I Missed My One Year Medium Anniversary
Yesterday marked one year since I published my very first story on Medium
What have I learned?
Yes, you do have to publish almost every day
Unless some of your stories are so well-read they’re bringing in decent earnings every day, you’ll need to publish at least every other day in order to keep yourself visible on the platform.
January through March my other business required more of my time and I had fewer opportunities to write. There was a direct correlation with fewer stories posted and lower earnings.
You still need big publications
I have my own publication which currently has 254 followers. Although I have 5.2K followers on Medium, my own publication only averages earnings of $3.69 per story. The publication that earned me the most for my stories averaged three times that amount and has 52 thousand followers.
You also need pages with large followings on social media to share your stories in order to really gain traction. Unfortunately, they also need to be Medium members for this to translate into earnings.
I’ve had a few stories go mini-viral; one with 10K views, one with 20K views, but they only earned $15 and $23 respectively because the majority of the reads were not from Medium members.
Sigh.
Quantity and quality both matter
In order for stories to gain popularity and be circulated online, they have to be well-written, well-organized, easy to read, and topical. By topical I mean the subject matter needs to be relevant to current trends and interests, and also cover subjects you understand well, so you can write about them intelligently and coherently.
Don’t pump out daily articles if they’re not going to be any good. You’ll end up losing followers and readers because they won’t be impressed with poor quality work.
Writing incredibly skillfully isn’t enough, unfortunately. You have to learn how to “play the game” (something I loathe). I’ve learned how to write stronger headlines and SEO, as well as track online trends to follow what people are searching for in relation to my subject matter.
My top article is a bit of a mystery to me
The article which has earned me the most over the past year is research shows what people with ADHD have been saying for years. It’s a good article, if I may say so myself. I think the title has enough snark to catch the reader’s attention, while the content is backed by strong writing and research.
That said, I don’t understand exactly how it is my highest-earning piece. When I look in my stats, there is a significant jump in reads two days after it is published, and then it drops off and earns steadily over the year.
I’m guessing it was thanks to being on the front page of the Invisible Illness publication, garnering a lot of internal views in the first couple days, until my story moved down the list under newer stories.
My second-best article is also an anomaly
My second highest earning article comes from Preoccupy Negative Thoughts, a publication with only 477 followers.
On one hand, it has been one of my most in-depth and comprehensive articles published to date. I genuinely worked really hard on it: spending a lot more time than I probably should have researching, writing, and editing.
Additionally the editor, Synthia Stark, puts a lot of time and effort into working with writers to edit their pieces, and to help them format their stories so they have the best chance of being distributed and read widely.
I’ve only published three stories in Preoccupy, but they’ve all done well relative to my other pieces. Synthia spent time helping me optimize my article’s features to improve readability and increase my reads, and her kind efforts paid off.
My article explains executive functions and how they relate to everyday life:
Like I said, we still need big publications
My third best article was also in Invisible Illness, which is no doubt what helped it reach a lot of internal readers.
This piece explains what masking is, and why it is harmful for neurodivergent people.
My number four is a more recent story
This is what ableism looks like is published in An Injustice!, which has nearly 20K followers. This story was published in early March and is already among my top earners.
Most of my reads came from the first few days after publication and were directly from the publication’s homepage, so I have their editors to thank for helping me share my work.
This story is also a personal one. I share a frustrating experience I had, and intertwine my feelings with research and information the reader can use to improve accessibility for others.
To summarize
- Publish often.
- We do need big publications.
- Quality and quantity both matter.
- Learn how to optimize your stories for online searches (SEO).
- Share your writing on social media to increase your online presence.
I obviously haven’t figured out the trick to earning thousands of dollars every month by writing on Medium. I don’t think that is a realistic goal for 99% of Medium writers, unfortunately.
This is not “easy money”, nor is it a “passive” income, unless you have viral articles that continue to circulate without any effort on your part, which is extremely rare.
In my experience, it takes a lot of time and effort just to earn coffee money. It’s honestly not worth it strictly from a financial perspective. However, I love writing, and I am getting noticed more and more online.
Medium can be a jumping-off point
Medium can be a place to hone your craft, improve your writing, develop a following, and join a community of fellow writers doing much the same. If your writing is good enough, it may start to take off and get noticed in other places where you might actually earn a decent income.
If you love reading and writing, keep at it. Work hard, improve, and enjoy the journey.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
When you join medium, as a member you’ll have access to unlimited reads for only $5 per month. If you use my referral link, I’ll earn a small commission, and you’ll earn my undying gratitude.
