Jan 20
So, What is M-stuff?
A (free) publication dedicated to Medium-related stuff ;)
Hello and welcome free (and paid) readers! This publication is fully demonetized, so you can read all the stories as much as you want! How’s that for a change?
LOL. Kidding… there are plenty of free stories on Medium, and now this publication (and all the stories within it) are also free to everyone.
A little about my relationship with Medium
See, I’ve been on Medium since 2017, but only as an occasional writer. Like, there was that one time when a guy I had recently met asked me not to get out of the car so he could come around and open the door for me. Dude pissed me off so much that after I came home, I had to write an entire essay on why chivalry needs to die! A couple of years before that, some writer published a dumb self-help story, and that pissed me off too, so I came to Medium to whine and vent.
But all that changed last year (June 2022). Why? Not sure… maybe I needed a new challenge. But I decided to take Medium seriously and do my best to make some money off it too. And so, here we are now. This is January 2023, roughly seven months after my “dramatic” declaration, and I must say, I’m having fun!
No, Medium hasn’t showered me with riches… yet. But man, am I having fun?!
How does “M-stuff” fit into all this?
I believe there’s value in sharing your journey with the world. For example, when I first started my “real” blog — The Side Blogger — in June 2018, I wasn’t doling out advice on how to be a successful blogger. I was simply sharing the things I was learning about blogging through various trials and errors.
Four and a half years later, The Side Blogger is now thriving! I teach people how to start their blog, how to do content marketing, how to build an audience, drive traffic, create income streams, and much, much more!
But it all started with sharing my journey, my wins and failures, very, very publicly.
So, now I’m hoping to do the same with M-stuff — share my Medium journey very, very publicly through this publication.
First of all, it helps me stay motivated. Second, I feel a certain level of responsibility/accountability when I’m sharing something publicly. And finally, this is my way of documenting the journey and the experiences so that I may come back to these later and learn from them.
In the process, if you, my reader, learn a few things too, then that’ll be the cherry on top 😄
So, why free?
That’s right. I will not monetize any of the stories I publish on M-stuff. No paywalls here!
This is to make sure that everybody can read these stories and learn from them. And for that, this publication shall now and forever remain demonetized/paywall-free.
To make sure everybody can read these stories, M-stuff shall now and forever remain demonetized/paywall-free.
I do this for a few reasons.
First, I’m pretty much a newbie on Medium myself. I don’t have the know-how to be “successful” on Medium or give Medium-related advice to anyone for the matter.
Sure, I’ve been consistently making $100-$200 per month from this platform since August 2022, but that’s hardly anything to write home about. (But I do appreciate that it takes care of my monthly Starbucks expenses, so thank you, Medium!)
Second, my experiences will be most useful to fellow newbie Medium writers. And chances are that many of them are free members as they try out this platform. If these free members want to check out Medium, learn about it, and only then decide to become a paid member, who am I to withhold my noob knowledge from them, eh?
In fact, if these free stories and resources convince some of these newbies to become paid members, all the better, right Medium? 😉
Finally, writing about Medium on Medium is just too meta. On the one hand, I’ve always had my reservations about monetizing meta content, but on the other hand, it’s my time and effort, and I’m no millionaire… any money I make goes towards some expense.
Honestly, I don't fault anyone making money off Medium stories about Medium. I’ve done it myself. But well, I figured, why not? Maybe I should just do it and start a whole publication about Medium and make all the stories within completely free of charge. NO PAYWALL!
I’m not doing it to make a statement or anything. Just doing it. Because I want to. That’s all there is to it.
And that is all :)
If you have any questions about M-stuff, leave them in the comments and I shall try my best to respond, if I can and when I can :)
Yes, all the stories in M-stuff are free. But it still takes effort to write, you know! So, if you wish to support me, and if you’re a free member, consider signing up for a paid Medium membership. For only $5 per month, you’ll have unlimited access to all of Medium! And I’ll make a commission at no extra cost to you!
