Summary

An author shares their recent success on Medium, detailing strategies that helped them earn over $400 in a month.

Abstract

The author, an experienced Medium writer, has historically made less than $30 per month on the platform. However, after implementing specific changes to their approach, they report a significant increase in income, earning over$ 400 in a recent month. Key strategies included improving article headlines to pique curiosity rather than revealing the content's outcome, targeting niche publications by studying and emulating top-performing articles, and writing frequently on topics of interest. The author emphasizes the importance of writing for enjoyment and notes the contrast with their experience on News Break, where writing feels more like work. They plan to continue using these strategies and will provide updates on their progress.

Opinions

The author believes that giving away the outcome in the title, such as stating the exact amount earned, can deter readers and reduce the intrigue of the article.
They advocate for a Skyscraper approach to writing, which involves studying successful content within niche publications and aiming to produce even better material.
Publications are seen as beneficial but not the sole factor in success; the author had significant success with articles published outside of them as well.
Writing for Medium is described as enjoyable and not feeling like work, contrasting with the author's experience on News Break.
The author is optimistic about their future earnings on Medium and is open to sharing their ongoing journey and results with readers.

Last Month I Made This Much on Medium

Plus Proof, and How I Did It

I’ve been on Medium for a few years now. I’ve never made any more than $30.

Something changed recently and I decided to try to give it my very best effort to grow my following, improve my engagement on articles and make money on Medium.

This is how much I made…

I made over $400!

Here’s what I changed about my writing…

Making my article headlines better

First, I paid very close attention to the way writers were titling their articles. I’ve always leaned more toward writing informative articles with titles starting “How to…” usually.

When you title your articles like this you have to be careful not to give away the gold in the title.

For example, how I made $100 blogging last month.

You’re telling your audience right off the bat how much you made. Spoiler alert!

If readers see this title, they already know what your end result was, making $100. Your journey to getting there might not be all that interesting to read for them or they might not be impressed at the number, or other reasons they decided not to click and read.

This isn’t the case always though.

Compare the “how I made $100 blogging last month” title to this one: how much I made blogging in 30 days.

You don’t give away the gold in the title. It sparks curiosity and lures the reader in to learn how much you actually made blogging.

This is one big change I made and I think it helped.

The second change: publications

I’ve broken my back in the past to get my work featured in tons of publications like Better Marketing, The Startup, etc.

Even with all that, my best earning month never topped $20 to $30.

So, I began finding more niche publications, studying the content they feature, looking over top-performing articles and styling my content to match.

It’s like Brian Dean’s Skyscraper approach a bit. See what’s doing well and write something better.

I didn’t do it quite the way he describes where I write the same topic idea and improve upon it.

More what I did was study the kind of content, how many words, how the headline was setup, the writing, etc. Then from there, write about a topic keeping those things in mind.

I want to note though, that publications are not the magic bullet.

I published quite a few stories outside publications that did very well in terms of reads and income generated.

For now I continue to use publications in my strategy but I’ll be publishing straight to Medium equally as much, if not more.

I wrote a lot

But, it didn’t feel like it.

I joined News Break about a year ago and with all the changes their creator program has undergone, writing there just isn’t fun any more.

I do it for exposure and for the extra paycheck.

I Went Viral on News Break — Here’s What I Learned

And Exactly How I Did It

medium.com

At Medium, it’s totally different.

I write about what I want and so sitting down for 20 or 30 minutes creating a story doesn’t feel like work at all.

I’m not making nearly as much on Medium as I am on News Break but I hope for that to change soon.

Anyway, that’s how I did it!

I’m curious to see how things will fare this month.

Follow along and I’ll make sure to write an update in a few weeks.

By the way, do you write for Medium? What’s your strategy?