Tips, Philosophy, and Earnings After Writing on Medium For 6 Months

Pro Tip — Don’t write for the money.

Hi Medium Writers,

Welcome to my 6-Month-Medium hustle update. I started writing under the Medium paid partner program April 27, 2020. Since then, I have become a publication owner, a 6x Top Writer, and a much better writer with wonderful writing friends.

First and foremost, I’ve got to say to new writers on the platform — if you’ve joined the platform to get-rich-quick or have a stable income, go running in the other direction. To succeed on Medium is not defined solely on your earnings. Of course, one day I’d love to make top dollar off my articles, but I’m not counting on it, and neither should other Medium writers. Look at this platform as a place for writers to network, play, and hone writing skills.

Although Medium has lots to offer, monetary stability does not top the list. I’ve been working my ass off for six months and have barely cracked into the coveted top 7% $100 per month club.

You realize that means I’m making cents — like under-a-dollar-cents per article in hours spent brainstorming, writing, and editing my articles? If you’re looking for how to succeed on Medium by making tons of money I’m not the writer to refer to.

Okay. That’s the bad news.

Here’s the good news.

Medium offers Engagement, Community, Practice, and Networking. These are non-monetary items that I’ve increased exponentially since joining Medium April 27, 2020.

In this article, I’ll share some practical tips I learned in months 3–6 writing on Medium, my evolving philosophy for writing on Medium, and how much I’ve earned in months 3–6. If you’d like to read my 3-Month-Medium update, you can find it here.

Tips for writing on Medium

Titles really do matter

Therefore, headline analyzers are an important tool to utilize. My titles have evolved from vagueness such as “The Write Stuff” later revised to “Pink Lemonade, Heidi, and a Love of Writing” to “Dear Writers, Unabashedly Share Your Unique Brand of Brilliance.” I discovered a new headline analyzer that I like more than the first two I used. It’s called Sharethrough. Although, I don’t always hit my titles out of the park, I have gotten better at coming up with more intriguing and clear headlines.

Social Media can be a bear

At one point I was in so many Facebook groups geared at promoting writing that I was spending more time promoting and reading others’ work than writing…That turned out to be a pretty big problem. I whittled down my list to my favorite Facebook groups and left several behind. This was a good choice.

I have figured out a method to my madness as far as managing my time on social media. When I follow it, it works well.

• Limit Social Media groups to 10 or less — or whatever you feel you can handle without getting lost in overwhelm
• When I’m marketing my work and responding to comments, I give myself a limit. For example, I’ll commit to reading for an hour or responding to 5 comments or marketing work on Facebook and Twitter for 30 minutes.
• Take a break when I’m feeling burnout. Since it’s hard to reinforce, I log out of Medium on all my devices. That helps. I also let myself take time to respond to reader comments on my story. I love interacting with readers, but I know it doesn’t have to be done ASAP.

Change is inevitable

I knew the platform had a reputation for yearly overhauls. And, it happened in October with the redesign of the platform to a more relational experience. I wrote a couple of articles about navigating the new platform design and the meaning behind the word relationality.

It’s still good to know why we’re here

Are you here for networking, improving your craft, making thousands of dollars? The first two are easy goals to accomplish. The third goal is a crapshoot that involves skill and luck; sometimes it involves more luck than skill. That’s the cold, hard truth of it. I’d love to make thousands of dollars per month here, but it hasn’t happened yet, and I’m not banking on it. Medium, it turns out for me, is more of a springboard into opportunities outside of the platform.

SEO Matters

Click on “Story Settings” in the drop-down on the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Click “SEO Settings.” Change the description to use keywords and fit within the recommended word count, or close to it. This will help readers find your articles. I’m trying to get in the habit of always updating my SEO after publishing an article. I also recently discovered Surfer from a freelance client and have enjoyed working with this chrome extension.

Networking

• Through Medium, in Months 3–6 I have had the opportunity to be featured in a Gentleness Ambassador by Bingz Huang: How to Thrive as a Sensitive Writer on Medium.
• I had the honor of appearing on my first ever guest podcast with Nanci Arvizu, who I met through Medium.

About those embed boxes

After observing many Top Writers sprinkle in hyperlinks (underlined links to stories instead of the image rectangle) throughout their articles, I have chosen to do the same. I either leave no text box or one “Related Read” text box at the very end of my story. I believe this makes for a more seamless reading experience.

Medium has gifted me with friendship

The thing I’m most excited about on Medium at my 6-month anniversary? It’s the friendships I’ve made. The kind of friendships where I can imagine us all sitting around a restaurant together, eating good food, drinking good drinks, and talking about our lives. I never ever expected that to be a benefit of joining Medium.

Melissa Bee, Shanna Loga, Michael Whalen, Michael Burg, MD, Stephen Dalton, Tracy Stengel, Tracy Luk, Lucy The Eggcademic (she/her), Bingz Huang, Adriana Sim, Jezebel Feast, Alice Toneatto, Amy Sarah, Carolyn Riker, Connie Song, AJ Krow, Susan Brearley, Sarah Paris, Jay Squires — and so many more. You know who you are. I am incredibly grateful for each and every one of you.

Sure, we exchange peer writing feedback, but we are so much more. Talk about an uplifting support network. No backstabbing. Just encouragement and blunt honesty when needed.

Medium has led into freelance writing off-platform

I have two English creative writing degrees. I’ve found something on Medium that is better than any creative writing workshop I’ve ever attended.

6 months ago that would have seemed impossible. But, I’ve been working my ass off on honing my craft and gauging feedback.

Now, I’m reaping the rewards of writing higher quality content faster. Hell, yeah.

