mostly a photo essay of our transition into fall while staying out on the Canadian Prairies. With the new boost program, I have come to realize that good photographs will aid in getting articles boosted.
November earnings — $197.27
Top earning article — The Many Colours of a Canadian Prairie Fall ($56.47)
December
In December we were painting a house nearby for the first half of the month, which again, kept us busy and preoccupied. But, I did write 12 articles — 3 were boosted and 1 has been wildly successful. I had been meaning to write about the time I contracted something in Las Vegas since the beginning of the month but didn’t get it published until the last week of December. Regardless, it has earned me a substantial amount of money which brought my December earnings back up to a nice level.
December earnings — $641.24
Top earning article — I Picked Up Something in Las Vegas That I am Not Proud Of ($350.16)
Totals
In total, my earnings came to $4482.93 in 2023. Divided by 12, this averages $373.58 per month. After having a very difficult year where I really wasn’t all that motivated to write, I am very happy with this result. Plus, I feel like I am really starting to get a handle on the types of stories that Medium will pick up to get boosted.
Takeaways
I’m happy to say that these days, good news stories are getting boosted by Medium. In the past, it seemed like the only ones that got noticed were clickbait or doom-and-gloom articles. Not only that, Medium is also now rewarding good photography in its boost program. All of this is good news for me as I move forward.
I think most of my success stems from my first-person experience. Medium seems to like sharing these sorts of stories that come directly from our experiences, especially those that present an interesting story for the reader. As I tend to write what I see, my stories are authentic and raw — this is important to the new Medium program.
I attribute much of my success on this platform to my engagement. Even when I’m not writing very much, I am commenting and clapping for numerous other writers' stories every day. This has helped me to build a solid community on Medium which I am very grateful for.
I am also thrilled with the new “Friends of Medium” program. I joined right away when it was introduced and immediately saw an uptick in earnings. Even my stories that don’t earn much still earn more than they would have before this program came to be.
Conclusion
With all of this in mind, I am very happy with the changes in Medium and I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings me. Now that I am feeling more rested and recharged, I hope to get back to my regular writing schedule so I can continue churning out authentic and interesting stories for you all to read.
Of course, getting back on the road always sparks my inspiration and I look forward to continuing to share our traveling journey with everyone. I think 2024 is going to be a great year!
Thanks to all of you who have supported my writing on this journey. Each time I write on Medium, I feel my confidence in my abilities grow and I know there is much more to come!
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