Reveal: How Much Are My Reads Worth?
And why relying on regular readers is doomed to fail
I’ll let you into a secret. Read for read (or relying on a network of regulars) can never earn anyone very much dough on Medium because after about four or five reads the earnings per read fall to one cent — no matter how much you clap or highlight.
No matter whether you’re a follower, highlighting, commenting, giving 50 claps, whatever, it makes no difference. One cent per read for repeat visitors: that’s the deal. Maybe two cents if you’ve gone away for a week (or you’re a Medium Friend — more research needed).
How much were my reads worth?
I did a little experiment with the help of a new member. My first read on their story was worth a whopping 21 cents. My second read was worth 39 cents. Then the reads came in at 27 cents, 15 cents, 2 cents, and 1 cent. Thereafter, everything I read on their feed garnered the writer just one cent per read.
On that basis, if I read your work regularly, you’ll probably get one cent for my reads. In fact, on a quiet day, if just one person has read one of your stories and you know who it is, you could check to see if that’s true for them!
Occasional reads pay more
Assuming this is consistent across Medium, if people read 30 stories from the same author in a month, that author will get 30 cents for those 30 reads. If the reader selects just one story per writer to read in a month, the author may get 30 cents, or even more, for that read. Because occasional readers are worth more than regular readers.
This is a deliberate attempt by Medium to reward quality writing over engagement. The problem with it is that some of the best quality writing continues to get overlooked because people often prefer to read shorter stories, Medium Meta, or clickbait.
So, for many writers, persistent engagement is a solid strategy for bringing eyes to their stories, even if the rate-per-read is lower.
I try to achieve a balance of both, as do many writers. But a 2 minute read about Medium is often more popular than our top quality pieces. It explains why there are so many stories about Medium on Medium.
New month, no change
I did wonder whether the system would clock round at the start of a new month and deliver a higher return at the start of the next month, but no. The following month, after a few days away, my reads on this writer’s stories were worth two cents, then one cent.
This is all anecdotal evidence of course. I cannot state what your experience might be, but I suspect there are similarities.
It means we cannot rely on repeat reads making our fortune on Medium. We need new readers and could all benefit from writing viral articles every week! But that’s easier said than done.
Engagement and income don’t always match
More engagement doesn’t necessarily equate to higher earnings. In my case, a story with one comment and few claps earned $50. Another story with 20 comments and 500 claps earned £2.70.
So, stories with dozens of comments don’t necessarily earn more than stories that only get a few. It depends who is reading, whether they’re a regular reader, and how long they spend on the story, among other things.
My Medium Meta stories are often read by regular readers, so these ones might get good engagement, but they don’t usually earn as much as a piece that attracts a wider audience of new readers.
Benefits from regulars
However, there’s another benefit from engagement with regular readers — friendship and a sense of belonging, of community, of getting to know each other and a sense of support.
There’s a real benefit in having a baseline of regular readers and a network of people you feel you know on Medium, because without these people, you’re shouting into the void. That is the depressing situation that led me to join Medium in the first place — the void of pitching to magazine editors and being largely ignored.
A modicum of success with regular readers can go a long way in terms of encouragement, even if you need a wider readership to make decent money on Medium.
How to check what reads are worth
In the chart below (story stats) you can see that there are views and earnings. If you hover over the peaks, it will tell you how many people read the story that day, and how much was earned on that day.
When your chart shows just one read that day, you can identify the individual earnings from a single read — and from the comments, you might be able to identify whether your visitor that day was a regular reader, or a new visitor.
The story below gives the outcome when I tried to identify the value of a Friend of Medium read.
© Susie Kearley 2024. All Rights Reserved.
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