What To Do When It’s The End Of The Month And None Of Your Articles Succeeded
It happens. We keep writing. We move on.
Here we are! It’s already the last week of May. Up until this point I’ve published eight stories, and have at least three drafts in the works. My goal was to publish ten pieces this month and I’m painfully close to achieving it. I just need a little more time and energy.
As writers on Medium know, this time of the month can either be exciting or it can be devastating. This is because, by this point, we basically have an accurate idea of what our paycheck is going to look like. There’s nothing better than waking up early in the morning to peak at your stats and finding out that you are going to make your goal for the month!
The high this feeling gives you likely inspires ten more blog ideas and sends you on an hours-long writing bend eager to boost those numbers even more.
The alternative is less than appealing. Unfortunately, it’s where I’m at. Although I’ve been following my metrics almost every day and it didn’t come as a surprise, I’m eminently disappointed by my monthly earnings. Having access to this information has demolished my motivation to keep working toward my goal.
Ok. So, what do I do about it?
In the past year on Medium, I’ve had at least one story per month that earned the bulk of my monthly check. And although these top-earning articles seldom go viral, there’s always been one standout that does relatively well. The rest of my posts from the month perform average or below average, but they all add up!
Likewise, since last year my earnings have increased almost every month, little by little. That is, until last month when they decreased by about fifty percent. Then it was May, and although I never slowed my typing fingers, not a single one of my published articles broke one hundred views. My earnings took the deepest dive.
Despite the fact that I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into two beautiful longform articles and several poems, none of them caught on.
So, as you probably already guessed, I’m currently writing this obnoxious rant instead of working on my longform drafts. This is what I do when I’m stressed and irritated. I avoid. It’s a loathsome habit, but it’s either that or I dig into a 5-pound bag of Haribo gummy bears.
I’m not blaming anyone, because who is there to blame? Medium? I don’t have enough proof that it’s their fault. I mean, the algorithm sure isn’t perfect. If I put x amount of effort into a brilliant longform article, I may end up with .000000001% x dollars on June 8th. What?
It is what it is.
It’s not my fault either, and I promise I’d admit it if it was. I wish I did something wrong because then there’d be a learning opportunity. But — I did the work. I totally came through. May has actually been one of my most productive periods.
I somehow succeeded in every single way you could possibly imagine besides actual views and earnings. I finally posted that monster of an article I’ve been working on for months. I joined a Read For Read Club created by Indigo and have been networking more regularly than ever. I’ve no doubt been more consistent, cranking out at least 2–3 posts a week. I even received two new email subscribers and over one hundred new followers.
Oh, and I officially became an editor for a wonderful publication, Modern Woman. (Follow us)
These are incredibly positive feats. You’d think I’d be beaming with pride, yet here I am, sulking on my couch drinking my third large cup of coffee, still hung up on the statistics, and wishing I had a bag of gummy bears.
What does that mean? It means I’m a starving artist who is growing impatient. Some people start making “the big bucks” on this platform within 4 months on Medium off of one stinkin’ article!!
I’m not saying I’m more deserving of success than these people. They totally deserve it! I want to learn from them.
In March, my highest earning month to date, I said to my boyfriend, “Forget the numbers! I’m just going to go where the wind takes me. I will create as I wish and live the life my creative soul has always dreamed of.”
I wonder if he could tell that I was totally full of it. That lifestyle doesn’t just happen for writers at this early stage. That’s the lifestyle I’m grinding for!
Me believing in that delusionally toxic attempt at self-soothing is like when rich people tell the working class “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life!”
Obviously, I’ll be feeling a lot more carefree and self-forgiving when I earn a considerable — or even half considerable — paycheck every month.
I imagine it wouldn't be so difficult for me to find motivation because I’d have the fabulous luxury of not having to worry about whether I wrote enough to afford my monthly car payment.
What was the point of this article?
Writing is my passion and turning it into a professional career is my biggest dream! But this dream involves highly unpredictable ups and downs. I know I’m a talented writer, but I just happen to be going through a down phase, and I’m not handling it too well.
Even though I’m aware of the fickleness of this market, it doesn’t lessen the sting of unappreciated hard work. If I want to get back up, I need to believe that my efforts will eventually materialize. It just won’t be now. It could be next month. It could be next year. The only way to get there is to keep writing. Just keep writing.
Writing is the solution, and it is the point of this article. I wrote this to process my emotions and share them with others who may be able to relate. That’s literally why I love doing what I do. In order to ground myself, I need to remind myself of the basics.
Maybe I should try doing away with my goals for June. Maybe these goals are crushing my artistic soul…Or maybe I should do something wild like a new challenge? One short form post every single day? One poem every day?
Gee..maybe I’m a little up and down! Maybe it’s meant to be. Next week will be a new month. A new month means a new beginning, and I’ve always been a big fan of those.
What do you think? What gets you through a low-earning month? How do you re-strategize? How do you regain confidence and motivation?
Thank you for reading! To support my work, consider buying me a cup of coffee!