A Playbook for Growing Your Income on Medium
I tweeted earlier this week my monthly earnings on Medium.
https://twitter.com/davidkimbell/status/1435631215537582081?s=21
I was asked for my “Medium success” playbook.
NOTE: The figures in that tweet aren’t attracting the taxman’s attention yet. 😀 But the trend is upwards & roughly doubling every month.
If it continues unchecked, a year from now, my Medium income will match a reasonable salary.
Key word there: UNCHECKED
It Won’t Be UNCHECKED For Long
Even prolific Nicolas Cole (who has put his entire 7-years’ library on Medium) still only earns 5 figures per month (on a good day.) And he knows the ropes.
Medium is (ahem) UNLIKELY to let my revenue grow so high that they go bust.
See @Nicolascole77 thread on Medium success — Highly recommended:
https://twitter.com/Nicolascole77/status/1409572338870501381?s=20
Here’s my (current) playbook:
1️⃣ Apply To Be Paid
DUH. Medium doesn’t pay you automatically. See https://medium.com/earn
2️⃣ Believe You Have Something Worth Saying
Even when it feels like you don’t — FUNDAMENTAL
What seems like crappy content to you, is not crappy to someone else.
Write the best you know how. Trust the universe to bring you people who need what you write. It will.
3️⃣ Listen Luxuriously To Yourself
FUNDAMENTAL
But most people don’t do it. It’s NOT BEING LAZY.
Here’s how I do it:
https://twitter.com/davidkimbell/status/1400118215041294336?s=21
But don’t just use my system. Develop your own.
4️⃣ Write Like You Talk
You have a “voice” and a format, when you talk. Copy that to your writing.
Use the same language you’d speak. (Dumb in down to 8th-grade level.)
Use fonts, italics, caps and bold (sparingly) to lend emphasis what you’d emphasize when speaking.
5️⃣ Include A Photo At The Top
Medium makes this easy.
Above your title, insert new line, click +, select 🔍, enter your main keyword. Presto, images to choose from Unsplash. Photo credit gets added automatically.
(h/t KathrynEriksen for convincing me to do this)
6️⃣ Use A Publishing/Republishing Framework
Start with essay or thread on Twitter, copy/paste straight into Medium. The formatting (except for underlines) always copies across.
I can’t beat Nicolas Cole’s guide on this: https://nicolascole77.medium.com/the-ultimate-online-writing-republishing-framework-24028e37427d
7️⃣ Consistency is King
Sorry to flog the dead horse.
But it’s TRUE.
Publishing consistently over time is how you win this game.
8️⃣ Medium Might Not Be The Best Platform For You
They’re constantly tweaking their offering & algo.
Even Nicolas Cole, though he’s prolific on Medium, isn’t too bullish. Indeed, he’s more excited about Quora:
https://nicolascole77.medium.com/why-quora-will-be-the-first-platform-to-allow-writers-to-earn-100k-per-month-3d410836b644