And, that’s translating to my freelance writing career off the Medium platform. I’ve done copywriting for my husband, who’s a graphic designer, content writing for a local non-profit, and scored two well-paid jobs on Upwork. I’m slowly building my confidence to sell my writing services for a fair price outside of the Medium bubble.

A Quick Accomplishments List

• I started a publication, Age of Empathy, which now has over 275 followers and 86 contributors. Yay!
• I co-edit for MuddyUm and Genius in a Bottle.
• I’ve found amazing mentors and peer writing groups.
• I joined the coveted $100 club in September.
• I wasn’t sure if I’d make the $100+ club in October, but managed to eke it out. Phew.
• I’m getting faster at content creation and writing in my distinct, authentic, and surprisingly humorous voice.
• I’ve earned top writer in Fiction, Food, Poetry, Parenting, Innovation, and Satire.
• My distribution rate has gone up. Curation has been renamed distribution.
• I’ve been hired for freelance work outside of the Medium platform.
• First guest appearance on a podcast
• I’ve been hired by multiple clients for freelance writing work

Philosphy

In months 3–6, I spent a lot of quality time building peer mentor groups and figuring out how to write for the platform without losing myself to the platform style of writing. Sound like a conundrum? Kind of.

My current philosophy as a Medium writer is to write on topics that matter to me. Stop caring about what’s popular on Medium like personal growth and technology. They generally aren’t my cup of tea, so I’m not going to write about them convincingly. Readers know this.

The most successful writers on Medium seem to earn their success by staying true to what they know and are passionate about.

I’m done trying to “copy” the formula for viral articles, though I think this story of mine does have good guidance for writing a successful Medium article. And, I’m done defining my success on Medium only by how much I earn each month, day, week, or year. When I ask myself Is it worth writing on Medium? My current answer is Yes, but it’s not for the money.

Many writers, including myself, use Medium as a springboard for finding well-paid work off the platform.

How much can you make writing on Medium?

This varies greatly and the real answer is: I don’t know how much money you can make writing on Medium. This is how my earnings are going so far. I seem to be finding more and more Medium readers who resonate with my work, and I am thankful for you!

Author Medium earnings from May 2020-October 2020

The below tally includes poetry, fiction, stories, newsletters — everything published as an article.

• October-53 articles
• September-51 articles
• August-43 articles
• July-50 articles
• June-31 articles
• May-38 articles
• April-1 article
• March-1 article

Since I last reported in my 3-Month-Earnings update, I have increased my readership (i.e., followers) from 672–1,383 as of November 1, 2020. I can see these numbers in the Chrome Extension Enhanced Stats below. This is a great extension for new writers to use to easily keep track of their platform progress.

Top Articles

Here is a link to my top 5 most clapped Medium stories. I agree with my readers! I think there are some real gems here.

Articles that earned over $5 total from May-October

• What I’ve Learned (and Earned) in 3 Months on Medium — $17.48
• Screw Knowing What You Want to Be When You Grow Up — $12.51
• Age of Empathy Submission Guidelines — $9.75
• Woah, Medium, You Put on New Clothes Today! — $9.70
• Adopting a Rescue Dog Takes a Special Breed — $9.60
• Would Teaching School Outdoors Give Public Education a Chance For Revival in the US? — $8.79
• How to Write Net Positive Articles For Your Readers — $8.47
• My Witchy Nature Intuition is a Powerful Gift — $8.33
• Why Listicles Aren’t for Every Writer — $8.04
• Dear Writers, Unabashedly Share Your Unique Brand of Brilliance — $7.76
• The 6 Stages of Processing Life with Invisible Chronic Pain — $7.29
• How Reading Old Love Letters Healed My Heartbreak — $6.67
• Free the Curators — The Sadistic Side of Curation — $6.17
• There’s No Room for Petty Poets — $5.86
• A Courthouse Wedding Was The Best Decision — $5.74
• Botticelli or Bust — $5.70
• My Husband is the More *Nurturing* Parent — $5.60
• When You’re Shy and You Want to Be Heard — $5.55

Set realistic goals

When you are writing on Medium, it’s important to know your ultimate goals and your why. My goal is still to increase my earnings each month, but I know this can be an unreasonable goal. As you can see, I only increased my earnings by $2.00 from September to October — and, I wrote more stories in October.

Still agree with this: “Good thing I’m not in it for the money! Medium is a great place to grow your writing wings, connect with other writers, grow your following, and strengthen your writing portfolio. It is worth investing in your time in this way!” me

What’s next? New goals

Increasing earnings in a linear fashion is still a goal, but I know it may not happen. Increasing my following to 2,500 (or more) by February 1st would be amazing. I’d love to see Age of Empathy increase its readership to 1000 by February 1st.

My Gaby and Aleks serial fiction may be a completed Novella by February 1st! Wow.

I’ll be making more guest appearances on Nanci’s Write, Speak, Play podcast.

I’d love to tell you my memoir is in production with a publisher by February 1st!

I’m working to build a nice Wordpress website and begin a newsletter list so I can let everyone know when my memoir and other books are published!

Making at least a part-time income as a freelancer by February 1st is another goal on my to-do list.

You’ll continue to find poetry, satire, humor, fiction, writing tips, and lots of inspiration from me. I want to inspire you to share with us what makes you you. It brings me great pleasure to see writers getting comfortable with their unique voice.

I’m also considering creating a course that incorporates nature connection and reflection with writing.

I’ve committed to being on the Medium platform for a year minimum. I believe that this is the minimum amount of time to see what your stories can achieve on the platform. I’ve heard three years should really be the minimum goal to see how your stories can perform. Dang. Most of my romantic relationships didn’t last that long.