TONI TALKS | MAKING SENSE OF CENTS EARNED | FOR WHAT ITS WORTH

Specific Statements About My Stats

Macro data collected and compared {Jan 2023 to Jan 2024} is easily understood when translated into text on a micro level

This is the final installment explaining my metrics. Data helps me determine how to proceed. Medium’s latest action to simplify what formerly seemed to be overstated measurements was illuminating.

Compare the tables above and below: Medium’s newly adopted data capture frames views and reads in a more easily understood perspective.

January 31st, 2023: The figure of 9K views and 5K reads transcended clarification. You’d think those numbers would equal significant earnings. You would be wrong. My stripe payment on 39 posts was a whopping…

$83.69📌

January 31st, 2024: The screenshot stated views were 1.6K. Reads were 1K. I publish one post daily. Earnings on 30 posts through the 31st are shown here.

$234.99📌

KISS →💋

Is an acronym for: Keep It Short & Simple. It’s what Medium does for all of us on Fridays. They email a recap. The numbers help track engagement.

Speaking of emails, they matter A LOT! Marcus aka Gregory Maidman asked if I’d turned off my emails because he wasn’t notified when I published. Bless him!

On January 26th, my reads dipped from an average of 30 to the teens. The ability to identify exact daily read data on Medium’s visual timeline helped target the source of the concern.

I track daily views and reads in a Word Doc. I must have turned off the auto email function to my subscribers. Staying abreast of the numbers helped me quickly spot the source of the problem and resolve it.

Read metrics directly correlate to individual writer/reader names attached to the notification bell. It’s how I’m able to identify my tribe. Visitors who return on repeat without being prompted are golden. I value their visits, comments, and time investment.

This table illustrates daily views versus reads from January 1st through 31st.

Seriously???

Reference the screenshot below. Posts were published a day apart. Both were 4 minutes long and received 15 reads. One earned .080 cents. The other $3.02. 😳

Call Sherlock Holmes

L👀ks like a case for the famed investigator. Suggested conclusions are welcome. Trying to make sense of these statistics is beyond me. If they make sense to you, head over to the comments. Share with the class.

Don’t get caught in the trap of chasing coins. The best reason to be here is to do it for the love of writing. The more you read, the better you write. 📢 Never forget that iron sharpens iron. Reading has definitely motivated me to level up my writing game.

Medium’s Best Use:

✅ Retirees or anyone who owns their times. ✅ Connection point for Introverts, Poets, and Personal Essayists. ✅ Journaling your journey. ✅ Hold space for your thoughts via a digital diary.

Writing on this site empowered me to figure out my next steps. I was surprised when I received a 1099 form from Medium. I don’t know how it works in other countries, but the US government has found a way to get a 30% slice of the pie.

Good thing I didn’t spend it all. That’s usually my modus operandi. I did reinvest some of those proceeds to upgrade my membership and renew my Canva Pro subscription, in addition to adding Grammarly and MidJourney.

I’ve read that an estimated *9% of members earn more than $100 monthly. My first payout late in 2021 was .21 cents. Earnings have been a slow build. But woo-hoo, I’ve cracked the top 10%!

*Source penji.com (5-27-2022) estimated that 200,000 to 400,000 writers earned over $100 monthly from an estimated Medium membership of 34 million subscribers.

2023 the average amount of time I spent on the site was 4 hours. When I was overseeing the “Booster Club” during August and September, the average number was closer to 7 hours daily.

Intentionality is my word for this year. In January, I consciously tried to whittle down my daily time expenditure on Medium to 3 hours. I’ll make another (25%) dent between February and March.

Low-key: My better half also has eyes on me. He gives me the stink eye when I sit in front of the computer for too long. The real problem is that it cuts into the time he wants me to spend spoiling him.

The daily figures on my January 1st through 30th income report are sobering. I made $7.83 per day. That further breaks down to $1.95 per hour.

PERSPECTIVE ᶜᵒⁿᵗʳᵃᶜᵗ ʷᵒʳᵏ ᵖᵃⁱᵈ ¹²⁵ ᵖᵉʳ ʰʳ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵃ ⁴⁰ ʰʳ ᵐⁱⁿⁱᵐᵘᵐ ᵗᵒ ᵖʳᵒᵈᵘᶜᵉ ᵃ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵗⁱᵛᵉ ᵇʳⁱᵉᶠ

So… I’ve lost my Mickey-Fickey mind when it comes to Medium.

FOR THE RECORD: Medium is my Matrix. The site has an addictive quality. Last year, I spent four (4) hours on average daily on the site. I wrote about it 🚩HERE⏬

In 2024… I’m intentionally reinforcing a 2-hour-a-day site ceiling. Low-key getting paid (no matter how little) could be part of the attraction. That said, my last words are attached to figures.

If writing on Medium was only about chasing coins, I’d have left the platform eons ago. I’m not in for the money.

I’m staying for the personal challenge. I’m not in competition with anyone but myself. I’m over here focused on outdoing me.

The parting screenshots are an anomaly. They are shared in recognition of my 5th year, “Mediumversary.”

I’ll never again send information that’s this personal out into the ether. This is as transparent as I’ll ever get. The income data was captured 1–31–2024.

Celebrating the Start of Black History Month 2024 in the USA ❣️

🎤About Me 📢Unmuted Toni the Talker 💬 Growing Older ➕ Bolder ❤️Sista Offering Support ←🆘 ➖ Pivoting On Purpose