MEDIUM

Was My Viral Story Worth $20K?

And how much did Medium make?

Of course I have to include a shot of the red-light district in Amsterdam to go with this story. How else can I evoke both “sex” and “Dutch”? I certainly never thought, when I shot this picture the last time we visited the Netherlands in 2019, that I’d be publishing it! (Photo by Michelle Teheux)

Most of the Medium universe has given me a high-five for making more than $20K on my recent viral story, We Could Learn a Lot About Sex From the Dutch.

Not everybody, though. A handful of people are salty that one writer got such a pay-out when many others are making a pittance per story, and as someone who very often makes only a pittance per story, I get that.

There’s another side, though

How much did Medium make from that story?

If Medium ain’t making money, ain’t nobody making money. And while Medium doesn’t share this information, I’d be willing to bet Medium made a lot of money from my story. And that’s good news for all of us.

This illustrates the difference between member and non-member reads for July. (Screenshot by Michelle Teheux)

Take a look at my screenshot. On my peak day, July 22, some 7.5K Medium members read my story. But even more non-members read it. My lifetime total of reads for this story is at 119K. On all but a couple of early days, the non-members have greatly out-read the members.