Month 5 of the Medium Partner Program

The plain, but not-so-simple truth

Month 5 of the Medium Partner Program

Plateau

For the first couple of months in the program, I’d been on an upward climb. Now, I continue gaining followers, and yet the number of reads and fans doesn’t seem to grow. In fact, there’s been a bit of a decline. I spend a decent amount of time on the articles I write, but many times it doesn’t seem worth it for the amount that I’m paid for them. In the past 30 days, I also have fewer “fans” than I’ve had in each of the four months prior.

At times, I feel like giving up on Medium altogether, but I do make enough to pay for my membership, plus extra. I just feel like my writing is worth more than that. I’m not trying to be arrogant or “elitist.” I just get frustrated that I can’t write what I’m good at but the “boosters” are not picking me up.

How Often Should You Post?

In February, I posted 26 times and made about a dollar a day. In March, I made a goal to post at least five times per week. Just like February, the month began well but as the days went by, I was not getting as many reads. Toward the end of the month, I knew that I would not do any better than I did in February. Why not?

One of my dear devoted followers, Natalie, responded to a comment I made about the fact that I was publishing five times per week but not getting reads.

Five times is pretty impressive Brandon, but I’m going to challenge you with this thought: what if your average earning per piece doubled if you published three instead of 5 because your tribe had a chance to read all three? I will do my best to support many of my friends like you who publish multiple times a week, but because there are so many of you — three is often the best I can do when writers publish daily. Multiply that ability to all your tribe, and if you got double the read time on three stories: that’s more money than 5 articles a week + sweat + the time to write and edit + having to come up with fresh ideas all the time…

Her theory makes sense. Many writers publish more than once a day and they seem to be doing very well. However, they have well over a thousand followers and that makes a big difference, I think. If you have more followers, not all of them will read all of your stories every day. As Natalie said, there’s just no time for that. But you’ll have some that read some stories and other followers will read your other ones.

What do you think? Does that make sense?

Top Five Earning Posts

#1 “Month 4 in Medium Partnership Program”

Once again, the article about Medium stats is the best-performing post. I type this with a sigh of resignation and an eye roll. I wish that people would read more of what they like and things that may improve their lives instead of just articles that might help them get ahead on this platform.

But… Give the people what they want, right? I keep writing these updates because that’s what gets me the “big bucks.” That’s a joke, in case you couldn’t tell.

The other reason I write them is to help writers who are fairly new to the platform. Many don’t know what to expect and may be drawn in by claims of making thousands of dollars. I can’t refute that some earn such income, but they are very few. They are individuals who stick to a particular niche and write about what’s popular and trending.

I don’t do that. I write about what I enjoy and I find it boring to stay with one particular niche. I like writing humorous stories, animal care articles, poetry, short stories, reviews of books and movies, and self-improvement articles. For this reason, I’ll likely never be considered a “Top Writer” in any category.

#2 “Blind Dates”

This is one of my humorous articles. It received 29 views, but only six reads and 11 fans.

#3 “Hue Are You?”

This post was written in response to a prompt and delves into the psychology of our favorite colors and what they mean.

#4 “The Magnificent Seven”

This was also written in response to a prompt and is about the significance of numbers in my life.

#5 “Aussie Toss-Up”

This is an Australian-themed “This or That” writing challenge.

The post that received the most views by far was “A Clump of Hair in My Drain.”

It’s a humorous post about signs of aging. If it received the most views, why was it not listed in the top five earning articles? Because 85% of the views have been external. In case you didn’t know, we aren’t paid for external views.

After thinking about it, I can see why it had the most views. I’m guessing that it comes up when people search for things like “How do I get rid of a clump of hair in my drain?” It’s more of a plumbing question, but they end up with a funny article instead.

Takeaway

You can be consistent, post articles every day, and gain followers, but your views and reads decrease anyway. This is not to discourage but to inform you of the possibilities.

I’ve heard from several other writers that they have seen dips in their viewership as well, so I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad. For now, I’ll keep writing. I’m going to try an experiment by posting only three times per week in April and see how my numbers look.

Thanks for the advice, Natalie. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll blame you and send a bill. Just kidding. It’s worth a shot to try it for just one month.

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How many people know what counts as a “read” in Medium’s statistics? If you’re not sure, read this: