avatarAmanda Quint

Summary

The author shares their success and insights from their first month in the Medium Partner Program, achieving a significant earning primarily from a single viral story and setting realistic writing goals for the future.

Abstract

The author joined Medium's Partner Program in late February, just after reaching 100 followers, and managed to earn enough to cover a Medium subscription within the last five days of the month. A single story about metrics garnered over 4,000 views, contributing largely to the unexpected earnings. The author plans to focus on quality over quantity, aiming to publish one software development story per week and acknowledges that while the financial returns are modest relative to time investment, the primary benefits are skill development and knowledge sharing. An update indicates that a follow-up story for March earnings is available.

Opinions

  • The author believes that their early success might be attributed to beginner's luck, especially given the viral nature of their "Metrics" story.
  • They emphasize the importance of quality content, dismissing the need to adhere to high-volume publishing strategies like "100 stories in 100 days."
  • The author is realistic about the financial aspect, recognizing that their current writing efforts are not equivalent to minimum wage, but values the practice and educational aspect of publishing on Medium.
  • They express gratitude for the support received, including someone using their referral link to subscribe to Medium.
  • The author is optimistic and excited to continue their Medium journey, eager to see how their content will perform in the subsequent month.

My Medium Journey — February Earnings

My first month in the Medium Partner Program

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

After joining Medium in January, I set a goal for myself: Earn enough with my stories on Medium to pay for a Medium subscription.

This seemed like an attainable goal since the Medium membership is only $5/month.

Joining the Partner Program

I reached 100 followers on February 22nd. I did this mostly by following other people and hoping that they reciprocated — which for the most part they did, especially other users with less than 100 followers.

I applied and was accepted into the program the next day, February 23rd, so the earnings reflected here are really only for the last 5 days of February.

My Stories

When I joined the partner program, I had six stories published. I marked my newest 3 stories as metered, and I released two more before the end of the month, for a total of 5 stories eligible to earn.

The author’s stories that were eligible for earning in February 2022

My Earnings

Here are my totals for the days I was eligible to earn in February:

The Author’s earnings for February 2022

Honestly, I was shocked — I certainly did not expect any of my stories to take off the way that the Metrics story did, earning over 4K views.

Additionally, some lovely person out there used my referral link to sign up for Medium, which also came as a pleasant surprise.

Takeaways

Here are a few takeaways from my experience:

Beginner’s Luck

I was really shocked by how much I made in just a few days, but the vast majority of it came from one story. This feels a bit like Beginner’s Luck to me, and I’m not expecting to repeat its success every time I release a story.

To put it in perspective, as I’m writing this in March, the Metrics story has over 4.5K views, whereas my next most popular story has roughly 850.

Quality over Quantity

That being said, I don’t think it’s necessary to be one of those people who try to release 100 stories in 100 days or anything like that. My goal is to release one software development-related story about once per week, with maybe some additional miscellaneous stories scattered in.

Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

I was shocked by how much I made, but when it comes down to it, if it takes me about an hour to write a story, I’m not even making minimum wage. I’m okay with this, as these articles are mostly a way to practice my writing skills and to share what I’ve learned.

I’m excited to see what March brings — Happy Writing!

Update — April 3rd: A story with the same stats for March 2022 is available here.

Writing
Medium
Medium Partner Program
Goals
Money
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