Results of My 30-Day Medium Challenge

The effect on earnings, followers, and more

I’ve recently completed my own version of the 30-Day Challenge on Medium, having amended it slightly for my own ends. If you’re not familiar with the challenge or want to know exactly what I set out to achieve in more detail, you can find out here:

I should start by crediting David Majister— when I jumped in I hadn’t realised who started the trend, so omitted it from the above article. Having read a couple of stories on the subject, inspiration hit so I ran with it without further exploration.

Ideally, a challenge like this would follow a calendar month, but I knew that delaying the start by a fortnight would present too many opportunities to talk myself out of it. So my challenge ran from mid-April to mid-May.

I opened by detailing my aims: the main target was to write a minimum of 20 articles and submit them to at least 10 different publications.

I hoped this might increase my limited number of followers, earn more than my usual handful of cents per month, and help me get over a number of inhibitions. I also hoped that, as others had found, I would learn some unexpected lessons along the way.

So how did I do?

It’s easiest to quantify success or failure with the only aspect I had total control over: my article and publication targets. As it turned out, I hit them — just. I managed to write exactly 20 articles, published across exactly 10 different publications.

My initial reaction to this was to wonder if setting my goals a little higher would have produced better results — had I inadvertently done the bare minimum? The answer to this, I know, is no.

After a week I didn’t think I’d make it to ten articles, then something clicked. A fortnight in I had hopes of breaking the 30 mark, until I hit more roadblocks. The truth is, I wrote what I could when I could, and when the inspiration hit. If anything, towards the end, a higher target would have probably seem me giving up early.

I applied to be a writer for more than ten publications, but honestly I found it difficult to tailor my writing to so many different requirements — the vast majority of what I did write was well out of my comfort zone. All in all I think I set my targets right, so I’m pleased to have hit them.

What about followers?

I began the challenge with 162 followers, knowing that I’d be more than happy with 30 new followers and ecstatic with 100. At the time of writing I have 253, so while I hardly exceeded my wildest dreams, 91 new potential sets of eyes on my work is far from a disappointment, and not too far from my more ambitious target.

And the one people care about: earnings?

I didn’t set any specific goals here, because while I’d love to bring in $10k each month I knew that anything over $10 would be breaking my own record to date. In the end, I managed to earn $21.28 — hardly life changing, but more than double anything I’ve earned before.

The successes of each individual article varied wildly, though none have threatened to be worth the time it took to write when compared with conventional work (though it’s important to stress that’s not what writing is to me).

My best performer has made $8.28 so far but it was the only one to break the $5 mark. In fact, only 6 made over $1 and there were 3 that didn’t even manage 10c (again, yet — with any form of passive income you can always hope it will suddenly ‘take off’, however unlikely that may be).

I found that the publication your work is accepted in doesn’t necessarily make a difference to your earnings, but it can affect your likelihood of curation, which does seem to have a slight influence — especially if you manage to also have your article ‘featured’ by Medium:

Personal Growth

I hate ‘putting myself out there’ and knew I’d be reluctant when it came to submitting to publications. But having dipped my toe in the water, the temperature wasn’t as hot or cold as I feared. Deep down I knew it wouldn’t be, but this was an accomplishment for me, nonetheless.

I discovered that most publications are run by friendly, helpful and experienced people who are more than happy to help someone see their work reach a wider audience.

I also picked up a few other things, as I’d hoped. For starters, I learned a lot about Medium as a platform, and how I hadn’t been making the most of it. I wrote about that here. I discovered the usefulness of arbitrary deadlines and learned just how badly I need to stop overediting.

I’ve also come to realise that I am able to write outside my comfort zone — this article is proof of that. I’d never written about writing before but it comes easily because it matters to me, and knowing there’s always an audience for it here on Medium means it never feels like I’m wasting my time.

My biggest takeaway

Ultimately though, I’ve realised that writing on Medium is most rewarding when I stick to things I’m passionate about.

My highest earner was written about my children, a subject matter I obviously care deeply about. It’s also on the world around us and how we interact with it. You can read it here:

It wasn’t the money that made it rewarding, however, despite all the plans I have for those eight dollars. I put more effort in, cared about the finished product and was happy with myself for having produced it — regardless of whether even one other person were to read it.

The same can be said for my lowest earner (bringing in one whole cent). It was written about a politician that has done so much to inspire me. I found it cathartic to get the words down despite knowing her anonymity in America would see the article overlooked by Medium’s audiences.

That isn’t to say I don’t care about people’s opinions. I put time and effort into another piece I hadn’t expected to write, but I was happy with the result and delighted to see it accepted into a publication with over 15 thousand followers. It made barely over a dollar but the publication, An Injustice!, is one that I have huge respect for — the validation meant more than money.

Conclusion

If you’re on Medium for the money alone, this challenge might not be worth it — in fact, Medium as a whole probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for a way to grow as a writer, learn a little about yourself and maybe gain a follower or two along the way, then it’s more than worth the effort.