I published frequently, but I found it was not the best way to maximize earnings on Medium.
Hint: The answer is NOT publishing frequently
I have been actively writing on Medium for the past year. (I started writing online in 2007).
I joined the Medium partner program last month. So I have learned my lesson by trying all the possible approaches to publishing on Medium.
The first thing I noticed was a change in my views chart.
My views (actually my “reads”) reduced drastically. Because more than half of the readers are not paid members of Medium.
The two approaches.
- Quality (good quality long-form articles)
- Quantity (too many short-form articles)
If you want to frequently post, you need to choose short-form articles.
Short-form = quick opinion, less researched work, shallow insights.
Result of frequent short-form
Drastic increase in followers count, view count, read count, etc.
Long-form = fact-based, spending long time (least of 6 hours writing & research), deep insights.
Unfortunately, you can’t post frequently if you choose this path.
Result of publishing long-form
Slow increase in follower count, okayish view count, and good read count (and read time).
Which one maximizes your earnings in MPP?
The long-forms.
That’s it.
Secondly, the follower count is not linear. But it will go exponential (yeah it is a little exaggeration).
But if you manage to keep the set of eyeballs of the reader for more than a couple of minutes, that’s a good sign that he’ll be your true fan.
The fans I scored from a huge number of short-form articles were either dormant or not paying members of Medium. (there are a few exceptions).
When I see the partner program stats, only — only the long-form quality content earned me good bucks — even with little read counts.
150 words? 250 words? short-forms? short-reads?
Don’t go on this path — if you want to earn better on Medium.
The “Show up” everyday myth.
Yeah, so many writers vouch for frequent publishing.
Even I was part of it — until a month ago.
Once I read my charts — and read the vibes of readers (after paywalling my stories) I tend to change my opinion — based on facts and better understanding.
The mere “show up every day” advice is an oversimplified statement.
I now have a better understanding of it.
Work every day. Write every day. Publish it once it becomes a minimum viable story. Otherwise, don’t publish junk just for the sake of publishing every day.
Frequency is important.
How frequent? Depends on the quality you produce.
Every Tuesday and Friday? Good.
Every Saturday? Good.
Every day? Good. (unless you do writing as a full-time)
Whatever. Just don’t break the chain.
As long as you don’t break it, it will be effortless for you to publish each article — without compromising the quality.
My humble advice,
Don’t listen to the ‘meta’ writers
Beware of what other writers say. If their niche is “how to write on Medium” then publishing daily will work for them.
It is not necessarily to be the same for you. Things change according to the niches you write on. (more on this topic in the below story).
Writing my own experience on Medium doesn’t take much effort (research, fact-checking, reference) to write and publish. So for this niche, I can publish a new story just like that (this) in 45 minutes.
It doesn’t have to be the same for you. Take your time to produce quality content. That stands for a long time. Put evergreen content out there. You may not get a sudden surge in views and follower count. But you’ll get true fans (who contribute to your earnings — now or later).
The best niche
If you can produce content daily with quality (based on your daily experience) just like that (without much extra effort) — and if you can do that for a very long time — then that's your niche.
I write like this because I spent more than one and a half decades on this. Still, I am not good (to my expectations).
If you have that niche, then write daily. (In Medium’s language, “show-up daily”).
If you don’t have that, then do a well-researched, fact-checked article. Again and again — even if you can’t do it much frequently.
If you can’t make something useful, or valuable out of “online writing”, why do you write? (Follower & View counts are nothing).
Collect true fans who appreciate your work and contribute to your earnings.
P.S.: Join WISERY for free.
