Making Cents: Medium’s New MPP Earnings Results

An in-depth analysis of the new MPP changes — and how to survive the new system

It’s been 20 days since Medium updated their writer payout calculations for the partner program — and phew, what a clusterfuck. Opinions on the results run the gamut, largely depending on which side you ended up on — the earners or the losers.

For the most part, earnings are up for small-audience writers. So much so that a number of people have asked me if Medium is about to go bankrupt. Thankfully, this isn’t the case though.

Medium is a revenue share platform, with 50% of revenue going to the writers pool. That pool didn’t change, the payout distribution did.

OG Earnings Plummeted

Throughout the Slacks and Discord groups I’m part of — it’s become clear that the OG Medium writers who have been around since the invention of the chisel and tablet are suffering. Their earnings jumped off a cliff. Here’s one example. Here’s another for good measure. Hell’s bananas, let’s make it a trifecta.

This is because, in the new system, older articles earn a tiny fraction of what they did before.

Here’s an example from my own stats — of an article that started trending (my first one ever, yay me!) at the end of July:

And then the new program hit…

On July 31st it earned $4.69, and in the new program dropped to $0.37, then down to just $0.10. Now, this is small potatoes compared to the examples I linked to above — but they’re still my small taters that got taken away. No tater salad for me I guess. Or soup from that chef on Seinfeld.

You can see more examples of earnings going cliff diving from another writer here.

You might be thinking, ‘Good, the money was too concentrated in the pockets of too few!’ But it’s not that cut and dry. In the examples above, these are largely tech writers who put a ton of time into stories (not only writing the article but often developing the code the article is based on). They can’t churn them out like a self-help article, personal story, rant, etc.

High-quality articles are supposed to earn more in the new system. The caveat is — they have to be new (and they only earn for a few days). So, is this encouraging quality?

Quality Is(n’t) Rewarded?

If articles no longer earn over time, then why spend more time crafting each one with a fine-tooth comb? For the boost right? Yeah, but the boost isn’t guaranteed, it’s a lottery (as many, many are describing it).

My highest-earning article this month was under 150 words, and was the quickest post I’ve made so far.

Stats are Whack

I don’t know if mercury is in Gatorade at the moment — but the stats have gone whack. They have all the reporting accuracy of a drunk toddler playing darts. Here is one sample (but every story is the same for me):

So the views are either 175 or 158. And it either had a read ratio of 69% or 73% (or maybe the top one calculates overall and the other members only?). Mine are more normal than some others are seeing though.

I have actually laughed out loud at some of the ridiculous results I’ve seen others get. Like over 100 claps “from 2 people”, and people with negative claps/views/comments. How exactly do negative claps happen? Did Medium forget how counting works?

Does Engagement Really Pay?

Well, sort of. The reason many small-audience writers are making more money this month is because of their engagement. But engagement works best with small numbers. Just ask anyone who has been boosted, yes they can get way more comments than normal but not at the scale of increased views (100X the views doesn’t lead to 100X the claps or comments).

Engagement also can depend on topics. Topics like tech and erotica for example tend to get significantly fewer comments. Personal stories, rants, opinion pieces, etc. tend to get a lot more engagement (or, for polarizing topics, enragement).

I may not get insane engagement levels, but I think I do pretty darn nifty:

And here is before Aug 1st:

Maybe I was naive, but I thought engagement would pay more. And I am aware that there are many who would love to make that much per article. I just included them as a reference point on how much engagement pays…which to me, seems ‘meh’. Fairly anti-anticlimactic.

Where Did the Money Go?

So, the big earners are losing thousands of dollars. Many small earners are making more this month. But there is another place the money is being paid out — to boosted posts.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Example 1: earnings of $500, $300 and $150 on their boosted posts (compared to under $50 for similar engagement on an unboosted post).
• Example 2: $532, $508, and $206 on their boosted posts (the 4th top earner was $28). Their July earnings were $8.85, and with the August boosts their earnings are now over $1,000.
• Example 3: a good friend showed me that their August boost earned $270, whereas their last two boosts in the old program earned $70 and $72 respectively.
• Example 4: I was told one boost earned over $1K in a day (and I trust this person, but I can’t link to earnings as they didn’t write an article about it).
• Example 5: This person earned $263 for their boost.
• Example 6: One friend earned $69. So not all boosts are huge.

But how frickin big is the boost multiplier?!?! Isn’t 500 views enough of a boost? Why do boosts need to be paid 10X, or even 4X?

How to Make Money in the New System

This is not about ‘gaming the system’, but you should understand how things work. Also, I want to save you from migrating platforms to OnlyFans…or OnlyFeet. So, doing these things seems to earn more money in the new system:

• Engagement, to a point — but not a huge difference. You can foster this by engaging with others, blah blah blah (you’ve heard this before).
• GET BOOSTED. It pays sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more. Here is some advice to get your stories boosted. And here’s some more advice, with their latest guidelines update.
• Also, get boosted because views are getting harder to get without it. They put boosted stories front and center, and they get 500+ views. It is hard to compete with that.
• Work on your read ratio. This is an important calculation now. Hook them in your intro, and keep them reading — because you need to keep them on the page for over 30 seconds (to count as a read).
• Keep producing. Medium says they don’t want people churning out content (they want fewer, higher-quality stories)— but old stories earn pennies now. Without new content, you won’t make money.
• Say “Fuck. This. Shit.”, and just do exactly what you’ve been doing. That’s what I’m doing. It’s easier and a lot more fun, albeit less lucrative. Don’t do this if your goal is to get boats and hoes.

If you’re just here for the writing, the reading, and the friendships — that’s awesome. Even more awesome is that you’re going to be rewarded for that. But also — why are you reading this then? hehe

I’m not saying try to ‘game the system’, but understand how it operates if you’re in this to build an audience, increase your readership and/or earn for your writing.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying getting paid for work you’re creating by the way. The old adage of artists should just love it and not get paid is dumb. A video-game designer can love what they do, they still get paid.

Don’t forget to clap and shit, so that I make 12 more cents.

~Robin Wilding, reporting from…a hot tub full of quaaludes, with your mom.