Earn Money by Medium
Earn Money by Medium
Earn Money by Medium, How to Make Money on Medium Website
I have been writing on Medium since March 2020.
While many writers struggle with underperformance and eventually give up, I continue to write on Medium.
I have grown my blog Medium to 13,000+ subscribers in the last three years. I have published over 300 stories, making pennies on most of them. Still, consistent writing and perseverance have helped me earn $15,525.35 on Medium as of November 2023.
Here is the proof:
My accumulated Medium earnings.
Earn Money by Medium, In short, blogging on Medium is much more than writing and publishing random articles. The platform can help you reach millions of readers online, earn money, and build a personal brand and an online business through your writing.
Today, I use Medium effectively to earn money through the Medium Partner Program, promote and sell my eBooks on Gumroad, and acquire potential SEO clients.
If you want to learn how to make money on Medium, this Medium blog review is for you.
I’ll teach you my proven working strategies and show you how much writing I’ve done on Medium.
This article is an in-depth Medium review for those who want to start blogging online, develop their writing skills, and build a writing career.
Here’s what this article covers:
What is Medium.com?
Is Medium reliable?
How does the Medium Partner Program work?
How do I join the Medium Partner Program?
How to make money writing on Medium?
What is a Medium Boost?
How many stories should I publish per month to make money?
Medium’s response to AI content
Is writing on Medium worth it?
Let’s start with the basics, which will be helpful for those unfamiliar with the Medium website.
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What is Medium.com
Earn Money by Medium, Medium is a US-based company founded by former Twitter CEO Evan Williams and launched in 2012.
In short, it’s an open platform for writers where anyone can share their ideas with 170 million readers worldwide. Can you imagine?
According to the Medium About page, over 100 million people engage and share their stories on Medium every month. Some are professional writers, but most are not. They write because they have something to share with the world. And if you have something to share, you’ll work mornings, evenings, and even weekends because you’re passionate about it.
Your unique experiences and stories are the only things that matter on Medium.
You don’t have to be an experienced writer to get published on Medium, nor do you have to be a savvy marketer to drive an audience to your stories. Medium will use its algorithm to promote your content.
If you come to Medium, you can focus on creating powerful stories that people will love to read.
That’s what Medium strives to create — a place to develop and spread ideas without pushing destructive advertising.
Is the website Medium.com reliable
Earn Money by Medium, Let’s take a quick look at how the Medium platform works as a business and then come to a ground-level conclusion about its reliability.
How does Medium make money? And how much?
Medium generates revenue from user subscriptions that cost $5 per month or $50 per year. Through these small contributions, the Medium publishing platform pays its writers over $2 million a month! This is incredible!
Here is the official statement from the platform’s founder, Eve Williams:
“We pay out over $2 million a month to writers, editors, and publishers. With thousands of members today, we’re confident in the sustainability and scalability of the model. And, as such, we continue to invest in the long-term vision, which we have a lot of work to do.”
From April 2021 to July 2021, Medium awarded $500 cash bonuses to 1,000 of its most active and successful creators as a token of appreciation for the valuable writers who brought people to the platform.
In addition to the 1,000 writers and the $500,000 Partner Program earnings for each writer, the platform also offers a $500,000 bonus for writers.
That’s half a million US dollars! The platform can handle it!
Medium Bonus
Earn Money by Medium, As a Medium Top Writer, I received four consecutive bonuses in April, May, June, and July 2021.
This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise from Medium.
I couldn’t find an official financial statement detailing Medium’s monthly revenue breakdown. However, the way Medium values and supports its contributors makes me confident about Medium’s future.
Medium is a dynamic and fast-growing platform that saw unprecedented growth in 2020. Check out how fast their page views are growing:
Official Announcement from Evan Williams at Medium
More importantly, Medium turned ten years old in August 2022.
The platform has undergone a massive transformation to provide its readers with the best content and the most seamless experience for writers.
In their reflection post, the Medium team revealed that 18 million articles have been published on the Medium website since 2012. That’s huge!
