My 2021 Medium Earning with 49 Stories and 260 Followers

Is it still worth writing on Medium?

Without further ado, it’s USD 2643.19.

A lil Backstory

It all started with my obsession with true crimes podcasts. I had all of this information and questions on the cases, but there wasn’t a place for me to pen out my thoughts or share about it. Friendly advice — Don’t randomly speed talk about murders and police investigations to friends. Not the best ice breaker.

And like many others back in 2020, I felt both physically and mentally trapped with the ongoing pandemic till I found Medium. Writing has never been my strongest suit, but it has been something that I always enjoy. My only expectation back then was to share true crime cases and earn pennies.

Never did I think I would earn over $100, much less over $2000.

Monthly Stats

Averagely per month, I write about 4 stories with 6 minutes of reading time, gaining about 4.9k views with an earning of approximately $170. The average earning excludes the time where I was the lucky few who received Medium bonuses back in May ($50), June ($500), and August ($500).

Views and Earnings

Based on the graph, it’s clear that high views don’t necessarily secure an increased earning. Take one of my older cases on Child Rapist Cho Do Soon versus The Story of Mark Kilroy.

Both cases are about 5 minutes of reading time. I earned $52.41 from the Mark Kilroy case that gained about 4.8k views. Even though the case of Cho Do Soon had 40% higher views with 7.9k views, it only made $12.80.

The big reason behind this was external views. Medium earnings are based on the reading time of members. If your readers are not paying members, you don’t get anything in the form of monetary.

Curations, Views and Earning

“Chosen for further distribution.”

It’s not a sure ticket to high views and earnings. But, the inner me have a lil dance party whenever I see that line. I do find curated cases have a better chance of gaining better traffic, just not all the time.

Here’s a comparison between a curated case of Dalia Dippolito, the ‘Green Dalia’, versus Sandra Cantu, the Child in a Suitcase. The case of a sly woman plotting his husband’s murder o made about $16, while the murder of a child, Sandra, made over $48, 3 times more than a curated case.

The Current Trend

Lately, Medium doesn’t pay out that well anymore, and quite a few Medium writers share the same view. My earnings personally took a dip, too, especially after the referral program was introduced. It makes sense now that the $5 membership fee will be split, where $2 goes to the person who referred the reader, and the remaining $3 will be split out to the x number of articles the reader reads. If the reader only reads 1 article that month, then it’s a full $3 for that article’s writer, but if the reader reads 100 articles.. well, tough luck. Though I am also partially to be blamed, considering I posted less and lost my position as a “Top Writer in History.”

I did realized one thing in my Medium earning. My older articles no longer earned me money. While it’s normal for articles to earn less after the first few months but they have consistently made me more than a dollar each month. But, for the past few months, some of them got a whopping $0.

My newer articles don’t do too well too. I capped out $35 per case, while back in the days, I could have gotten over $100 with just one case. Of course, it could be attributed to a few factors, including the case’s length and the increasing competitions on Medium.

Earning on Medium just got tougher.

That being said, earning on Medium is a passive income. I still make money from the first few articles that I wrote a year back. There’s an undeniable satisfaction of waking up and having an extra dollar or even pennies in your bank without any extra effort. At least, it is for me.

Final Take

Take writing on Medium as a hobby and not your lifeline. Don’t quit your job for this, but keep writing on Medium. One day, you may find great success, or it can be just coffee money. Regardless, unlike your office job (mostly), any articles you write here belong to you.

Is it still worth writing on Medium?

Personally, yes.

Writing on Medium has never been solely about money for me. But, having the possibility of helping someone out like the active case of Angela Green or even just to share the cases of the deceased in memory of them or to seek justice for them, that’s quite enough for me.

Thank you for reading!

And, here’s a shameless plug to get anyone to subscribe to my free newsletter or to use my referral link, where I can get a small kickback. 😉