Summary

Susie Kearley, a freelance journalist, shares her experience of earning $1000 per article by pitching to traditional magazines rather than relying solely on Medium, despite the challenges of securing such gigs.

Abstract

Susie Kearley details her success in earning substantial amounts from her writing by stepping outside the Medium platform. She emphasizes the importance of pitching to magazines that pay well for journalism, including photographs, and shares her surprise at being commissioned for stories by a publication on senior living. Kearley outlines the process of interviewing subjects, taking photographs, and writing articles, which she sold for $1000 each. She contrasts this with the more common rates she receives from regular clients and the unlikelihood of consistently earning$ 1000 per article on Medium without a significant following and luck. Kearley advises aspiring writers to pitch to "real" publications for high-paying opportunities, acknowledging the difficulty of breaking through and the necessity of perseverance in the face of rejection and silence from editors.

Opinions

Kearley values the higher rates of pay from traditional magazines, despite the difficulty in securing such opportunities.
She acknowledges the rarity of earning $1000 for a single article on Medium, especially for smaller or less established writers.
Kearley suggests that a successful pitch often requires delivering "totally brilliant" work to ensure repeat opportunities.
She emphasizes the importance of perseverance in freelance writing, as rejection and being ignored by editors is common.
Kearley maintains a realistic perspective on freelance writing income, appreciating regular clients with modest budgets.
She implies that Medium can be an attractive platform for writers due to its potential for earning without the same level of pitching effort.

I Wrote One Story and Made $1000!

Then I did it again. Here’s how…

I made $1000 from one story! Wanna know how?

I got my butt off Medium and pitched to some proper magazines. The ones that pay decent money for proper journalism, with photos.

Here’s how. One day I was scrolling through US magazines online and I came across this fabulous little publication on senior living.

I looked at their submission guidelines and pitched them some story ideas. They paid well, so I expected the entry-level to be high, and thought they’d ignore my attempts to communicate, but not so!

To my surprise and delight, they came back, commissioning two stories over the next few months. It might have been more if they weren’t crushed by economic woes during the pandemic and went out of print.

The stories they bought were about seniors learning to use new technologies in life-changing ways, and a cancer survivor who’d built a new career as a freelance photographer.

I had to go out and interview people, photograph them, write the stories, and then sign away my rights to use the work again… so you won’t see those stories here on Medium. But it doesn’t matter because they paid $1000 per article.

I don’t usually earn such good rates, but it’s nice when you can get it.

Making $1000

So when you read about making $1000 on Medium with one story, it’s possible but probably unlikely from relatively small writers like me.

If I want to make $1000 per article, I’ll pitch to the newspapers, to big glossy magazines who tend to have big budgets, or I’ll accept that I’m a relatively unknown journalist, and sell my ideas to a regular client for $100-$200 instead. Because that’s where most of my work comes from — regular clients with modest budgets. And I value them all.

What I don’t expect is to make that much for one article on Medium. Not generally — not without a hell of a lot more followers and a big pinch of luck. I’ve earned almost $200 on one Medium story that went moderately viral last month, but some of my stories make less than a dollar.

If you want to sell a $1000 story, the best approach is to pitch the idea to a real publication that pays for proper journalism. Then deliver something totally brilliant, so you can do it again.

The downside

The downside, of course, is that it’s not easy to get that $1000 gig. For every $1000 article I write, I spend a lot of time pitching ideas to editors and get completely ignored most of the time. Or worse, they take my idea and assign the job to one of their other writers!

To get that $1000 job in print publishing, you may have to spend a lot of time pitching to a wall of silence. Literally days, or possibly weeks, with no guarantees.

Which, of course, makes Medium look quite attractive.

If you want to be a freelance writer in the print publishing sector, you need to be able to take rejection, carry on through the wall of silence, and keep going. Perseverance is key.

Now I must go because the guinea pigs are trashing their house.