I Didn’t Get The $500 Bonus

Here is why that’s a good thing

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Medium groups across my social media exploded in glee today. Random authors received a $500 bonus for creating exciting content and getting lots of engagement.

I eagerly combed through my email to see if I got a bonus too. As you can tell by the title, I didn’t get it.

Six months ago, I would’ve thrown my hands in the air and given up on this platform. I would’ve given into the negativity and loudly complained on these same groups.

Now? I’m see the lack of a bonus as a good thing. It sounds strange to be happy with not getting extra money, but here’s why I’m excited.

It’s motivation to write better content

In my two years of writing on Medium, the one thing I learned is that the stories that start a conversation do the best. Even if the read count isn’t very high, I noticed my highest earning articles are the ones that have multiple comments.

One of my highest-earning articles last month was my story, “When A Woman Says She Doesn’t Want Kids, Believe Her.” My view count isn’t high on that story. It has 154 views and 78 reads. However, it turned into one of my higher-earning articles.