Here are some of the most notable Medium milestones since 2012:
Hillary Clinton sets up the first campaign publication on Medium.
Barack Obama publishes his State of the Union address on Medium.
Yelp customer service representative Talia Jane writes an open letter to her CEO, leading to a public reckoning over income inequality.
2017
The Medium Partner Program was launched, allowing writers to earn money from their stories.
2018
Natalie Portman responded to critics of the #MeToo movement.
2019
Medium acquires The Bold Italic, a publication that covers Bay Area culture.
2020
Coronavirus hits. The Medium platform takes millions to process what’s happening, breaking viewership and signup records.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Medium launches a new blog called Momentum, where writers can share their perspectives on anti-Black racism.
2021
Medium launches a new email subscription feature.
2022
Medium turns 10. Eve Williams steps down as CEO, and Tony Stubblebine takes the reins.
Medium brings back good old custom domains and mobile editing.
A new audio experience has been launched for listening to stories on the go.
2023
Medium has removed the tipping system and introduced memberships.
Instead, it has launched Medium Boost to help outstanding stories reach more readers.
More to come!
I’m sure
Considering recent updates, Medium is a reliable platform to work with.
As a writer, I’ve never experienced any issues with Medium. If you have any questions, their support team is always responsive and ready to help.
How does the Medium Partner Program work?
Anyone can write on Medium, but only those who have enrolled in the Medium Partner Program will get paid for writing on Medium.
As of August 2023
Medium has removed the 100-follower requirement.
Medium membership is now mandatory to join the Partner Program.
The Partner Program has opened in many more countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, and the United Arab Emirates.
You can see an up-to-date list of all Partner Program-supported countries below.
Medium Supported Countries.
Tony Stubblebein mentioned in the August edition of the Medium blog that they had to delay opening the Partner Program in India, Brazil, and Thailand due to some legal regulations and payment system limitations.
Nevertheless, they hope to overcome the current challenges and open the Partner Program in many more new countries soon. Here’s an excerpt from the October 2023 Medium Partner Program update:
“As of now, we expect to have additional country support with a more robust payout system to handle all the nuances of different countries and currencies in early 2024.”
If you want to make money from the Medium Partner Program, you must adhere to the following rules:
Be a Medium paying member (paying $5 per month)
Have published at least one story in the last six months
Be 18 years old
Resident of a Partner Program-supported country
If you meet all of these requirements and are willing to earn money writing on Medium, you can apply here.
As part of this Medium review, I want to cover one more aspect — how Medium earnings are calculated.
Many writers don’t understand what Medium takes into account when calculating your payout. In addition, Medium has made many changes to its algorithm, which has had a negative impact on writers’ earnings.
Medium also noted that fraudulent activity was detected between September and October 2023, which reduced author earnings by almost half.
Apparently, Medium says that all issues have been fixed, and they are now calculating author earnings correctly.
Here’s what affects your earnings on Medium:
Member reading time (people who read your story for 30 seconds or more)
Member listening time (if people choose to listen to your story instead)
Member engagement signals, such as claps, comments, highlights, and new follows
Boost bonuses (if your story is boosted)
You can learn more about how Medium calculates Partner Program earnings here.
Keep in mind that you can earn money if you share FriendLinks with your readers. In other words, if some readers come through a FriendLink and read your story for more than 30 seconds, you will earn money too!
Can Medium remove active authors from the Partner Program?
The short answer is yes!
Here’s what Medium writers have to say on their official website:
“If you don’t publish within six (6) months, we may disable your ability to earn any revenue under the Partner Program. We will notify you before disabling your ability to earn under the Partner Program.”
How to Join the Medium Partner Program
You must join the Medium Partner Program to earn money from your stories.
You will receive payments via the Stripe payment system by the 15th of each month. Keep in mind that Stripe is only supported in certain countries! You can see an up-to-date list of countries here.
Here’s what the Medium Partner Program registration process looks like:
Medium Partner Program Registration Page
Medium partners with Stripe to send payouts to writers. It takes about 10 minutes to set up a Stripe account and link it to Medium.
