Summary

Christina M. Ward reflects on her one-year experience writing on Medium, discussing the challenges of monetizing her work despite significant effort and engagement with the platform.

Abstract

Christina M. Ward, a prolific writer on Medium, shares her journey of writing on the platform for a year. She has been involved in various writing genres, including well-living posts, poetry, and letters, and has contributed to multiple publications, some of which she founded. Despite her dedication, which includes being curated over 120 times and achieving Top Writer status in nine categories, her financial returns have been disappointing. Ward notes a steady decline in her Medium Partner Program earnings since October 2019, leading her to question the sustainability of her writing income. She emphasizes the importance of writing for the love of it and not solely for financial gain, while also acknowledging the valuable skills and community connections she has developed on Medium.

Opinions

The author feels that the time and energy invested in writing on Medium have not been proportionally rewarded financially.
There is a sense of frustration and disappointment with the unpredictability of earnings and the Medium Partner Program's (MPP) performance.
The author values the growth, skill improvement, and relationships developed through the platform, despite monetary challenges.
She advises other writers to write because they love it and to consider MPP earnings as a bonus rather than a primary goal.
Ward expresses admiration for the Medium community and the impact her presence has made, despite not achieving the financial success she had hoped for.
She suggests that writers should diversify their efforts and not rely solely on Medium for income, highlighting the importance of a multi-faceted writing career.
The author is exploring different strategies, such as an aggressive publication rotation, to increase her readership and earnings on Medium.
She encourages other writers to persevere and find value in the community and personal growth, even if their financial aspirations on the platform are not met.

MEDIUM

Writing for Medium: The Sober Truth

Recollections, analysis, and honesty from a one-year writer on the platform

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Medium has been a great blessing and challenge in my life. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to present my work for readers to consider and to make some money while doing so. But I am finding it harder to justify all of the hours invested versus the monetary reward. Perhaps you can relate to this internal struggle.

I have been on Medium one year. I write mostly well-living posts, poetry, and Letters / writing prompts for the several publications that I run.

The POM ( A partially-decentralized publication for Poets on Medium)
Politically Speaking (A decentralized pub for all writers who want to express their thoughts on politics)
Fiddleheads & Floss (My baby, my own personal publication for poetry and all things poetry — it gets the least attention but that’s not the intention. This page is my pride and joy here on Medium.)

I also write a lot on social media, marketing, how-to, advice, personal essays (not sex ones), and productivity. I have been curated over 120 times (counting each story once — some have received double and triple curations), in 27 different tags, and written for nearly 50 different publications. I founded and run a Facebook group with nearly 400 members — all poets who write on this platform. At one point I was a Top Writer in 9 categories. I have 2.2K followers (modest, I think, at this point in my Medium journey).

In other words — I have been investing my time and energy, often across multiple platforms, to keep this going, move toward a sustainable income (at least part-time income) and help support others as much as I can along the way via these pubs and FaceBook group that I operate.

Monetarily speaking — it’s been a huge failure.

Otherwise — it’s been a season of growth, relationship development, and improvement of skills that are invaluable to me.

The Yin and the Yang of Medium — you better do it because you love it.

Last month I set a record

I reached a new low in March 2020. One I’d been steadily making and breaking each month since MPP changed back in October of 2019 — each month I make less money than the last. It cut in half, at first, and now declines by 25% each month — how much lower can my MPP go? Just ask me at the end of this month — I am on track so far to decline by another 25%.

Here’s the kicker — it does not seem to matter whether I write at all. To me this is the sad and terrible part of it all. It makes me feel hopeless. I can give it everything I’ve got — churning out articles twice a day — and the MPP may go up by 2.00. Or take two weeks of juggling the groups and pubs and get nothing written for myself and guess what? MPP stays on the same track; steady slow decline. Now, the older articles do earn more steadily now — so this is the one improvement I have seen from the new MPP. So one could argue that building a large body of curated work you can build an income over time.

It’s like banging my pen and my head against the desk. Work myself crazy or totally give up and MPP just sits there — a baffling number, every time. Meanwhile, I have a client who orders 8 blogs a month, 2000 words each. He pays in advance. So, I do that work first. Then pubs and groups work, then my personal writing and self-promotion. In short, I am working myself silly.

And making in a month (from writing and freelancing combined) about what I’d make if I worked one week at the Burger King, maybe less.

What’s my point? Well, there are several:

If you’ve been here awhile and you are still struggling — you are not alone.
If you’re new here and can’t figure out why you’re not making any money yet — you are not alone and be reasonable with your hopes.
If you started making a few hundred dollars a month here after only 2 months — I have no idea what the hell you are doing right and I am doing wrong — but I am awe-struck that anyone is still making this happen. (Usually when I see this happen, I investigate the topics they write on and see lots of tech stuff).
Put your efforts where they pay — if payment is your driving personal goal (for me it is because I have health issues and am not working).
Write every day because you love it (I do — even if I whine about the payout).
Don’t feel like a slave to Medium — it is a tool, not something to conquer (It is far too unpredictable and fluid for you to try to figure out how to “work it”).
I’m not going to tell you to “keep your chin up” about your Medium earnings — the truth is, some make excellent money here, but it is unpredictable “who” and “what” gets to the top, or even in the middle. For one reason or another — the algorithm and highly unpredictable reader will select your fortune. You may never do better here financially than what you are doing now — decide if that is ok with you.
Be here because you love it.
Write because you love it.
Consider MPP as icing on the cake, not the batter. Your body of work is the batter. Your writing career is the sum of many parts — not just Medium.
I feel as if I have been lied to and it hurts — this is no one’s fault but my own. I believed that if I worked hard, gave it my all, improved my work, put out quality material — that I could “make it” here — and that’s not always the case. Instead of “making it” here…I have “made my mark” here.
I believe my presence on Medium has made an impact on other people, has improved my writing skill, developed my confidence in my work and has opened doors for me.
We are all in this together.
I am always trying new things to grow my Medium earnings — right now I’m on an aggressive publication rotation to try and stir up new readers and followers:

Here’s How to Win at Publication Writing on Medium

It just takes a little strategic planning

medium.com

There are some beautiful, creative, driven people here on Medium — I respect and love this community dearly.
I’m not going anywhere. I have entirely too much to say.

If you stuck with this article until now — thank you. I just want to encourage you that even if your MPP dreams are falling flat, there’s still a lot of value to being a member of this community. Keep working and keep writing.

For further reading:

How To Optimize Your Medium Articles for Google 12 Very Creative Ways to Promote Your Writing The Complete Guide to Uploading a Marketable Book on Amazon KDP Owning Your Niche as a Writer You Don’t Have to Have Faith in Your Work to Freelance — Just Do It.

Christina M. Ward is a poet, nature writer, and well-living blogger from North Carolina — and she’s just getting started. You can follow her Author Newsletter or buy her best selling poetry collection: organic. Thank you for reading.