How Much I Earned in My First Month on Medium

It’s 8.00 in the morning, I’m sitting in my house, a slight monsoon drizzle is falling, the weather is a bit chillier and a hot cup of coffee is feeling great.

I find it the best time to analyze my last 30 days' performance on Medium. The sole purpose of writing is to acknowledge what I got financially (not a lot but a huge boost for me) and what I learned over the past 30 days. Secondly, I want to share my personal experience with those who are joining the medium recently.

Many people are writing about how much they earned every month and there are quite a few with astonishing amounts. Their work experiences are countless and guidance sources for the new writers.

I’m not only going to share what I’ve earned but also my focus point will be what I’ve learned in the past 30 days which is of more importance than the first one.

What I earned during August-20

I joined Medium at the end of July-20, so practically August was my first month of writing on Medium. I wrote a few articles in the month of July, however, in order to properly analyze a 30-day time frame August is a true option. It’ll be easier for me to present the numbers to readers for the entire month.

So, here we go.

I got the email from Medium Partner Programme about the payment summary for August 1-August 31 2020. It was $4.09 for the last month.

It isn’t the amount which will fascinate the majority of the readers and from nowhere it can be considered as even a handful of earning. But, I’m in love with income. It has given me confidence that yes I can do it. I consider it a big win for me.

I wrote 4 articles during the month of August. One of my articles was curated by the medium curators and distributed. It was initially declined by a couple of publications, however, I reviewed and improved the structure of the article and ultimately same was got published and curated.

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A major part of August’s income is due to the curated article. It constitutes 32.27% of the total income for the month. It is important to mention that article was published and curated on 27.08.2020 and still within five days it exceeded the other articles published earlier.

One can easily draw a conclusion about the importance of curation by the above performance of the curated article.

Other articles were written during the month also contributed but the amount and percentage were below the curated one, even for articles that were published quite earlier in the month.

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A few of the previous articles that I wrote at the end of the previous month were able to fetch a few readings and cents as well emphasizing the importance of the quantity of the articles.

So, it was a kind of mix for new and the old, but the curated article was by far performed better than other articles as it recorded the highest percentage of income for the month of August, and also it was published only five days prior to the month-end.

What is the learning

I started to write on the medium by the end of July-20. I was reading everything about medium and how to be a successful writer on the medium from youtube and medium articles of successful writers.

I discovered people talking about follow-for-follow, social media spread of articles, SEO optimization, curation, publications and so much and so many other techniques. Most of them were quite new for me TBH.

People telling you so much about the medium that it sometimes becomes difficult for you to absorb and apply. Your mind becomes unable to process the heavy set of ideas that people are throwing at you all around.

I did a few of them as well, but actually, they were not supposed to give much help actually.

I was lucky to come across people like Sinem Günel at the start of my medium journey.

She is the one, who entirely changed my view about Medium and how to deal with it. Through video streams on her FB page, her active responses, and her success stories on medium. She broke so many taboos for me and I got very much clear about what medium is, and what one should do to win big here.

What is the way to go

My experience at medium is very short, but still, I’ve, few takeaways from the last month of the medium writing.

Write, write, write

You’ve to write more and more, there is no alternate to it. You’ll learn to write better during the course of time. You can’t learn to write better without writing. Further, by writing more you’ll explore yourself and your audience. You’ll be in a better position to review what your follower likes to read and even what you’re good at writing.

Improve your writing skills

There is no win for the ones who’re unable to improve their writing, especially for the new writers. You’re required to continuously write and develop skills. It’ll gradually result in quality writing for you.

Formatting is a must to learn

No matter how good your article is, it won’t have an impact unless it is properly formatted. So, there’s no way out from it, you’ve to learn the formatting of articles and properly apply it to your articles. You’ve to read all the submission guidelines prior to submission of your articles to the publications to avoid any frustration to you at later stages.

Curation should be the target

You write the quality content and the medium will do the marketing for you. Medium curation is unpredictable but one thing is for sure, you won’t see any low-quality and poorly formatted articles in the curation.

You need to target the curation for your writing. You’ll earn a big audience and money if you get frequent curations.

Income will come with curation

Medium has millions of readers, you don’t need to follow them to read your articles. But, only if your article gets curated than medium will do the rest for you and send your article to the medium readers by different distribution channels.

You’ll earn as per the medium members reading time. There will be no immediate use of external members reading if they don’t become a medium member within a month of reading your article.

Final Thoughts

I consider my last month’s performance on the medium as a success for me not because I earned $4.09 but I have learned to a great extent. I’m excited about the future and optimistic to come up with promising results.

• Write, write, write: You’ve to write in great numbers every day about what you love or what you want to write about.

• Improve your writing skills: Write more and more to get yourself corrected by the process. You’ve to develop skills in order to write with great skills.

• Formatting is a must to learn: You can’t get your article curated with poor formatting, therefore learn the formatting and apply it accurately to your articles.

• Curation should be the target: The more you’ll write quality content, there will be more probability of being curated, and it should be the goal of your writing.

• Income will come curation: Once your articles will be curated on a frequent basis, I assure you money will be easy comings for you. Your content will reach readers by the medium distribution channels.