You will need to upload some documents to verify your physical address. Once that’s done, you are officially a part of the Medium Partner Program.
Keep in mind that Medium earnings are displayed in USD.
Your payment will be automatically converted if your bank account is in a different currency.
How do you make money writing on Medium in 2024?
Whenever I talk to new writers, the first question they ask is, “How do I make money on Medium?”
They are interested in strategies and tips that help writers make decent money on Medium.
Some believe that top Medium writers know some secret that helps them succeed.
Let me tell you that there is no secret path to success on Medium. No matter what established writers tell you, there is no magic pill that will make you a successful Medium writer overnight.
What I have learned from writing over 300 stories on Medium is that to be successful, you need to find your voice and a niche.
Over time, people will follow you because they want to learn more from you! They will associate you with solving some of their problems and look for solutions in your content.
Once you establish a personal brand on Medium (it took me 3 years to do this), people will start coming to you for advice and will be open to buying your products and services.
As you can imagine, there are many ways to make money on Medium besides the affiliate program.
Here are some of the ways I’ve made money blogging on Medium.
1. Medium Affiliate Program
I joined Medium in March 2020 and have been actively writing on Medium ever since.
Here’s what I’ve consistently written on Medium from March 2020 to October 2023:
293 stories published
Earned a total of $15,525.35.
Made $3,000 from a single article as an affiliate.
My best performing Medium article made me $1,249.
Got 13,000+ followers
Received $2,000 in bonuses from Medium
Am I doing great on Medium?
I am an average writer who consistently makes $500-$1,000 on Medium and my follower base is slowly growing.
Many established writers make much more money than I do. However, even more writers struggle to make $100 on Medium.
Everyone’s journey is different.
You can’t predict your earnings by following what other Medium writers say or do. I promise you!
How do you get paid on Medium? The answer is to consistently publish articles, learn from your audience, and slowly move on to the best topics!
I blog about everything on Medium. However, I have discovered that my best performing topics are my solo journey, SEO, growing my website, and being by my side.
Therefore, I no longer write unsolicited and shallow pieces on Medium.
Instead, I share exclusive details about my journey as a soloist and an SEO expert. This is what my readers want to read.
The more they read, the more I earn. It’s easy now!
However, it took me two years to find my writing niche and build an audience that knows me and patiently waits for my stories.
I published my top-performing article in April 2023, sharing my insights on SEO and ChatGPT. I didn’t expect it to resonate with people so much. Apparently, AI and related topics are quite popular on Medium.
Best-performing Medium stories
My best-performing Medium stories.
Below, you can see my top 5 best-performing articles of all time. All of them were written in 2023, except for this one: “8 Common Traits of Toxic Leaders, According to Google.” I published this Medium story in February 2021.
My Top Five Medium Stories
My top five stories on Medium of all time, based on earnings.
Note that the Medium referral membership program is gone!
Medium removed it because, they say, it wasn't contributing to authors' earnings as expected.
If you have some referrals left, you can check your referral earnings in Viewer Stats. In my case, I earn roughly $60 per month from referred members, but this number is decreasing.
Medium Audience Stats
My audience stats are medium.
2. Sell your products and services on Medium
I’ve been writing on Medium for three years and have already built a personal brand (at least, I think so). This means readers recognize my writing style, wait for new content, clap, and comment on them.
Being active and growing a loyal fan base leads to trust, and trust leads to sales.
Today, Medium is my second best eBook lead generation channel on Gumroad.
I sell two eBooks and an SEO checklist, which has earned me $8,000+ on Gumroad.
Selling my eBook on Gumroad.
I owe my Gumroad success to Medium because it helps me spread the word about my services and products without using annoying ads.
Here’s what I do to make money on Medium by selling my products:
I write success stories that mention my ebooks
I teach readers how to do X to achieve Y using my ebooks as a step-by-step guide
I include calls-to-action (CTAs) at the end of my articles
If you’re interested, you can learn more about how to sell ebooks on Gumroad in my guide “How to Figure Out How to Sell eBooks on Gumroad.”
