How My Medium Income Went up 600%

My writing income has sextupled since finding ILLUMINATION

I began writing on Medium on 15 December 2019; almost exactly six months ago. Since that time, apart from Medium’s copious stats, I’ve kept track of my daily and monthly figures on a spreadsheet.

I’ve written for myself, and for various publications, and I was beginning to feel that I was just spinning my wheels.

But a month ago to the day, I published my first story on ILLUMINATION, and since then Medium has become more interesting, exciting, and profitable.

In my first five months, I earnt $150 from writing on Medium. Enough to cover my subscription here, and a few more besides. I now have online subscriptions to The Washington Post and The New York Times, both home to quality news reporting, analysis, opinion, and features. The NYT books and literature coverage is rightly famous.

So, hearty thanks, Medium. Not enough for a round-the-world flight, but enough to more than satisfy my reading appetites.

Effects of the lockdown

I was slumping by mid-May, for sure. I was in isolation, venturing out as little as possible to buy essentials, feeling worried about the state of the world. And especially anxious for my American friends and relatives, put at risk by a bumbling, incoherent national response to the coronavirus.

Once I’d finished a series of articles tracking America’s rising infection and death statistics — in response to Don Trump’s claim that 15 cases was about as high as it was going to get under his genius administration — I was drained. There were a couple of times when instead of the story a day target I’d set myself, I might publish a story a week.

Then Chris Hedges suggested I give ILLUMINATION a go. I dove in with the article linked above, published a few more, and enjoyed the experience. Dr Mehmet Yildiz with his boundless enthusiasm inspired myself and many others to contribute and interact. There’s a feeling in the publication of a commitment to growth, and helping writers be their best.

Timothy Key deserves a shoutout for his efforts, but he is by no means alone. Obviously being an ILLUMINATION editor is a serious job. Not so much in the work, but in the commitment to working with others. I browse the Slack channels and the editors are all in there, helping run the show, offering advice, going the extra mile.

My light brightens in ILLUMINATION

It’s not that I gave up on my other outlets, and I try to give Mark Kelly at Grab a Slice a story a day, but the writing prompts, the wide choice of informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining writers on ILLUMINATION keep me coming back.

So, I’m now writing two or sometimes three stories a day. That’s an income boost right there. I’ve had a couple curated, which helped lift the reads. And a couple of stories just took off.

I can’t explain it, but these two attracted hundreds of readers:

And oh, how the money rolls in!

Well, I’m not getting rich, but last month I took in $22.20, and according to my spreadsheet, I’m on track to earn $133, and most likely more, given the way my graph is trending.

This will be the first time I will have cracked a hundred dollars and while it’s not big money, it’s not something to sneeze at neither.

Here’s how

1. Steady writing. I write every day, usually two articles. Often one explores some aspect of politics or philosophy or another serious topic, and the other is a bit of whimsy.
2. Engagement with other writers. If someone claps or highlights or responds to a story, I go and read one of theirs. Often I’ll find someone worth following. Sometimes I’ll comment, and sometimes that turns into a continuing conversation spread across various stories and social media.
3. Improvement in writing and formatting standards. From the beginning I’ve tried to follow Medium’s guidelines, aiming for stories that are readable, factual, useful, and conform to Medium’s curation standards. I’ve also been an avid reader of advice from more established writers, and so many of the hints and tips they give have been helpful.
4. Write for the reader. I try not to be too serious. This isn’t an academic forum, nor a newsroom. Stories can deal with deep subjects, but it’s probably best to put anything complex or detailed into a link for readers to follow if they want to go deeper. I ask myself, what can a reader get out of my story? Something to think about, a chuckle, a glimpse into an exotic land, a saucy story.
5. A good headline and lead image is crucial. Not clickbait, but an enticing headline that is sustained by the story. And a good, colourful, appropriate image, appropriately licensed. I can write the best article ever, but if nobody clicks on it because I’ve given it a boring headline and image, then what’s the use?
6. Vary story length. My “How I find the smart kids” story linked above is a one minute read. But my top two earning stories, both up around $20 — woot! — are longer reads. One is a saucy romp through Malibu, the other is aimed at improving your photographs.

It’s been a blast!

So, thank you Medium, and thank you ILLUMINATION. In just one month I’m going from $20 to cracking the $100 mark. And in the next six months, who knows?

The money’s not that important. It’s not my day job, after all. But it’s an enjoyable hobby, this writing, and especially the reading.

Britni

My first story: six months ago!