Rule #1: Never Write About the Money You Earn from Writing

I’m breaking this rule because new writers need to know this

If you are doing it for the money, go get a job. Seriously, there are easier ways to earn a buck.

№3 son made more money buying and selling golf gear on Facebook Marketplace than I did in my first 10 months on Medium.

Billy got a job delivering prescriptions. He loves it. It gets him up in the mornings and he listens to music on his rounds. His income is steady, he gets holidays and a sense of satisfaction.

Craig retired from the fire service. He bought a van and a lawnmower. He gets to spend days outdoors working in the sunshine. He’s as fit as a Stradivarius. The grass grows whether it rains or shines, and in a few weeks; he gets to cut it again. It’s a profitable business, and he is so busy he has to turn down work.

Adrian fixes motorbikes. He enjoys getting his hands dirty, and he takes great pleasure in restoring an old bike into its former glory. Looking at his finished work makes his heart swell with pride.

There is a myriad of occupations to suit you. However, I guess if you read this far you still want to write. Me too.

This is what we can expect:

Publishers

If you need the money to live, you can’t rely on the whimsies of the publishing business. Publishers do not exist to satisfy your ego. Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster aren’t like Hogwarts, they don’t have a magic sorting hat.

Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell — rejected by almost 40 publishers before it finally hit the shelves.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum — rejected for publication so many times that he kept a journal of all the rejections letters he received.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling — wouldn’t have seen the light of day if an agent’s daughter hadn’t nagged him into publishing it.

Book submissions are like confetti thrown at a bride in a force ten gale.

An annual survey carried out by the University of Glasgow tracked author earnings over 15 years. The results showed a clear drop in average author income, from £18,013 in 2006 to £10,497 in 2018.

Self-publishing

Who are you going to sell to once you have given away all your free copies to friends and family? Unless you can produce a decent book cover, edit and proofread to a satisfactory level — and then market it to a large audience on your own, you will probably not cover your costs.

In a 2015 survey, independent writers earn a median of $500–$999. (£350-£700) a year from their writing.

That’s a lot of time and effort for not very much kudos or cash.

Blogging

“It’s pretty easy to make an extra $500 — $2,000 per month blogging in your first year.”

Said the guy who wants to sell you a course or for you to buy a service from one of his affiliate partners.

A much more realistic statistic comes from AstuteCopyBlogging.

“Over 80% of blogs will fail in the next 18 months. That’s over 50 million blogs. A humongous percentage of blogs that will fail.”

Of course, they are trying to sell you coaching packages and add ons.

Medium

Thanks to Casey Botticello and his article, here are some Medium stats from their Partner Program as of September 2020:

• $16,685.50 — the highest amount earned for a single story
• $49,705.40 — the highest amount earned by a single author
• 6.4% — the percentage of active writers who earned over $100

It’s pretty impressive, but also thought-provoking if you look at it from a different angle:

• 3,338 — Medium monthly membership fees needed to pay the highest amount earned for a single story.
• 9,941 — Medium monthly membership fees it takes to pay one month’s earnings to the leading earner.
• 93.6% — the percentage of active writers who earned less than $100.

Getting an article into one of the bigger publications on Medium isn’t all that easy. They have stringent guidelines. The Writing Cooperative, for example, has submission requirements and a style guide that is over 3,500 words.

Even if you nail the style, content, and rules, it’s no guarantee you will be published. They have to wade through so many submissions they can’t possibly read every word. I suspect editors choose submissions the same way they swipe on Tinder.

What tickles your funny bone might not tickle their fancy. I know this from personal experience. On Quora, over 19,000 people gave my funny story a thumbs up. Here on Medium, a publication rejected it out of hand.

Other writing opportunities

Yes, there are thousands of other options, too many to mention. There will be the usual tiny percentage of writers navigating their way through the straits at a rate of knots, and the rest of us will be treading water or drowning. It’s about the same odds as winning the lottery.

That doesn’t mean you should stop buying a ticket.

As long as you can afford to invest the time, there is always the chance you have the right numbers. And I have seen enough to know that many writers here have got all the right numbers — just not necessarily in the right order.

What you need is a compelling reason to write.

Your reason for putting pen to paper

If you haven’t buggered off to get a driving job, I commend you. That means you have conquered your angst. That you can and will survive, even if your writing hasn’t yet received the admiration or adoration of a thousand faceless followers yet, you’ll keep going. You won’t crumble to the vagaries of your flops, failures, or fanciful criticism.

If you keep on learning, stifle your doubts and ignite your imagination, then keep clicking the keyboard. But before you press that first letter:

Have a reason.

• Have something to say that will benefit humanity — even if it’s in a small way.
• If your idea will change the world for the better — then it’s your obligation to write.
• If sharing your knowledge will make a difference — even if only to one person, write it for them.

Have a goal.

• Aim to make your writing work, make it do what you intend it to do, cause laughter, tears, excitement, amazement, curiosity…

Final thoughts

Last November, I wrote an article about the powerful health benefits of Brussel Sprouts. I wrapped up the information in a humorous piece, How Many Ways Can a Brussel Sprout Kill You? It received 505 views, 90% of which were external, and it only earned me $0.38.

In December, I wrote The Six Productivity Hacks Elon Musk Sent To His Staff it earned practically nothing for four months — then in April, it went fungal ( I say fungal because it needed a warm and moist environment to grow). I have no idea how or why it took off. It just did.

I am equally proud of both articles. Because of the former, there are over 500 people who know the health benefits of a Brussel Sprout, and that means I have done my job.

You can’t know what will resonate with a reader. Unless you are J. K. Rowling writing her third Harry Potter, you won’t know what will fly off the shelf. You don’t know how your writing might change someone or when.

And don’t forget what writing does for you — its magical power is in how it helps you explain the world to your inner self. It clarifies your thoughts and strengthens the reason for your existence.

Malky is a lifelong learner and he finds journeying is a masterly method of cementing his knowledge. Here you get that knowledge condensed.

There’s more by Malky here. Get an email when Malky publishes. Read and learn, write and earn by joining here.

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