Medium Matters: Is it Really That Hard to Make $100 a Month on Medium?

A look at why so many Medium writers struggle to hit that monetary milestone.

How hard is it to make $100 a month on Medium?

I’ll preface this by saying I haven’t completed a full 30 days on Medium yet, and while I expect to be close to $100, I might be just short of the milestone at the end of my first month.

I am however fascinated by the stat that only 7.4 percent of active writers made at least $100 last month.

7.4 percent?

That seems incredibly low.

As far as I can tell, based on my research and observations from other Medium writers, $100 to $500 a month seems to be easy enough to earn with focused, consistent effort.

Now the bigger numbers 500+ may be a bit harder to come by, consistently at least, and seem to require a commitment to treat Medium like a part-time job with a posting schedule that consists of multiple (two or more) posts a day.

I can understand why it is harder to achieve those larger sums of money each month. They require much more work and a clearer strategy than many may be willing to invest in the platform.

However, $100 seems easily achievable with minimum effort, so what’s stopping the vast majority of (active) Medium writers from achieving the goal?

I have a few theories:

Medium has a broad definition of “active” member

The cynic in me thinks that Medium defines “active member” in a way that gives them the best possible results when reporting income earned by those in the Medium Partner Program (MPP).

However, they may be taking a very broad definition of active and including anyone who posted as leat one post in any given month behind the paywall. If that is the case, that they use a broad definition of active, then it is easy to understand why only 7.4 percent of writers earn at least $100.

Anyone who has written on Medium for any amount of time knows unless one of your articles goes mega-viral it’s likely to take several to reach the $100 mark. Posting sporadically isn’t going to get it done.

Which brings me to my next point…

Most active Medium writers aren’t frequent posters

In my short time on Medium, I don’t think I’ve encountered anyone writing on the site who has regularly made $100 or more each month that isn’t posting daily or at least several times a week.

Success on Medium has as much to with quantity as it does quality and if you aren’t writing enough, it’s going to take you a few months or more to hit the $100 mark.

Medium operates a lot like social media; it requires time to build a following and build a portfolio of posts that will consistently make you money. If you’re not consistently posting and engaging with the community, you lose steam and your ability to make real money on the site.

The more you post and engage, the more you make. The moment you stop doing those things, or you just do so sporadically, you’re not likely to make much more than coffee money.

Many writers don’t understand how to make money on Medium

I spent quite a bit of time reading posts from writers on the site as well as the official Medium account about the Medium Partner Program and how it worked before I wrote a single post. Even with all my research, I missed some things and had to adjust my strategy more than once.

The thing is, there seem to be many writers who have been writing here much longer than I have who are pretty clueless about how Medium works. While there is definitely confusion about some of the recent changes that have occurred on the site, if I can figure things out in less than a month here, anyone can.

I do get as writers we often want to just be writers. But when your income is determined by how well you can adjust to an ever-changing algorithm, then you have to take off your writing hat sometime and put on your business one to make sure you’re getting the most out of this platform. Not doing so, taking the time time to learn the medium (no pun intended) means you will likely have a hard time being apart of that 7.4 percent.

Final Thoughts

There are no guarantees writing here.

You may never hit the coveted goal of at least $100 month while writing here. I have to beleive however, that with a focused strategy that you are committed to following that goal (and bigger monetary goals) are more than achievable.

You have to be willing to not just put in the work, but to also take the time to really understand how Medium works. They may bill the site as a place where you can write anything and earn some money while doing so, but the reality is it’s definitely not that simple, especially if you want to hit that $100 mare or higher.