13 Lessons From a $1000+ Medium Story
#2. This Medium thing works.
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It’s March 2020, my fourth Medium Partnership Program month, and I’ve already crossed the $1000 per month threshold. Woohoo!
It happened largely due to one successful article that was actually published beginning of February.
I know what you’re thinking. I want to write one of those too (or 100 of those). Well, this is not that kind of article, but there are a few valuable lessons I want to share, so let’s get cracking.
1. You don’t need a magic formula.
Maybe some of the pros have figured out how to write viral hits on purpose. I haven’t. I couldn’t have told you that this particular story would’ve made me so much money if you were to put a gun on my head.
Some of you may look at this and think “How am I supposed to replicate these results if you’re not going to give me the formula?” That’s not how I see it. I see the positive side which is, even if there is some mysterious formula (and there isn’t), we don’t need it. We can still write hit stories just because we’re devoted to writing, and we’re getting better and better.
2. This Medium thing works.
I started in December and made $1.37 for the entire month. My husband laughed at me. Who’s laughing now?
3. It takes time.
The story was published on the 8th of February. It started exploding at the beginning of March. So don’t be too quick to judge how an article will perform.
4. The winning combination.
I think this is true for most hit articles:
They’re published in a big publication + They’re curated (maybe in more than one tag) + People love them (If you have 20%+ fans to reads ratio, they do).
It’s difficult to hit all three. I have a lot of articles that cover two out of three and they’re doing okay, but that’s it.
