Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie discussion

My first Medium story appeared in late February this year, so I've been publishing there for ten months now. Medium has changed some of its tools since then and I've discovered a few things through them. I've also been thinking about what comes next and done a bit of research on the side. I'd like to share with you some of the things I've learned and discovered along the way.

1. It's easy to make money on Medium, but hard to make a lot of money. According to their monthly partner program updates, around 60% of writers who publish at least one story earn money, but only about 9% of active writers earn over $100/month. My first paycheck was $5.25, but that only included a single week. My lowest full-month paycheck was $19.56. My highest so far was $71.22, excluding the month I received a $100 bonus for a story they liked. That month I got $119.71, so my regular earnings were only $19.71. For the last few months I've been hovering around $50/month.

2. Membership is worth it. Since an annual membership is only $50, you only have to earn $4.17/month for 12 months to make money, and based on the above I'd say that's insanely easy to do, so long as you keep writing and build up a following.

3. Stories outside the paywall? Bah, humbug! I know there are a lot of Medium writers who recommend putting a few freebies out there, but honestly I don't see the point. Excepting only one or two stories that don't qualify for the partner program, I set everything to earn money. Now that "friend links" are available, you can share a link to people outside the paywall if you want, and for those who are Medium members, what's the point in letting them read without taking a share of their contribution?

4. Following people early on can get you followers, but eventually you need to stop following the whole world. Mostly follow those whose writing actually interests you. Get new followers using the next point...

5. Write quality stories that will interest somebody. I'm of the opinion that every writer can find something to write that will interest some segment of the population. I write fiction, of course, and stories on the craft of writing. I have also started a series of stories on stargazing, because that's one of my own passions. I've written a few religion articles from a Baha'i viewpoint as well. All of these things are drawn from my own experience and interests . . . even fiction, which I've been writing since I was a child. Draw upon your interests and experiences, write good stories, and the followers will show up.

6. Write for publications. I know, some of you have expressed reluctance or even fear of doing so, but it's not really that hard. Search for publications that are interested in your subjects, check out their submission requirements (which are usually found from the menu on their Medium home page, either under "submissions" or "about us"), and submit something to them. Some publications do require a certain minimum level of activity to remain on their list of accepted writers, but usually these aren't too strenuous. The point in writing for publications is exposure. They likely have a lot more followers than you do. According to stats I've found, Lit Up (where I publish a lot of my fiction) has over 6K followers. The Writing Cooperative has over 138K followers.

7. Even when writing for publications, it may take time to get followers. I don't have a really wide social network like some of you, so my following has grown rather slowly. Yesterday I finally topped 400 followers. My sense (not scientific, just a feeling I have) is that the more followers you have, the easier it is to get new followers. I'm not sure why that would be, but it may be the case.

8. If you want to grow your earnings, you'll need to periodically branch out to something new. I've done that by gradually adding publications to my list (first Writing Cooperative, then Lit Up, then Publishous, which I was invited to join), and by adding my stargazing stories. I'm now looking to get myself added to a larger fiction publication. Lit Up and Publishous are actually rather small. If I can land a spot in one of the larger ones, it should boost my following and get more exposure for the stories I've published in the smaller publications. (People who follow you will often look at your older works.)

9. It may pay to leverage older stories by linking to them from new stories. Some of my highest-viewed and read stories are my older ones, which have continued to attract readers over time. My story "How to Use Writing Prompts" was published in August and now has 1.3K views. (It's the only story I've published to hit the 1K mark, although a couple others are getting close.)

10. And finally, if Medium's curators distribute your story, you'll probably (but not always) get a big boost. As far as I can tell, you'll only know that a story was distributed by checking the stats page for the story. If it was distributed, there will be an annotation on the page views graph. Usually stories are distributed the same day they are published, if ever. Stories are distributed based on the tags assigned to them, so you need relevant tags and (obviously) an engaging, well-written story to be distributed. I've had a number of stories distributed, which I think has helped boost my earnings. But even that isn't a magic bullet. It just gets your work in front of more people. You still have to snag them with your headline, subheading, and description, and then pull them into your story.

I hope this helps someone out there. Questions, comments, and rebuttals will be gratefully accepted. ;-)

Wow, that was terrific Dale. You really cleared up so many of my questions. I think you are absolutely right in everything you say. I slowed adding followers and basically just add people with articles that I enjoy or have similar interests.
I did that when I reached the 1K followers, and now I'm at 1.2 .
I am tempted to write for one of the publications but haven't have the time to put the effort into it.
We are about even on earnings- I agree with you that writing for free has no real value and I love the idea of linking those older posts. I was thinking of ways to do that because it may interest some of my new followers.
All in all, I think Medium is important because it exposes your writing to a potentially vast audience. And you get the bonus of that little kick each month. I know I was putting those things on my blog or other people's blogs and getting nothing before!

Yep, still haven't done the publication thang!

