Meta
My Evergreen Story Hit $100!
A follow-up article
A few weeks ago, I published a story called, “What’s Better: Slow and Steady, or a Flash in the Pan?” about finding the ‘recipe’ for a $100 story on Medium. I asked: is it better to have a story go viral for a short time and peter off, or to have an ‘evergreen’ story that continues to earn a little bit each month? Now, I’ve finally answered that question!
As you noticed from the title of this story, my evergreen article, “How to Use Medium Lists Effectively,” has hit $100 first. It took just under one year, having been published on November 13, 2021. It earned $10-$20 per month for the first couple of months, then dropped off to about $3 per month. It still consistently gets a few views per day, most of which are internal.
The Stats:
- Views: 3.3K (Internal 2.2K, 66%; External 1.1K, 34%)
- Earnings: $102.18
- Member Reading Time: 36hrs 51min
- 3K claps; 60 comments
Final Thoughts
I don’t think it is controversial to say that I love my viral article, “Am I a Millennial or Gen Z?” more than my listicle about lists. I put far more effort into it. But stories about Medium tend to do well on Medium. Personal essays, fiction, and poetry may be a writer’s passion, but this platform’s bread and butter comes from clickbait, “Get Rich Quick” articles, instructional content, and listicles: the “How To”s and “Best Of”s “Top Ten Things About” and “Did You Know”s.
Longevity is the name of the game when it comes to passive income. But not when it comes to joy.
If writing is only about earning passive income for you, then write evergreen, instructive articles (data, facts, instructions, manuals, lists) that generate more money than a well-written personal essay on this platform over time. Longevity is the name of the game when it comes to passive income. But not when it comes to joy.
I try not to write too much meta content. It isn’t what I want to be known for. The genre occasionally sucks me in, but the articles I am most proud of aren’t about Medium. And I don’t think any of my followers (all one thousand of you!) follow me for that stuff.
Most of my followers, I hope, came here for fiction, personal nonfiction, poetry, and/or journalism: the soul of this platform, if not what is profitable.
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Never miss a story by subscribing to my Medium via email. Looking for more like this? Check out my personal nonfiction, nonfiction journalism and longform fiction. I do not monetize poetry or flash fiction. My novels are temporarily out of print; find out why in my article, “The Dreamspinner Press Controversy.” You can also find me on Twitter or like my public Facebook page.
