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Abstract

ite $100 club hopefully within my first 6 months on Medium — that gives me until January 2021 — we’ll see.</p><p id="7dc1"><b><i>Now, for the Learnings\dots</i></b></p><h1 id="58af">Some Genres Work Better than Others</h1><p id="9ecb">And this may be different for each one of us. For me, surprisingly True Crime has been a good one. I’ve written 3 true crime stories — 2 of them have earned me in the$ 10 range and another so far and has only 125 views.</p><p id="8b90">However, what curation still does is put your story in the Medium “system” and has a higher chance of taking off at another point, as I believe curated stories still get “prompted” by Medium at later points in time as well.</p><p id="16f2">For what it’s worth I had 7 curations in October — lower than my number of 12 in September, and still had better stats and made more money.</p><h1 id="1bec">Publications Matter But Maybe Not as Much Anymore</h1><p id="53fc">I got into some big pubs for the first time in October. I finally got a story into The Ascent and published one in Age of Awareness. I’ve already written quite a few for The Startup — and did one this month as well.</p><p id="ed80">Yet none of these did anything exceptional — the maximum being a couple of dollars of earnings and a couple of hundred views. Were they bad? I don’t think so as they were both in the top publications of Medium and were also curated, but clearly something didn’t click with the readers. Here are the ones with The Ascent and The Startup so you can decide for yourself.</p><div id="0675" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-i-turned-around-my-social-skills-by-making-small-changes-fe93d8ab9bea"> <div> <div>

Options

  <h2>How I Turned Around My Social Skills by Making Small Changes</h2>
            <div><h3>These tiny mindset changes helped me reinvent my personality.</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*k7Ex9_5ZNPCAk_IcyShIxQ.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><div id="92fb" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/workplace-diversity-putting-your-money-where-your-mouth-is-91310541b2c5">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>Workplace Diversity — Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is</h2>
            <div><h3>How companies can truly support women in the workplace.</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*x5848mFjZHQd5VzhlfKa_A.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><h1 id="4a31">How Do You Grow Then?</h1><p id="f4cf">Medium is as much a science as it is an art. But here is what I think you need most to succeed:</p><ul><li><b>Continue to write consistently </b>— I finished my 100th story in October and did so in a 100 days so I averaged about a story a day — <a href="https://readmedium.com/100-days-100-stories-medium-journey-so-far-and-the-challenge-ahead-cf8d768520e9">here’s a detailed story on that</a>.</li><li><b>Know and grow your following</b> — Understand where most of your followers found you from — a specific publication, genre, topic, or some other avenue. Then try and serve them high-quality content so you can build that “relation” with them — remember that’s the buzzword!</li><li><b>Don’t lose out on quality </b>— If you write often but write trash, people will read once, twice, but then realize you’re not someone they care for. So the next time they see prompts of “new stories” from your name — they won’t click through.</li><li><b>The introduction of your story is more important than ever </b>— In the new format, the initial part of your story is visible on your profile, so if you drew attention with the title or image — make sure you keep it intact with the opening. Because that will be the reason why the reader will want to read more.</li><li><b>Marketing yourself creatively is key </b>— Medium won’t do all the work for you anymore via curation or publications. You need to make sure you market yourself — your new stories and old. Package and sell — just as important as creating content.</li><li><b>Build core networks </b>— Via <a href="https://medium.com/illumination">Illumination</a>, I have made so many friends who are fellow writers and editors, and followers of the publication, that they constantly give me the motivation to do better. They also help guide me with their expertise and we all complement each other. These are legit folks like <a href="undefined">Dr Mehmet Yildiz</a> <a href="undefined">Tree Langdon, CPA, CGA</a> <a href="undefined">Geetika Sethi</a> <a href="undefined">Dr John Rose</a> <a href="undefined">Julene Cole</a> <a href="undefined">Liam Ireland</a> <a href="undefined">Britni Pepper</a> who are each skilled in writing and various aspects of it that learning a bit from all of them makes me a better writer everyday. So build your own networks!</li></ul><p id="9026">With that, we head into November — a crazy busy month for me at work — and also my birthday month and for that reason, I plan to make it a record month yet — I don’t know how yet, but I’ll sure tell you when I’ve figured it out!</p><p id="3a68">Till then, Happy Writing! And if you ever need tips or advice, tag me or drop me a private message and I’ll be happy to respond.</p></article></body>

My First $50 Month — October Round-Up and Learnings

My 3rd full month on Medium — quite the roller-coaster

Here’s the customary update on the month that went by. There were changes to Medium that flustered most of us — some of us left the platform, others are soldiering on to adapt and yet again try to demystify what the new rules mean.

In case you missed it, “curation” was de-emphasized, Medium is now supposed to be more “relational” — yep that’s the buzzword, and you’re able to customize your profile to a certain extent.

More on this by Dew Langrial in this great summary of the changes.

I was one of those who were upset with Medium at first too because I felt the curation change was more because of Medium not being able to keep up with the volumes — which I still think is partially true. And so, I did my own rant:

Dear Medium — With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

The latest updates raise some questions that need answering

medium.com

Yet, October was a decent month in many regards — and I did learn some interesting things from it, including some learnings about the “New Medium”. Here’s what I learned so you can benefit from it too.

