Skip to main content

What Happens to Most Medium Writers?


Analyzing the holistic enterprise with stats and generalities.

I started syndicating my blog content on Medium around 2017 with my first account, which has gone by the wayside since.

The account I’m using now is my second account which I started around August 2018. I posted around 12 articles here from then until December 2022.

Like a long-lost treasure realized, I started writing seriously on Medium around early December 2022. I’ve now been writing regularly here for around 5 weeks.

The total article count I’ve amassed is 46 at this point in my Medium journey.

When I came back to Medium after 4.5 years of neglect, I had 34 followers and wasn’t a member. I became a member and then soon enough reached the 100-follower threshold to apply for monetization. I really appreciate how quickly Medium approves this part of the journey.

At this point, I have 242 followers and am up to 1,580 views in the past month.

I’ve been keeping track of the pennies rolling in and I make around .05 to .40 cents per day. For some reason, I made $1.50 one day, but this is an anomaly so far.

While I haven’t done the follow-for-follow method, I do have a methodology for interacting and gaining followers. In this process, I’ve noticed some patterns I’d like to analyze with you.

First I’ll share the methodology. I’m sure it isn’t new, but it works for me.

Essentially, I go to a favorite writer’s profile and look at who they are following, then go down and choose the writers I find interesting from the list by right-clicking the link into a new window.

After I click on around 30 writers, I then examine each profile. What I look for are four main factors:

  • last post date (have they been active in the last few weeks?)
  • type of articles and about page (do I like their content?)
  • if they are a member or not (will they help me make money?)
  • how many people do they follow (what is the chance they’ll follow me back?)

If all four of these factors check out then I’ll follow them. There are two exceptions to these rules that may apply:

  • if they don’t follow hardly anyone yet I like their content
  • they aren’t a member yet the other factors check out (heck, they could conceivably become a member through my link).

I’m following 438 writers now, yet I’ve looked through at least 1,000 in the process.

If someone follows me, I’ll sometimes follow them back without this process, yet I’ve learned to check out these factors. Essentially, I only want to follow writers that have content I’m interested in reading.

From what I’ve gathered through some research, there are:

  • 175k writers on Medium
  • 750k paying members

These writers produce around 47k articles per day (2020).

These stats are from a 2020 article by 

Out of these writers, only around 10k make over $100, and around 116k make .01 cent or more.

Around 6% of writers make over $100.

Although these are somewhat old statistics, they give me a good basis for my analysis. I’m sure Medium has grown since then, but not as much as the growth before then.

For instance, his article explains there were 119 M unique visitors in Sept. 2020, and Similarweb says in Nov. 2022 there were 142.1 M.

I just think it is interesting to try and understand the dynamics here at Medium.

Now, what I’ve noticed from my following methodology is the different types of writers and members. Gauging from the estimated 1,000 profiles I’ve examined, here are some things I’ve found.

Interestingly, many accounts are ghosted. I would estimate nearly half of the accounts I look at have writers who haven’t posted anything for months or years. Not being members anymore, they seem to have tried hard for a time and then moved on.

The rest of the accounts that are active are either top dogs who don’t follow anyone and have thousands of followers, or those who either follow around what they are followed by or follow a lot more writers than they are followed by.

You can tell a lot about a writer by looking at how many people they follow and how many followers they have.

For instance, I think some writers start out following a lot of writers and then slow way down to following hardly any.

There are also about 5% of users who haven’t written anything, which makes sense if there are 750k members and only 175k writers. The strange thing is there should be many more of these accounts.

Now, out of the users who follow me, around 30% of them have just started and are looking for a follow for follow. Most of these aren’t members yet and about half of them have started just days or weeks before and filled up their profiles with content already. I’ll follow them if I like their content, yet I wonder how long they will last.

There are also those who follow a lot of people, get a certain amount of followers back, and then unfollow people later on. That is just rude. This one user was doing that and I wondered how she had nearly a thousand followers in just a week or so, especially with only a few pieces of content and a low follow count.

The writers I like to find are those who are active, follow as many or more as they are followed by, have good content I like, are members, and appreciate the writing community at Medium.

Conclusion

Every once in a while I like to talk about Medium for anyone who wants to listen. This is my experience so far.

My main takeaway is how many writers come and go. Writing here is like a marathon and most writers fall away within the first weeks or months. My profile from before I started writing here seriously told this tale, yet I’ve come back and others may do the same.

Not everyone has the time or the discipline to come and write or even syndicate content here regularly.

Speaking plainly, I think most writers find out how hard it is to make money here and leave frustrated.

Out of the 175k writers, I’m guessing there are only around 25% that are consistent writers and active users. That would equal around 43k writers who write the majority of the 47k articles per day.

