Is The New Medium Pay System My Friend Or My Harsh Mistress

i think it’s too soon to tell. In the meantime, I’m working my a$$ off.

It’s hard for me to believe, but I’ve been writing for Medium for six months already. I still feel like a newbie because there are always things to learn.

I’ve just started an e-mail list, but I’ve only sent out one newsletter. I’ve set up my own publication but haven’t figure out how to set up links.

And I’m not alone in trying to figure out the ins and outs of the new payout system. It seems I’d just understood claps and fans and then they were gone. Well, not gone exactly, just not worth as much.

I’d read that when you could snare 50 fans a day to read your work, you were on your way to earning a good monthly paycheck. I wasn’t sure what a “good paycheck” meant in actual dollars, but at least it was a goal. And someone said a minimum of a thousand claps meant an article went viral. For a month, I was getting one of those a week. So I was on my way, wasn’t I?

And then, poof, they were gone like daylight savings time. There I was, in the dark again. If my article got claps, it didn’t mean I could count on getting paid for it now that reads were the order of the day. But how was Medium calculating reads? Depended on who you asked.

At first, I lived for my daily tally. The first few days, I loved it. At the end of October, I was still living off the tail end of the clap era and doing pretty well. But come November there was a new sheriff in town.

By then, I’d completely lost my focus waiting for the magic hour when my earnings dashboard would update. As the hour grew later, I found it harder and harder to concentrate. I had my eye on the clock, wondering if my articles were paying off.

I’ve had a few days where Medium has gotten its gears stuck, and the results haven’t posted on time. The other night I had to wait almost a full extra day. That was an eye-opener. Somehow, I have to force myself to take my eye off the ball, so to speak, and back to my work. Here’s where a zen practice would come in handy.

I hit the coveted 7% of writers who earned more than $100 a month from the get-go and got curated with my first article. After I’d been on Medium for a month or two, I realized I was steadily earning more each week, and I was getting accepted into publications. I wasn’t earning big, but I decided I’d give Medium a year to hit four figures a month and then decide if I’d continue.

At the sixth month mark, I’ve hit a plateau. I’m between $350-$400 a month. My hourly rate is dismal because I work very hard to earn that much. I read a lot of articles to keep my engagment high-something I enjoy, but it’s time-consuming as I’m not a fast reader. I write daily and twice-daily when I can.

Since I’m also a freelance editor and write novels that I publish on Kindle, I have a full plate when it comes to work.

I need Medium to pay off in terms of an income stream and return in terms of effort.

I was quite optimistic about my prospects before the change in the pay system. I have close to 1700 followers though my daily fans seesaw depending on my publishing schedule.

Like many writers have claimed, my views have dropped, so i struggle for reads. My income has dropped slightly since the change, though I can’t tell yet if it’s on a trajectory to increase the way I’d like.

The result of my assessment so far is that it’s too soon for me to tell if the new plan is good or bad for me. So far, it’s not as terrible as it is for poets. I’m attempting to begin writing two articles a day, a stretch when I’m editing a lot. But that’s my new goal.

I love writing, but I don’t want to become burned out. In my almost 50-year writing career, I’ve never dreaded having to write. But I’ve never felt a taskmaster at my back like Medium, where not producing affects my bottom line. Writing novels entails a different kind of effort, where marketing is the harsh mistress, not writing.

So, bottom line, I’m working harder than ever. I’ll know in another month or two, maybe longer if it’s paying off.

I know followers are more important than ever. When those numbers increase, my earnings increase. For that reason, I try to pay back by following and reading other writers. I do what Medium has told us works with claps, I clap for articles to increase distribution.

My next push will be to work on outside marketing and writing more about writing and editing.

I’ve benefited from writers who post about their earnings and marketing efforts. While I don’t have brilliant ideas, I will post my experience from time to time in case it helps.

The next time I give a rundown on my stats and experience, I will focus on niches, I don’t have one, types of articles, and any marketing I do.

Thank you to all who do the same.

I’m an editor and writer on Medium with Top Writer status. I’m also an editor for the publication, Rogues Gallery. I’ve published 55 titles on Amazon and edit for private clients. If you’d like to hire me as your editor for fiction, non-fiction, or business writing, please contact me here. If you’d like to read more of my work on Medium, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ll make sure you don’t miss a word. Thank you for reading.