But first, the stats:

4,000+ Views, ~2,500 Reads

I slightly upped my “views” from the previous month, but the big win was my read ratio was significantly better than September.

In September I’d managed just under 4,000 views but only about 2,000 reads — so a read ratio of 50%. This was now up over 60% which meant more reading time i.e. more engagement.

~120 New Followers — Now at 325

I maintained or slightly upped my rate of adding new followers — I’ve been averaging about 100 a month in terms of new followers and after my 3rd full month now sit at a bit over 300.

Mind you, I only follow about 100 people, and so this is largely organic following and not the result of “follow-for-follow” which is something I am strictly against.

Earnings: $51.XX — First $50 Month

Well, this is the one we all look at, no matter how much we admit. I started my first full month on Medium at $11.xx, which went up to $37.xx in Month 2 and now has crossed $50 for the first time.

So I’ve been able to maintain a decent rate of increase despite the base getting higher and higher to beat.

I still aim to get into the elite $100 club hopefully within my first 6 months on Medium — that gives me until January 2021 — we’ll see.

Now, for the Learnings…

Some Genres Work Better than Others

And this may be different for each one of us. For me, surprisingly True Crime has been a good one. I’ve written 3 true crime stories — 2 of them have earned me in the $10 range and another $5 already and that is the latest one.

All three of these were curated. What I found is when I write True Crime stories my average reading time is the highest of all genres.

This story is my top earner so far and it has managed some decent stats. It is behind another story in views but far ahead in reading time.

Writing About Writing is Good Occasionally

The reality is most of the readers on Medium are also writers. And so if you’ve got valuable tips for them — they’ll surely take them.

I do try and write one story on writing advice — whether it is from a Medium standpoint or a broader piece.

Again, this is one of the areas that gets average read times that are higher than others.

Curation Still Matters — But Not as Much and A Bit Differently

I’d had 12 curations in September and I was proud of it and even wrote a story on tips to enhance your curation chances.

Curation still exists — just that Medium is less explicit about it — i.e. you’re not intimated when it happens and you don’t know the “topics” it was curated in until you go hunt the Topics pages for your story.

You just get a subtle “Chosen for further distribution” message under your story — like the below from my latest “curated” story.

However, curation doesn’t necessarily mean a strong performance of the story. This above story only has made under a $ so far and has only 125 views.

However, what curation still does is put your story in the Medium “system” and has a higher chance of taking off at another point, as I believe curated stories still get “prompted” by Medium at later points in time as well.

For what it’s worth I had 7 curations in October — lower than my number of 12 in September, and still had better stats and made more money.

Publications Matter But Maybe Not as Much Anymore

I got into some big pubs for the first time in October. I finally got a story into The Ascent and published one in Age of Awareness. I’ve already written quite a few for The Startup — and did one this month as well.

Yet none of these did anything exceptional — the maximum being a couple of dollars of earnings and a couple of hundred views. Were they bad? I don’t think so as they were both in the top publications of Medium and were also curated, but clearly something didn’t click with the readers. Here are the ones with The Ascent and The Startup so you can decide for yourself.

How I Turned Around My Social Skills by Making Small Changes

These tiny mindset changes helped me reinvent my personality.

medium.com

Workplace Diversity — Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

How companies can truly support women in the workplace.

medium.com

How Do You Grow Then?

Medium is as much a science as it is an art. But here is what I think you need most to succeed:

Continue to write consistently — I finished my 100th story in October and did so in a 100 days so I averaged about a story a day — here’s a detailed story on that.
Know and grow your following — Understand where most of your followers found you from — a specific publication, genre, topic, or some other avenue. Then try and serve them high-quality content so you can build that “relation” with them — remember that’s the buzzword!
Don’t lose out on quality — If you write often but write trash, people will read once, twice, but then realize you’re not someone they care for. So the next time they see prompts of “new stories” from your name — they won’t click through.
The introduction of your story is more important than ever — In the new format, the initial part of your story is visible on your profile, so if you drew attention with the title or image — make sure you keep it intact with the opening. Because that will be the reason why the reader will want to read more.
Marketing yourself creatively is key — Medium won’t do all the work for you anymore via curation or publications. You need to make sure you market yourself — your new stories and old. Package and sell — just as important as creating content.
Build core networks — Via Illumination, I have made so many friends who are fellow writers and editors, and followers of the publication, that they constantly give me the motivation to do better. They also help guide me with their expertise and we all complement each other. These are legit folks like Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon, CPA, CGA Geetika Sethi Dr John Rose Julene Cole Liam Ireland Britni Pepper who are each skilled in writing and various aspects of it that learning a bit from all of them makes me a better writer everyday. So build your own networks!

With that, we head into November — a crazy busy month for me at work — and also my birthday month and for that reason, I plan to make it a record month yet — I don’t know how yet, but I’ll sure tell you when I’ve figured it out!

Till then, Happy Writing! And if you ever need tips or advice, tag me or drop me a private message and I’ll be happy to respond.