10 Observations After 30 Days of Writing on Medium
Because 30 are too many to come up with
I wrote my first story on Medium on Oct 25, to honor my dad on what used to be his birthday. He crossed over to the other side in 1991.
I didn’t even realize that I had to fill out the ‘paperwork’ to be a writer on Medium. I thought just being a member got you paid. So I may have missed a few pennies of income. {:-)You live and learn.
It’s been thirty days since I posted my first story, and that gives me a reason to look back and see what I have learned. I may not have gained much wisdom yet, but these observations will provide me with a chance to analyze it later. I often write for myself as much as I write to share with others.
Here are the ten observations I have made about myself, my writing, and my opportunity on Medium as a writer.
1. Checking the stats doesn’t change anything.
…especially the stats. As you can see, I have garnered just a little under one thousand views for all my stories combined. I have no idea if that is good, bad, or indifferent. It is what it is.
At first, I was checking every day to see if anybody was reading it. A few days later, after signing up for the Partner Program and seeing my first payment show up on the stats page, I was checking every 20–30 minutes. LOL.
I have settled down now. I only check it just before going to bed to count my pennies. I can’t wait for the day when my total payment goes up by a dollar for the day.
2. I can get paid for my writing.
I’ve got paid before. I wrote a book and self-published it. First on Kindle, then as a paperback, and I sold a few copies. I made money. Getting paid for my writing is not surprising at all.
But this felt different. I saw instant feedback. I received a payment of $0.12 for a couple of days’ work at the end of October under the new program. It validated the legitimacy of Medium’s Partner Program for me. I could see the potential.
3. I have a propensity for large and outlandish goals.
This wasn’t news for me. After all, I have been setting ridiculous goals all my life. I have even fulfilled a few of them, like walking from Chicago to LA. Others are in a distant future, like climbing Mount Everest for my 75th birthday.
When I decided to write and publish on Medium, I set a goal to publish 100 stories by the end of 2019. That would be about two stories per day, every day. Thus far, I have published 15 in 30 days, that’s a half a story per day. I have a challenge in front of me for the next 40 days, because I’ve also have set a goal to earn $100 in the same period. I better step on it.
4. You can’t ship ideas. You need completed stories.
My mentor Croz Crossley used to tell me, “It’s not what you could do, Rasheed, it’s what you do that matters.”
I have a lot of ideas for the stories I could write. Writing them is a different story (pun intended). I am picking up momentum, though. Whether I make it to 100 by December 31st or not, I know that I am on the right track. I have many unfinished stories and a few finished drafts that need polishing.
Success is not a destination. It is a journey.
5. The first draft is not the final product.
When I first started blogging years ago, I used to type up whatever came to mind and post it. It was raw and untouched. It had its charm, but that’s not professional writing. I know that if I want to get paid, I can’t send it out raw. I must ship a finished product.
I have been reading a lot about what it takes to be a successful writer on Medium. I have devoured tons of material by successful writers like Shaunta Grimes, Tim Denning, Brian Rowe, August Birch, and a few others. I learned a long time ago that reading is essential to be a great writer.
There is a “formula” when it comes to making money as a writer on Medium, and I had to learn it to improve my chances. Write from the heart, edit with your head, sleep on it, then read it as your audience will. All of this allows us to polish it off into your best work.
6. Quality is king, and quantity is queen; they both matter.
Medium recently changed how it compensates its partners. Quality is paramount, but the quantity matters as well. I’ve just joined the program, so I don’t have any personal experience to differentiate between the old and the new system. However, what I have gathered by studying the stories around the change is that those who always produced quality content are and will fare much better than those who churned out massive amounts of average stuff.
As you write more, you are providing Medium with more of your material to recommend at the end of your stories, instead of someone else’s. The more exposure you get, the more people will read your content, provided you are creating quality material.
The more time your readers spend reading your stories, the more you get paid. Both the quality and the quantity work hand in hand to make the system work in your favor.
7. Getting curated is blissful, and publications are a blessing.
I was elated when I received an email from Medium saying that one of my stories was chosen by the editors of Medium to be made available under specific topics. It was a confidence booster.
Even before I was curated, I received my first shot of confidence when P.S. I Love You, accepted one of my stories. That story was curated the next day.
My second curated story was chosen from Living Life on Purpose, a few days later.
The more important thing is that not only do publications and curation give your story more exposure, it also allows you to get in front of people who are looking for the kind of stories you write. The benefits of this one thing are manifold. It helps you build your tribe, among other things. It exposes your work in the right place in front of the right people.
8. You can even submit your previously published work.
This is huge. I have stuff that I have published on my blogs, some of them defunct now, that I can post on Medium and not only find new readers but get paid at the same time.
As I said, I have published a book, which is a collection of stories from my life. I can reprint those stories on Medium and not only get paid for them, but it can also create more sales for the book. There is nothing like getting paid for marketing your products instead of having to pay for it.
9. My previously published work did better than my new stuff.
This was in part because I was more comfortable sharing it on social media than I was with my new material, and that created more traffic for them.
It could also be because my previously published material is of better quality, having gone through a rigorous process of proofreading and editing. So, that is a validation for the importance of creating quality content. Both of the stories that were curated came from my book.
10. I have potential that I haven’t tapped into yet.
I would say that the first 30 days as a writer on Medium has been an enlightening and rewarding experience. Not only did I gain confidence in my ability to write, but I also learned about the importance of only putting out your best work.
Up until now, I have focused on surviving and getting by in life. You can do that with bare minimum effort.
I am ready to thrive. Earlier this year, I committed to thriving instead of just surviving. That one decision has opened my eyes to all the untapped potential that I have. I am eager to explore and tap into it. Medium has provided me with a vehicle that I can use to get moving.
Here are the two stories that were curated.
Also, these stories have received considerably more views than others. I have no idea why.
Before you go…
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