Medium Partner Program, Month 3

My Progress on Medium

We have now reached the end of January and I have reached the end of my third month in Medium’s Partnership Program. I will relate to you how I’ve done so far.

Money 💰

This seems to be the focus of many people, so I’ll start with the earnings. At the end of my first month in the program, I made $10.01. The second month brought me $28.01. My third month brought me — drum roll, please — $31.37. It’s not a huge difference compared to the previous month but it is a bit more.

I created 26 posts in November and earned $10. In December, I tried to post 31 times; I didn’t quite make it, but I came up with 30 posts, so I’m fine with that. I made pretty much a dollar (technically, $.93) a day for that month. A dollar for each post seems like such a small amount for the time each post requires; however, I was happy with the progress.

I didn’t even attempt to post every day in January because I am trying to keep up with my freelance writing job, and that is my first priority. I submitted 16 posts in January and that averages out to about $1.96/post.

Did you notice that? I posted almost every day in December but made less money than in January when I submitted articles only four times per week. Have you read articles telling you that the more you post, the more you’ll make? Not necessarily true. It depends on the type of posts, timing, and I think most importantly the quality.

I had several articles in December that were based on writing prompts that were fun, but I wouldn’t call them “high-quality.” Some of them were also short reads, which earn less money. One of them got tons of views, but it was just a picture of me and my cat saying “Meowy Christmas.” Read time on that was almost nothing.

Followers 🐈 🐈 🐈

I gained 35 Followers in October (before reaching the required 100 for the Partner Program), 231 in November, 191 in December, and 213 in January. I gained a few more email subscribers and I also gained my first two referrals. Jordan Lewis-Iles is a very nice individual and a great writer who posts about issues relating to psychology and dyslexia. Adrian Badea I’ve known for less time but writes about a variety of topics and genres. I hope you’ll check them out.

I had more reads and more views in January, but 902 Fans as opposed to 951 in December. What does that mean? More people are viewing and reading, but not as many like what they read? It’s odd.

I also passed the 500 and 600 marks for followers, so I’m happy about that. My next goal is 1,000. Will it happen by the end of February? Perhaps. I plan on doing some extra work so I hope to gain some extra “love” from followers surrounding this Valentine’s Day. ❤️

Best-Performing Posts 📈📊

Contrary to previous months, my best-performing post in January was “About Me — Brandon Ellrich.” As most veteran Medium writers know, the posts that perform the best are many times the ones about Medium — how much money people make, how to gain followers, and general advice regarding the platform.

This time, that one came in second, which makes me glad. To me, it shows that people want to get to know me more than just what I’m earning and how. I think this is a step in the right direction and I hope it stays that way.

The post with the most Reads was “The Best 7 Cover Songs Across the Universe,” written in response to Pierce McIntyre’s prompt.

Why didn’t it earn the most? Because 58% of the referrals came from external sources.

So, here are my top-earning posts:

#1 “About Me — Brandon Ellrich” This one is pinned to the top of my profile, which may account for some of its popularity.

#2 “Medium Partner Program, Month Two” Not surprised that this is close to the top. This one had the most views.

#3 “Views vs. Reads on Medium” I put this one in almost all of my posts because it contains information that is important to a writer’s statistics and earnings on Medium. If you read nothing else, you should read this:

#4 “This or That in the New Year” A humorous post based on a writing prompt from the wonderful Brett Jenae Tomlin.

#5 “Scrabble Babble Writing Challenge” This is a prompt I came up with myself, so I’m happy that it did well.

My Goals for February 🥅 🥅

I think it’s good to give yourself some direction and goals to reach for. I am happy that I have been making progress, but I would like to do a little better next month. I’ll try to write a minimum of four posts per week. I already have a few in my drafts and some are ready to go.

Whenever I think of an idea or if someone tags me in a prompt, I try to remember to save it to my list of “Writing Prompts” and get to it when I have time. Some of them have deadlines but some are just ideas for prompts that can work whenever I feel like posting them. I can start one anytime and add to it here and there.

I’ve been fortunate to become connected with some wonderful writers/bloggers who regularly tag me in writing challenges. These prompts have assisted me in reaching my goals and will no doubt continue to do so. I’ve already mentioned a couple of these bloggers above, but other writers with great prompts and humorous posts are Lisa M. Gott, Linda Ng, Jason Provencio, and Robin Wilding.

What About You? 🤔

Tell me how you’re doing on this platform of Medium. Is it what you expected? Better or worse? Have you become rich and famous by following the advice of some of the “experts” on Medium?

Maybe you are here simply for the joy of writing, which is completely acceptable. Everyone has their own reasons for being here and no one can tell you that yours is wrong. Are you here to make money? That’s fine. Work hard at it and it can happen. Are you here to connect with like-minded writers? You can do that too. Are you here just to put your feelings into words and send them out into the universe? Send away!

I hope this article has been helpful. If you haven’t joined Medium as a paying member, I would like to invite you to join using my referral link. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps me out, so I would appreciate it. I’ll also help you out by following you and tagging you in articles as well.

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