How Much Money Did I Make Writing on Medium?
My very real numbers from my first year writing on Medium
It’s been almost exactly one year since I started writing on Medium. I saw Joanna Henderson wrote an article highlighting her highs and lows of her first year, and seeing as we both started writing on the site at the same time, I thought I would add my experience to the conversation.
Medium has been through a dozen and a half ups and downs in the last year; there have been changes to the curation criteria and system, stats have dropped even for large creators, the list goes on and on.
Right off the bat I want to say that I absolutely love writing on Medium and I don’t foresee myself stopping any time soon. I have total freedom to write about what I want to write about. Some publications have different guidelines to follow or topics that they favor, but if I want to self publish something I can (and I can do it very easily).
So here we go. My very real numbers from my first year on Medium.
May 2020
How much did I make: $5.94
How many stories did I publish: 13
Most popular as of today: “Let’s Talk Post Confessional Poetry”
Thoughts: My first month on Medium was also my busiest month in terms of writing. I published by first article on May 9 after watching a YouTube video from Shelby Church about the site. I thought it might be fun to see how big an audience I could get from writing on a website like Medium. Out of those thirteen articles, I did end up getting published in The Writing Cooperative which was a huge feat, and got curated early on. I felt like the coolest kid in the world when I saw that I made almost $6 by writing.
June 2020
How much did I make: $25.44
How many stories did I publish: 10
Most popular as of today: “The Many Uses of Liquid Breathing”
Thoughts: I had an article go “viral” in June. Well at least by my standards. My article about science got a lot of attention very quickly, and still gets views and comments nearly a year later. I had seen an Instagram post about something called “liquid breathing” and thought it was a cool concept, so I hopped on Google and learned as much as I could about it. It gained a fair bit of traction and I rode that high for several months.
July 2020
How much did I make: $34.54
How many stories did I publish: 6
Most popular as of today: “The Sims vs. Reality TV”
Thoughts: I made even more money this month than previously, due to my Liquid Breathing article still gaining traction. However, I branched out a little bit and started writing more about video games. I have now written a handful of articles for SuperJump all about The Sims 4. I got to do a ton of research about the game and made some money writing about something I love to do in my free time.
August 2020
How much did I make: $32.00
How many stories did I publish: 6
Most popular as of today: “What Happens in a Psychiatric Hospital?”
Thoughts: Six seems to be my sweet spot for number of articles to put out each month. Most months I put out about six pieces and I’m comfortable with that amount. I know many creators put out an article per day but I work a full time job as a teacher, so I write when I find extra time here and there. While this was a little bit of a dip in cash, I remember I used this $32 to buy myself some new makeup that I’d been really wanting. It felt like a really cool reward for hard work and good writing.
September 2020
How much did I make: $37.37
How many stories did I publish: 6
Most popular as of today: “The Reality of Being a Woman is Terrifying”
Thoughts: September 2020 was honestly pretty…random. I wrote about a lot of different topics, including politics, feminism, bras, and being a teacher. I was starting to get a little bored with my own ideas (which becomes even more evident moving forward) and just kind of pumped out whatever I could think of that might make good content. I wrote about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, which is still one of my favorite articles I’ve published. It’s absolutely one of the most passionate stories I’ve written.
October 2020
How much did I make: $19.57
How many stories did I publish: 3
Most popular as of today: “Please Don’t Treat Me Like a Queen”
Thoughts: I was certainly bored in October. I only published three articles and none of them did particularly well. They were all very short and I managed to get them into publications, but I wouldn’t say I’m thrilled about any of them. I was starting to feel the pressure of the upcoming election and I didn’t feel ready enough to write about politics. I was stressed out as well about having just moved into a new apartment and having to readjust to living on my own instead of in my parents house.
November 2020
How much did I make: $14.05
How many stories did I publish: 5
Most popular as of today: “5 Reasons I Will Never Be Skinny”
Thoughts: I came back out with a bang in November. I pushed out three back-to-back political pieces about the election and social issues that I still really like. While they didn’t get as much traction as I was hoping, I am still proud of what I wrote and am glad I got to put it out there. While I didn’t make a ton of money, I was proud of my work and happy to still make something.
December 2020
How much did I make: $11.82
How many stories did I publish: 5
Most popular as of today: “The New Skin Tones Update for the Sims 4 is Here”
Thoughts: I tried my hand at some humor writing in December… I’m still not sure if I’m the right person to be writing satire. Either way, I think I’m pretty funny. Regardless, December is always a busy month because of all the holidays. Despite having a global pandemic, I still certainly felt the holiday stress. While I still managed to publish five stories, I wasn’t shocked that I didn’t make a huge profit.
January 2021
How much did I make: $13.94
How many stories did I publish: 2
Most popular as of today: “How to Have an Full ADHD-Induced Meltdown”
Thoughts: I think everyone was really ready for 2020 to be over. I know I was. But since 2021 didn’t seem to be all that different, I was feeling quite uninspired. I only wrote two articles in January, however the ADHD article is to this day my favorite article I’ve ever written. I got my first “hate” comment from someone who claims to be a doctor, so I would call this one a win.
February 2021
How much did I make: $6.51
How many stories did I publish: 6
Most popular as of today: “Culture vs Religion: I’m a Jewish Atheist”
Thoughts: Something came over me in February. I decided I wanted to create my own publication where I could freely write about mental health and my own experiences with mental illness without having to wait for it to be accepted or rejected. I’ve written a lot for Invisible Illness and they’ve given me a lot of great opportunities to build my audience. But I wanted to have a little more control over what I posted and when. So I started Mental Health Day.
March 2021
How much did I make: $15.78
How many stories did I publish: 7
Most popular as of today: “6 Signs You Could Have High Functioning Anxiety”
Thoughts: I feel like March of this year is really when I came back to taking Medium seriously again. I’ve found my way out of the slump and started publishing more and more, even under my own publication. I’m pleased with the quality and quantity I put out in March and sparked a lot of conversation on my personal social medias over some of the mental health pieces I put out.
April 2021
How much did I make: $200.47
How many stories did I publish: 5
Most popular as of today: “5 Books I Wish I Had Read Sooner”
Thoughts: Wow. April is my birthday month and I think the Medium Gods decided to grant me a birthday surprise. I, for the first time, made over $100 in a month just by writing. I am thrilled, I am shocked, and I am experiencing MAJOR imposter syndrome. My first reaction to seeing my stats page (which I check infrequently) was “that article isn’t even that good.” I know this isn’t true, of course, because if it wasn’t a good article it wouldn’t have brought in 60+ new followers and an influx of funds. I’m so grateful to Books Are Our Superpower for giving me a chance and publishing my work, because this has been by far the most insane month on this website.
Will I keep writing on Medium for another year? Absolutely. Even if after this month I go back to making less than $30 per month, it’s such an amazing chance to build an audience and get my words out to the public. I’ve never been in this for the money — although it is nice to see the compensation — and I will continue to write for the sole purpose of personal expression.
