This story is heavily influenced by Ashley Nicole. She recently revealed her progress writing on Medium for a month. I read that story and loved it. I’m a sucker for numbers, so I thought I’d do the same reflection on my first two Medium months here. Let’s get into it!
February 2021
As I stated in a previously published story, I heard about Medium way back in 2016. But I didn’t look further into it. God, I wish I had.
I started my Medium journey in February 2021 after watching a YouTube video by Shelby Church. My first post was a small insight into a TikTok marketing genius. To be honest, I was really hesitant to publish it. I am not a native English speaker and I’ve always been doubtful about my writing skills in general, let alone in a foreign language. I guess this is an advantage as well though. I don’t have to be perfect, I’ve got an excuse 😉
My first week began slowly. I posted a couple of stories which were basically reposts (or rewrites) of articles I had previously posted on my blog. In week two, I found my first success. My then newest story was published by one of the largest publications on Medium: Better Marketing. This was the turning point for me. I realized how much potential Medium offers for bloggers and writers like me.
March 2021
The end of February and March went very well. In my first full month on Medium, I published 20 stories (actually a few more but the others were unlisted posts). Many of the articles got published in well-known, fantastic publications, including the biggest Medium publication overall “Start it up” (The Startup). Here’s the full list of publications I was lucky enough to be published in:
- Start it up (The Startup)
- Curious
- Geek Culture
- Better Marketing
- Pop-Off
- ILLUMINATION
- Adventures in Consumer Technology
- Mac O’Clock
- The Shadow
- Nerd For Tech
By the end of March, I was completely amazed by the progress. My most popular story up to this point was a story about menswear in Curious.
April 2021
The first days into April, I barely found the time to write stories for Medium. I do have a full-time job and a side hustle, not to mention my wife and kids. Still, I reached some milestones: I crossed 1000 followers in early April and 1000 views on a single story. Now, as of April 9th, 2021, my full stats look like this:
I am so grateful for almost 6000 views and for the over 1300 followers I gained until now. I would have never imagined these numbers when I started just a few weeks ago.
Let’s talk money
Finally, let’s talk money! To be honest, before starting on Medium, I was highly skeptical (to say the least) whether it was truly possible to earn money here. After all, I had been blogging on and off for about 10 years, and I had never earned a considerable amount of money with it. However, this was my fault to a high degree since I had always treated blogging as a small hobby, not a lucrative side-hustle or even full-time career. And to be fair, I’m still not remotely close to that. But I’m freaking happy about my first two months on Medium. You won’t get rich, at least I didn’t, but here are my earnings:
As you can see, I made about 11$ in the first two weeks on Medium. For the first full month (March) I made 67$. And already in the 9 days of April so far I made 27$. Mind you, that I haven’t written a lot in April, so this mainly comes from the 20 stories I published in March. My three most popular stories are all about menswear, style, and fashion, which is surprising to me, but I do love this topic a lot. I also reached two milestones I wouldn’t have dreamed of: I’ve become a Top Writer in both the Fashion and the Social Media categories. This is still mindblowing to me.
Final Thoughts
Is it worth trying to write on Medium? Hell yes, it is IMO. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t tried myself. This is the most important lesson to take from this stats report: Try it!
If it doesn’t work out, then you know. But if it does, it might be the beginning of something special for you.
After all, there are quite a few Medium writers that make a living with their stories. I can’t say it will happen for me. But for now, I’ve earned a little money, received great comments and feedback, read some amazing writers, and had a ton of fun. And I’ve lost nothing because I would have written anyway.
P.S.
I’d like to say thank you to every reader, every follower, everyone that kindly commented on my stories, reached out to me, gave me advice or criticism, spoke with me, or just clapped the hell out of the clapping button. I’ve enjoyed all this feedback so much and I can’t tell you how grateful and excited I am. Thank you all a thousand times!
