Stop Focusing on Making Money on Medium…

And start doing this instead!

Photo by Adam Nir on Unsplash

We’ve all seen the articles claiming to make ‘$8,367.12/mth on medium’, and think “they can’t be that special. I can do that too!”

So we grind away, writing a new article every day. Yet by the end of the month, we get paid $.26…

Frustrated, we stop…

But that was guaranteed to happen…

Medium is not primarily a place to make money — it’s much more powerful than that.

How to do Medium, the Right Way

Medium is a feedback machine — like being an intern is.

You’re doing what you think is correct, getting paid pennies or not at all, and getting immediate and critical feedback (low views, low reads, low engagement).

This leads you to one of two outcomes:

1. You take the feedback and complain that, “the algorithm doesn’t like my category,” or “it’s easy for so-and-so, because they __ ,” (insert specific complaint here, such as “started early… have a large following already… brought their audience over…” etc.)
2. Or, you take the feedback, assume you don’t know as much as you think you do, and change your approach.

Viewing writing on Medium like working as an intern gives you the freedom to learn what medium wants and what it doesn’t.

You can mess up, make mistakes, take the critical feedback, and learn.

Medium wants your articles to get thousands of views.

And through the feedback (stats) it gives you, it tells you what needs to change to make that happen.

This leads to the obvious question…

What does the feedback (stats) mean? And how do you improve your writing based on the feedback?

How to Interpret Each Statistic From Medium

Medium gives you 6 statistics.

Each statistic helps you grow your audience — if you know what they mean.

These 6 are… Views, Reads, Claps, Comments, Saves, and Follows.

Below is a breakdown of how to interpret each statistic, and which components of your articles impacts each statistic.

If you’re a non-fiction writer who’s struggling to make money, you’re in the right place.

Building a business and being great at writing are two different skills.

I send out an (almost) daily 700 character email with business and productivity tips for writers.

Click here to join Writerpreneur.

Views

What views tell you:

• You have a good headline, image, and subtitle (in that order of importance)
• There’s something intriguing about the idea or frame you presented
• You touch on a good pain-point

What impacts your views:

• Your headline, image, and subtitle
• Your market (through tags)
• Your topic and frame (cliche or not)

Reads

What reads tell you:

• You have a good hook, paired with an intriguing intro
• The content is connected to the headline (not clickbait)
• The content is framed in a way that’s unique

What impacts your reads:

• Your hook and intro
• Your rate of revelation (how fast you get to the point)
• Your content structure
• How well you “open loops” (create curiosity in the reader’s mind)

Clap

What claps tell you:

• There was value in the content
• The idea behind the content is good

What impacts your claps:

• The value you provide
• The frame in which you write your content

Comments

What comments tell you:

• The content sparked emotion
• It was possibly controversial
• You got the reader to say to themselves, “I agree (or disagree) with what you wrote,” and I want others to know this.
• This means the content took a strong stand for or against something, and the reader will gain status by positioning themself either with you or against you.

What impacts your comments:

• Your writing style
• The driving message behind your writing
• How you phrase your thoughts (I believe vs. the only logical answer is)
• Using emotionally triggering words

Saves

What saves tell you:

• Your idea was unique or in-depth.
• You provided a lot of value or unique perspectives in the article, and they will have to come back to it to review.
• the point of view of the article differs from what the reader has, but it did not turn the reader off.
• The reader says to themself, “I’ll want to revisit this later.”

What impacts your saves:

• The value you provide and the depth of your article
• Your unique point of view, and how you position that point of view

Follows

What follows tell you:

• The reader is “buying stock” in you: the are saying, “I believe what you’ll write tomorrow will be just as valuable if not more valuable than what your wrote today.”
• What you wrote was valuable — either in the content, style, point of view, or frame
• What you wrote was unique — not cliche

What impacts your follows:

• The value you provided in the article.
• Your point of view, and how you framed it.

If you’re a non-fiction writer who’s struggling to make money, you’re in the right place.

Building a business and being great at writing are two different skills.

I send out an (almost) daily 700 character email with business and productivity tips for writers.

Click here to join Writerpreneur.