Summary

The author reflects on their first full month as a member of the Medium Partner Program, detailing their earnings, the performance of their stories, and their goals for the future.

Abstract

In March 2022, the author completed their first full month in the Medium Partner Program, having joined on February 22nd. Despite not writing as much as intended, they added three new metered stories, totaling eight stories eligible for earnings. The author expressed surprise at the significant earnings from a single story on metrics, which accounted for approximately 66% of their total March earnings. They also noted the interest of readers in the success of others on Medium, as evidenced by a story about February earnings performing well. The author's goal has shifted from covering a Medium subscription to covering all household content subscriptions, which amounts to about $150/month, acknowledging the challenge of maintaining such earnings consistently.

Opinions

The author is pleasantly surprised by their earnings, especially from the "Metrics" story, which significantly outperformed other stories.
There is a recognition of the impact a single successful story can have on overall earnings, with the "Metrics" story being the standout example.
The author finds it ironic yet understandable that a story about their February earnings was the second highest earner in March, indicating reader interest in the financial aspects of writing on Medium.
There is curiosity about the Medium algorithm and how it determines the value of readers' time, as the "Metrics" story earned disproportionately more despite not having "viral" levels of readership.
The author sets ambitious goals for their Medium earnings, aiming to cover all their household's content subscriptions, and views this as a challenging yet achievable target.
The author expresses gratitude for a referred user who signed up using their link, though they are unsure why their link was chosen.
They acknowledge the role of external factors such as timing, content quality, and luck in the success of their stories on Medium.
The author is optimistic about future writing and earnings on Medium, looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of April.

My Medium Journey — March Earnings

My First Full Month in the Medium Partner Program

I joined the Medium Partner Program on February 22nd, so I only had earnings for the last 5 days of the month. I wrote about how surprised I was at how much I managed to earn in just 5 days, and I was also curious to see how I would do in my first full month on the platform.

Here are my stats for March 2022, my first full month in the Partner Program.

My Stories

At the end of February, I had a total of 5 stories eligible for earning on the platform, including one that I had published on February 28th. In March, I didn’t write as much as I intended — I had more work than I expected and I played too much Elden Ring. However, I did add another 3 metered stories, for a total of 8 stories eligible to earn.

The author’s new metered stories for March

My Earnings

Here are my totals for March 2022:

I continue to be shocked at how much I’ve earned — especially for the earnings on the Metrics story. Here are its stats:

Stats for the story 3 Metrics for Engineering Team Success Other Than Velocity

Additionally, I managed to get another referred user. I’m not sure why they chose to use my link, but I definitely appreciate it! Thank you!

Takeaways from March

Here are a few takeaways from the last month:

One Story Makes a Huge Difference

As seen above, the Metrics story is by far my highest earner: about 66% of all my March earnings came from it. It only has 6.1K views — which is definitely a lot, my second highest read story (10 Lessons I’ve Learned in 10 Years of Software Development) only has 1.1K — but I definitely wouldn’t consider this anywhere near “viral”.

I’m not sure what exactly it is about the Metrics story that made it so popular: Timing? Content? Luck? but I’ll be curious to see if I can recreate its success at any point in the future.

People are interested in How Others Are Doing on Medium

I feel like it's almost ironic that my second highest-earning story for March was a story about my earnings for February. On the other hand, it makes sense — people are curious to see how others are doing.

At this point, it’s not super clear to me how exactly the algorithm determines how much readers’ time is worth: the Metrics story has had about 7x the amount of time spent reading on it as my next highest read story but has earned about 9x as much, and I’m not sure why. Seeing others’ stats on their stories is an interesting comparison.

Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, but also not Negilible!

My original goal for earning on Medium was enough to pay for a Medium subscription: $5/month — this month, I went ahead and paid for an annual subscription.

My new goal is to cover all my household’s monthly content subscriptions with Medium (Netflix, HBO, Peloton, Spotify, Alamo Season Pass, etc.), which ends up being about $150/month. Even as close as I got this month, this seems like a lofty goal to maintain, so we’ll see how it goes.

I’m looking forward to April— Happy Writing!