Let’s start with why I decided to write on Medium. I have always enjoyed writing, but not necessarily the creative, fictional type. I found out about Medium from a YouTuber who was doing an experiment to see what it takes to actually earn money on the platform. As it turned out, she got curated right off the bat and has had raging success. Since I have a lot of time on my hands being unemployed and not allowed to do much because of COVID-19, I decided to start writing stories — mostly just as a hobby but definitely with some hope that I could make a few bucks as well (it’s proving to be as hard as I thought).
What I knew going into this:
- You can’t expect people to just stumble upon your writing.
- Getting your stories published by big publications is the best way to get views.
- Getting published by a big publication can be really hard.
- The amount of money you make depends on who is clapping for your stories.
- It is important to be consistent when it comes to publishing stories.
Now let’s talk about my stories:
#1. The #1 Credit Card Every Traveler (and non traveler) Needs ASAP
Why I wrote this: basically, I have this credit card that I’m obsessed with and think that everyone in the world should have it too. Does it really fit the general vibe of Medium? Not really — but it could be helpful for the right person.
I did not intend to share a friend link for this story. My experiment was to have this on my profile for people to stumble upon when they read my future stories which I intended to share on social media.
Since April 22, this article has had eight views and has made no money. It is worth noting that this article had no views until May 3 when I posted my next article — so to a very small degree, my tactic worked.
#2. Returning to the US in the middle of a pandemic
This story was supposed to be my big debut. My aim was to share this article on social media where I have many friends and family who were interested in my experience moving from Thailand back to the United States back in April.
I thought that sharing this story with friends and family would increase the views and somehow affect Medium’s algorithm, allowing my story to reach a larger audience. This story is also published in Dabbler. This story now has 378 views, 244 of which came from my friend link. I have to say, for my second story ever, I was impressed that 134 views came from outside of my friend link. And in case you were curious, this story has only made $0.08.
#3. Thailand’s Best Kept Secret
My initial goal with this story was to write about one of my favorite places in Thailand. However, it turned into more of a run down of my entire experience traveling to this place, ending with a nice lesson learned.
I shared a friend link for this story as well and it was published in BeYourself. Before the story had been published, it had made $0.02. I was told that in order to be published in this particular publication, the story could not be eligible to make money. Since I am not writing strictly for profit, and my main concern is having my stories read, I removed the story from the paywall and it was published. BeYourself is quite a large publication and the story still only has 126 views — but for what it’s worth, it is my most clapped story.
#4. “The good life” — Better lived by doing things or having them?
I decided to revisit an old tactic with this story. Instead of sharing a friend link, I decided to just publish it. I wanted to see if anyone would stumble upon my writing at this point, now that I had established myself a bit more on the platform.
It didn’t happen immediately, but this story has gotten three views. It hasn’t made any money, though I am not surprised. This has me wondering if it is possible after all for friend link views to somehow affect the algorithm.
What I’ve learned from writing and publishing my first four stories:
- You can only publish a story in one publication.
- Getting published in a publication does not guarantee views, or claps, or money.
- I really enjoy sitting on my porch writing stories in the sun — regardless of the stats — so I will continue to do so indefinitely.
I hope that if you have a passion for writing but are finding it difficult to have your stories seen or read on Medium that you don’t get discouraged. Getting views, and claps, and being published by publications are all things that motivate me to create my best stories. These things haven’t come easily, and who knows if they will come in abundance at all, but it’s kind of fun just seeing what happens with the different stories I write. I encourage you to just have fun with it too :)