Out of those 43k, there are only about 10k who are marathon runners making $100/month or more. The others are just jogging here and there or using it as syndication and exposure mostly.

What I gather from my rough analysis is, if a writer is willing to run the marathon for a year or longer, they will emerge from the pack and become successful on Medium.

They may never make much more than $100/month, yet if they can find the time and justification to continue, this amount would be worth it.

Really, it depends on what a person wants out of the site. If they value the writing community and like to read other writers’ articles and interact, then the site serves a purpose beyond just making money. Besides the top dogs, it seems these are the types that emerge from the pack and become successful here at Medium.

Only time will tell if I can keep up the momentum. I plan on writing here consistently for the next year and being an active member, so it will be interesting to see how I do.

I don’t have high expectations for making money and can viably fit the writing into my day job schedule, so I have a good chance of making Medium work for what I need.

I’ve been blogging now since 2013 and know how the ebb and flow of content creation goes, so I’m familiar with the game.

Medium is one of the eggs in my online writing basket, in addition to HubPageseBooks, my website, and NewsBreak (if they approve monetization for me — it’s been about 10 days since applied).

Overall, Medium is a great place and I find it a privilege to be here. Blessings in your efforts.

Originally published at Medium

Join Medium with my referral link

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Guide to Winter Fishing on the Oregon Coast

When it comes to finding the perfect winter fishing destination, the Oregon Coast won't leave anglers disappointed. The mild weather coupled with an abundance of fishing locations and fish make Oregon's coastline a perfect place for winter fishing adventures. What's the Weather like on the Oregon Coast in Winter? The average temperatures in the winter on the Oregon Coast are around: high 51° F and low 42° F . Other weather factors include high wind gusts up to 80 mph and the bulk of the annual rainfall of 75" coming down from October to May. Basically, the wintertime weather on the Oregon Coast is rugged enough to filter out the fair weather visitors, yet mild enough to welcome anglers looking for some of the best fishing in the world without the crowds. Types of Fish to Catch and Where Weather is mostly a secondary consideration for anglers visiting the Oregon Coast; their first consideration focuses on the types of fish there are to catch. I

Opinion: Most communities in Oregon and the US are Republican, yet Democrats are in charge

2022 Oregon Governor Election Photo  Assuming election results are valid in Oregon, which does take a lot of faith these days after the questions about the 2020 US Presidential election arose, Democrat Tina Kotek won the Governor’s race in 2022 by a slim margin over Republican Christine Drazan. The interesting aspect of this win is how many of Oregon’s 36 counties voted Republican vs. Democrat. Looking at the political map, almost the entire state is red with only a few small counties in the northwest having the blue color. Specifically, there were 7 counties that voted Democrat and 29 that voted Republican. The difference is the 7 counties voting blue are the most populous counties, also the counties with the most residents coming from other states – much like Tina Kotek herself, a transplant from Pennsylvania . Tina only won the campaign to be Oregon’s 39th Governor by 66,727 votes over Christine Drazan. Said in another way, the Democrats pulled off another close election with mail-

NewsBreak vs. Medium/30-day Comparison

February was the first month for me being monetized at NewsBreak and the second month for Medium. The results are in and they are drastically different. In this article, I’ll share the details and some thoughts about them. To make this easier with how both of these writing sites show stats, let’s compare the stats from Feb. 4 to March 4, or the last 30 days. NewsBreak Articles: 20 Views: 60k Likes: 1,104 Money made: $440 Medium Articles: 14 Views: 1,734 Claps: 124 Money made: $10.75 ----------------- Although my Medium account goes back to August 2018, I’ve only started seriously writing there since early Dec. 2022 (three months ago). I started writing at NewsBreak in late Dec. 2022. Here are some stats on my overall efforts at these platforms: NewsBreak Followers: 803 Articles: 44 Medium Followers: 417 Articles: 69 -------------- While I’m grateful for any money made on both platforms, the difference is fairly drastic. NewsBreak is a place where you can actually make decent money for

When are we good enough?

When have we done enough? When is it good enough, and to whom is it good enough for?  This is a question many of us humans struggle with or ponder when we consider the meaning and purpose of our lives. Maybe we don’t consider it deeply enough to understand the underlying motivations, the subconscious drivings that make us never feel satisfied with our accomplishments.  Everyone has accomplished something if they are alive and getting by each day. If we have learned to dress ourselves, brush our teeth, drive a car, or ride a bicycle, then we have done something at least.  As a child, expectations weren’t as high, and we, along with those around us, were generally happy with the small accomplishments that come with growing up. These expectations grow as we get older, sometimes from others close to us and sometimes from ourselves. Many times, it is our own expectations of ourselves that really set the tone for our contentment with our accomplishments. Where do these expectations come from