Writers Must Keep Up With Medium’s Evolving Earning Model

It's good to have a platform where quality work is rewarded

Hey Everyone!

It’s been a busy month for me. The family just got back from a trip to Lima, Peru. Everything went fine except for the return flights. Both of our flights were delayed and my poor family was exhausted by the time we got home. Nothing beats crashing in your own bed after a long trip, but the first day back felt surreal.

Visiting family and friends in Peru meant my Medium output has been down this month. However, I finally got a story in the publication Human Parts (actually 2), and they’ve been performing well. I also did a story for Our Human Family that has garnered a lot of attention. All of these stories were Boosted (not by me, boost nominators can no longer nominate their own work).

Getting into big publications is worth the effort

To get into Human Parts, I sent the editor an email that included a draft link to what I thought was a really good story. Some publications work faster than others, and I tend to appreciate the ones with a long wait time (for certain stories). When I write something that relates to current news, I send it elsewhere, but “evergreen” type stories are the most bankable on Medium.

Human Parts took a few weeks to get back to me, so be prepared for that. It can be a little frustrating to sit on a quality piece of writing for a few weeks, but it’s worth it if the quality is good enough to get you into a great publication.

Clay Rivers is the editor I worked with at Our Human Family and he did a wonderful and thorough job. I’d written more of a parenting article and he helped me expand it to more of a social justice article. I do that often in my work, but in this instance I’d only written the personal element of the story.

As I’ve said in my previous newsletters, the kind of article Medium is currently looking for combines professional expertise, personal narrative, and some “level up” type message.

Quality work will find an audience on Medium

I feel like I’ve been writing some heavy subject matter lately. It feels like quality work to me, and I’m also pleased to report that my earnings are up. What all of this means is that I feel as if the Medium earning model is changing.

However, keep in mind that the model that works for me will be slightly different than the one that works for a writer who is new to the platform. When you’re first starting out, your objective is to reach 100 followers so you can get monetized (maybe make it 150 just so you have a buffer).

I’d say that should be your singular focus until you hit the number, then you should make a hard pivot and focus on email subscribers.

As of this writing, I’m at just over 300 email subscribers. I really noticed a difference in earning consistency when I hit 100 subscribers. One big change I’ve made this month is that I’ve stopped putting links at the end of my articles. Now, I just end with a “please subscribe” message.

When I’m wearing my boost nominator hat, I come across a lot of quality articles with all kinds of superfluous information at the end such as:

• Links to web pages

• Links to YouTube channels

• Huge graphic signatures

• Biographical information

• Links to podcasts

• Links to books

• Works cited list

The works cited list I can kind of understand, but I feel like if you hyperlink your sources in the text, the overall result is neater (and I think that’s the format Medium prefers).

My advice is that you should get rid of all that and just leave a simple “please subscribe to my emails” message. I’ve been getting a lot more email subscribers since I started doing that, but that might be due to how one article has been performing.

Writing every day is no longer required

Anyway, in the past, I used to abide by the model of writing an article every day and hoping to make around $10 on each one (on average). That would get me $300 in “new” money, and then I’d get another $700 or so from my other articles (I’m at over 1,100 now—yes, passive income requires a big time investment).

These days, I feel less inclined to pump out “trash” articles (I don’t really feel my articles are trash, but I’ll elaborate on that in a moment). Instead, I’m spending more time crafting work that I might submit to Huffpost or whatnot.

I’m actually enjoying the opportunity to level up because the new version of Medium is rewarding better quality content. Again, to some extent I’m reaping the benefit of that because I’ve been around for a while. Newbies should do whatever they can to get those first 150 followers.

Challenge yourself as a writer

When it comes right down to it, I feel better about myself when I write something I truly feel proud of. I’m glad that I can send that out to my subscribers and that they’ll appreciate it. I’ve got a lot of really good readers and they leave extremely intelligent and useful comments.

Going forward, you might see me reduce the quantity of my work on Medium and focus more on quality. I can crank out something quick and it will be entertaining to read, but I’ve been questing more for those moments of deep meaning. I no longer feel the impulse to write something just because I’ve only had 2 posts in a week.

When I first started as a boost nominator, this was the change they were talking about, so it’s cool to see it come into focus now. I think the “how to make money writing on Medium” articles belong outside of Medium.

Circle August 12th

Also, I filled in an application to speak on Medium Day (August 12^th), and they accepted me. I am an editor for Cultured, but I felt that Allison Wiltz should really be the one to talk about that publication. So, I submitted to discuss Write and Review. I have a fondness for independently published writers, and I want to sketch out my plan for why Medium should be a landing spot for everyone who has published a book.

So, if you’re interested in listening to me chat away for 45 minutes (give or take), circle the date. I think all writers need to seize these kinds of opportunities for exposure, and I’m looking forward to it.

We’ll see how things go. Right now I’m feeling pretty hopeful. The one constant is always change and writers always have to adapt to an ever evolving marketplace. I like what Medium is doing now. It feels good to have motivation to write powerful articles and know they’ll be appreciated.

I kind of feel like leveling up. If you look at what I published this month versus even last month, I think you’ll see a big difference. That’s kind of exciting.

Stay tuned!