Dec 5, 2020
Things I Learned After My First Year On Medium
Any anniversary calls for remembering the good, the bad, and the ugly
I published my first article on Medium back in November 2019.
Just like a new girl in school, I was Googling every question I had about Medium.
Is it a scam? How can I earn money if I don’t have a Stripe account? Are there other Filipinos who write here? Should I be vulnerable and write about my personal relationships? Will people read my work?
Here’s what I’ve learned so far after 12 months of writing.
It’s possible to use Medium earnings as a source of (side) income.
This is for those who are skeptical about earning money online. I’ve made significant money through this article that’s been read over 20,000 times. January was the month I earned the most.
I put all of my Medium earnings into my savings account and reinvest them into mutual funds that will keep earning.
I also invested in building my first ever website which is intended for gaining writing clients.
Focus on writing, not on views, reads, claps, and earnings.
I hope you are on the Medium Partner Program because you love writing and seeing your work online gives you a sense of fulfillment.
If you’re here for the money, there’s a big chance that it’s not going to work. You’ll end up disappointed with earning something like this.
Write and publish as often as you can.
In this interview with Medium top writer Sinem Günel, Sinem shares how she stays consistent with writing daily.
Others let drafts sit for 2–3 days before submitting it to a publication. Others prefer not to submit to publications all the time.
There are different methods and ways to get a good writing rhythm but the main goal is to publish articles — good ones, of course.
Interact with your fellow Medium writers.
People in Medium support groups on Facebook such as Womxn On Medium want to learn and succeed as much as you do. Most of them are supportive and positive. Ask questions, respond to polls, share ideas, and energy.
Be a Medium reader.
Read other Medium writers’ work, highlight the best lines, clap and leave a comment on every article you read. This is the best way to support a writer. I wrote about this here.
Learn how to restock your energies.
Writing can be exhausting especially when done daily. A few ways to address this, according to Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, are writing Morning Pages, going on solo nature dates, and filling the well by doing something repetitive physically. She says
Any piece of work draws heavily on our artistic well. Overtapping the well, like overfishing the pond, leaves us with diminished resources.
I wrote about my experience in reading this amazing book here.
The only way for readers to see our work is for us, writers, to publish and be seen. Medium is a great platform for that.
This is also where I discover brilliant writers, various writing styles, new ideas for content, and heaps of encouragement.
No matter how much Medium changes policies in earning, I know I will stay here for a long time.
With Medium, I find no reason to stop writing.
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Odyssa writes, practices Ashtanga yoga, and works remotely. Subscribe to her monthly letters here.