What is a Medium Boost?
A Medium Boost is a way to promote your stories to a larger audience on Medium.
When a story is boosted, it appears on the Medium homepage, in the Medium app, and in the Daily Digest email, which is sent to millions of Medium subscribers.
Here’s what else you get when your story is boosted:
Increased reach and visibility: Boosted stories are seen by millions of people on Medium.
More engagement: Boosted stories typically get more views, claps, and comments than non-Boosted stories.
More money: If you’re a Medium partner, you can make more money from Boosted stories because they’re more likely to be read by Medium members.
Boosted stories are selected by a team of nominators on Medium. The nominators look for stories that are well-written, informative, and engaging. They also consider the story’s popularity, as measured by views, claps, and comments.
According to Tony Stubblebine, a Boosted story gets at least 500 additional views within the first week.
You can see a list of publications and Boost nominees here.
How many stories should you publish per month to make money on Medium?
Let me share a myth that new writers unknowingly believe about Medium.
“If I publish every day, I’ll make more money on Medium.”
Active writers, in fact, have a higher chance of attracting more readers. However, if the stories are poorly written and have no value to the readers, they won’t get many views.
I used to publish about 15 stories a month, which would earn me up to $200. Now, I earn the same amount by posting a few stories.
I don’t overwork myself and force myself to be a writing machine. Instead, I focus on topics that appeal to me and my target audience.
You can’t predict Medium’s income. Period. Over time, you’ll be able to tell more precisely what works and what doesn’t. However, you never know how much a random article will help you.
Everyone has a unique journey on Medium. If you want to get paid to write on Medium, you need to find your own writing pace, discover topics that interest you and your audience, try, fail, try more, and see what works.
Here’s an example from my Medium writing.
I published just 4 stories in October 2023, earning $701.78. My views and earnings have doubled compared to September 2023.
This isn’t just a one-time thing. I have months where I’ve published 6-7 stories and earned $1,000+ from Medium.
Success depends more on your topic and a catchy headline than the number of articles published.
Medium’s Response to AI Content
Following the popularity of ChatGPT, many Medium writers, including myself, are concerned about the impact of AI-generated content on Medium and our earnings.
Let’s not pretend that AI-generated content doesn’t exist on Medium. It does!
Many writers believe that it’s a way to earn extra pennies from the platform.
As AI has become a growing concern, Medium released its official response to writers’ concerns in its October 2023 Partner Program update.
Here is an excerpt from it:
“Our system has several strategies to reduce the distribution of AI-generated content: some based on machine-learning and others based on human curation, content flagging, and moderation. None of these will catch all AI-generated content, but the overall effect is that content that is clearly created by AI is unlikely to be widely distributed on Medium.
Keep in mind that publishing a lot of content doesn’t guarantee increased earnings, as Medium takes engagement into account when calculating author earnings.
If readers open your story and leave within a few seconds because they think it’s boring and probably AI-written, you won’t make money.
In my experience, you can earn up to $1,000 on Medium by writing 4-7 high-quality and engaging stories. So, don’t waste time on AI. Instead, develop your writing skills to build an audience and grow your personal brand.
Is writing on Medium worth it?
The answer to this question depends on your goals.
If your goal is to develop your writing skills, become a better storyteller, and get your message across to millions of people — then yes! Writing on the Medium website is totally worth it.
Over time, you’ll notice that Medium opens up a lot of opportunities and helps you make life-changing connections. The payouts are great, but they become secondary once you learn the rules of the platform and start using them.
If you’re looking for a quick win, Medium isn’t for you.
In April 2020, I made $7. Exactly one year later, my paycheck was $636.06.
In April 2022, I made $416.29, while in April 2023, my payout was $784.46.
I don’t know what will happen in a year, but I’m optimistic about crushing my Medium writing goals.
Everyone’s Medium journey is different, but I’m here to inspire you, believe in yourself, and give it a try.
Who knows, you might be another Medium success story.
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