It's a good month if I reach $20 these days, but it pays its way, so why not. I'm only at 267 followers. Sometimes I get a random clap on something I wrote months ago.

I put the featured author posts outside the paywall. They weren't my words, Anita wrote them, I'd feel bad about benefiting financially from them. But I did think that maybe it might bring more interest. Apart from that, what is the point in writing for something that could make you a few quid and not take advantage of that?

Carole wrote: "Wow, that was terrific Dale. You really cleared up so many of my questions. I think you are absolutely right in everything you say. I slowed adding followers and basically just add people with arti..."

Thank you, Carole, and you're very welcome. I'm glad it helped. FYI, I suspect some of what you write would work for a publication. You just have to find the right one.

D.J. wrote: "Yep, still haven't done the publication thang!

It's a good month if I reach $20 these days, but it pays its way, so why not. I'm only at 267 followers. Sometimes I get a random clap on something I..."

Yeah, I can see putting the author profiles outside the paywall.

Alex wrote: "This information is invaluable for anyone who wants to deal with Medium, so thanks for putting it out there, I just wish I could find the inspiration to write some articles, I haven't in ages."

Glad to help, Alex. Inspiration will strike sooner or later. Probably at the least convenient moment. ;-)

Good to know all the ins and outs of how that works, Dale. Thanks for sharing. It all makes sense, but then there's that commitment to keeping it up in order to maximize the potential out there....that can be a bit daunting.

I'm inspired to go and see what this is all about, I've not heard of Medium. Many thanks for the info, Dale. :)

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the different parts of Medium, Dale. Hugs

Dale wrote: "Carole wrote: "Wow, that was terrific Dale. You really cleared up so many of my questions. I think you are absolutely right in everything you say. I slowed adding followers and basically just add p..."

I agree with you Dale, but I have a terrible habit of rushing. It's the only way I can clear my to-do list. You should see what every Monday's list looks like.

many thanks, Dale. Terrific stuff

Carmel wrote: "Good to know all the ins and outs of how that works, Dale. Thanks for sharing. It all makes sense, but then there's that commitment to keeping it up in order to maximize the potential out there......."

You're quite welcome, and you're right about the commitment. That's another thing I should have mentioned. It does take steady effort, but the more good stories you have out there, the easier it becomes. I wrote something almost every day for the first couple of months, then started slowing down, partly because I couldn't keep up the pace. I noticed, however, that my earnings didn't really flag that much. I think it's possible to post less frequently once you have a body of work available, because people do keep finding those older stories, which helps keep your earnings up.

Jessica wrote: "I'm inspired to go and see what this is all about, I've not heard of Medium. Many thanks for the info, Dale. :)"

You're quite welcome. A number of us are active there by now, so feel free to ask any questions you have and someone will certainly know the answer.

Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger) wrote: "Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the different parts of Medium, Dale. Hugs"

My pleasure!

Carole wrote: "Dale wrote: "Carole wrote: "Wow, that was terrific Dale. You really cleared up so many of my questions. I think you are absolutely right in everything you say. I slowed adding followers and basical..."

I know what you mean. I sometimes have to force myself to take extra time to make sure what I'm doing is the best I can make it. When I don't, I usually regret it. :-P

Magnus wrote: "many thanks, Dale. Terrific stuff"

You're quite welcome!

Dale wrote: "My first Medium story appeared in late February this year, so I've been publishing there for ten months now. Medium has changed some of its tools since then and I've discovered a few things through..."

Awesome information Dale. Thanks so much for sharing!

Alicya wrote: "Dale wrote: "My first Medium story appeared in late February this year, so I've been publishing there for ten months now. Medium has changed some of its tools since then and I've discovered a few t..."

You've very welcome!

actually, I do have one more question. If you've mentioned this before I didn't see it, but apologise for the oversight. How long are your articles typically, what's the average word count?
Thanks

No idea - they do it by time- so mine are about 3 minutes- my guess is under eight hundred words?

by time? How long it takes ot read them? Is there something I'm not getting here? Are they audio recordings?

How long it takes to read them

ah, okay. Thanks for clarifying
And everybody, have a Swell Christmas Holiday!

Magnus wrote: "actually, I do have one more question. If you've mentioned this before I didn't see it, but apologise for the oversight. How long are your articles typically, what's the average word count?
Thanks"

Erm . . . I don't know for sure. I expect most of them are under 1,000 words. Medium puts an estimated reading time on them. A lot of mine fall into the 4 - 5 minute range, although some of my short stories are shorter than that. I don't worry too much about length. I let the material be as long as needed for what I want to say . . . edited, of course, to keep things from bogging down.

okay. Great. Thanks again

I would always go for around the four minute read. It’s about 1000 words or roughly a page of A4 12 point. I’ve only written one really long post to get something off my chest but wouldn’t expect it to be read.

Write things that people can read whilst sitting on the toilet. Now I’ve said that I realise some people treat a visit to the lavatory like a day trip...

Short is better. Medium articles and trips to the toilet.

:))))