I started out super excited about the Medium platform for writers … and then dived way down into a black hole. Was there a way out?

I found out about Medium in mid-August from my friend Milli Thornton. She told me that she had just got a payment for $40. I remember thinking this wasn’t very much, given that I used to make between $400 to $1000 an article several years back.

My curiosity got the best of me and since I had never heard of Medium, I decided to explore. I joined up — my intention was for a month only — so I could see the locked articles. (You can access unlocked articles on Medium + 2 locked articles a month for free. A paid membership gives you access to all locked articles, for only $5.00 a month … $4.16 a month if you purchase a year-long membership)

AND … off to the races. I got so excited I could hardly contain myself.

NOT about the money, but about the possibilities of exposure to a larger audience.

Yes, it became quickly apparent that DUH, you still had to build your own audience. Given that I have over 500,000 twitter followers (it took me years) I figured that building an audience on Medium using the same process … was doable.

The thing that MOST excited me was the possibility of sending some of Medium’s audience over to my existing websites. YES!

Getting traffic these days is wicked … and having a way to get interested and “qualified” visitors to your website is pure magic.

Milli told me about Tom Kuegler’s Medium Mastery course. I checked it out and was SOLD.

I am a SUCKER for Shiny New Objects

I am a pushover for sales spiels that promise me impossible results on the Internet. Even with 40+ years of experience as a freelance writer I will buy stuff about writing. Tom’s Medium Mastery sales page wasn’t promising miracles, but it, combined with Milli’s endorsement had me buying.

I purchased the Medium Mastery course and started through it. Tom is GREAT … he is personable, lays it all out in an easy to understand manner, and is above all — honest. He doesn’t promise instant fame or instant money. He doesn’t tell you you can get both the fame and the money by doing nothing. He tells you it is hard work. He tells you his own struggles, failures and successes. He tells you it is a learning curve and then he lays out the learning curve for you … step-by-step.

I was excited by the possibilities and popped up my first four articles in two days. I put them up as free articles … my rationale being they were articles which I already had for free on my website.

I was amazed when I saw that people were looking, clapping and commenting. This is immediate feedback, that you may never see on your blog. I got some claps within hours of posting my articles.

When I put up another article for free, Milli suggested that I take it off and LOCK it. “Lock it” I said. “Yes,” Milli said, “as in make some money with it.”

In the meantime I stalled out.

I started over thinking. For ME, over thinking almost always brings things to a crashing halt. I make what can be or is, a simple thing into something the magnitude of building the tallest skyscraper in the world.

Everything stopped … NO more articles, free or locked. I started reading articles. Some of them were encouraging. “How I made 7cents in my first month on Medium.” Some, were surprising depressing and had me going into a big black funk. “How I made $1000 in my first month on Medium.”

YES … an article that you would think would be inspiring had the opposite effect.

The chattering monkeys inside my head started up an internal conversation, that went something like …

“Sheesh I ‘ve been writing articles for over 40 years, what the f*ck is wrong with me? Here’s this barely out of diapers kid, who can’t write his way out of a paper bag making $1000 a month. What is WRONG with me!”

I was ANGRY, ANGRY, ANGRY.

Angry at myself for spending time and money on what was sure to be

another SHINY NEW OBJECT

about to go down the toilet.

Another waste of money.

Another good idea that turned into a bad idea.

Another FIZZLE of dreams into nothingness.

Another guru promising something out of reach.

Another disappointment at myself.

Another Shiny New Object proving that I was worthless, unmotivated and NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

One morning I woke up and was venting in my journal …

My journey on the Medium writer's platform

Then I had a BRAIN FART … I already had an article — a gem of an idea already on my blog. All I had to do was make it better.

What the F*ck!
Just freaking DO IT.
Do it NOW.

I found the article and made it into something that looked like a Medium article. I purchased an image from Adobe Stock and played around with it until it made me happy.

Then ZAP
I published it as my first LOCKED article.

You can access this article on Medium

Sad to say, it didn’t go viral but it got enough attention to get MY attention.

I put up a few more locked articles and then had another BRAIN FART … I decided to write an article that had nothing to do with anything I do … and I posted it. I knew that no one would read this article but it was in keeping with my What the F*ck frame of mind.

I simply DIDN’T CARE.

You can access this article on Medium

The Bra article didn’t go viral either, but I got claps and FABULOUS comments. I got responses that made me happy. You can read the article HERE on Medium.

I started going through Tom’s course again and this time really paying attention and ramping up my learning curve.

My FIRST Medium Payment

I started posting locked articles in the middle of September … and on Sept 28th Medium sent me a nice email telling me I had made $59.10. The crazy thing is . . . I AM THRILLED.

The money is … well …

BUT having an audience I can interact with — is FANTASTIC.

Seeing what people are interested in — is FABULOUS.

Reaching out beyond my Blogs — is GREAT.

Having FUN writing — is AMAZING.

And the possibility of building an even bigger audience is … kinda intimidating.

As for my Shiny New Object?

I can actually see that the Medium Mastery course will pay for itself (probably a first in all the Shiny New Objects I’ve purchased over the years).

I am already seeing traffic to my Blogs. I already got an inquiry about my book marketing services.

Will I keep on posting on Medium?

I think so.

I hope so.

I am planning on it, but …

I honestly don’t know.

IF I keep on going, I’ll update this article and let you know!

YOU can help by giving me some encouragement, OR a kick in the ass. Both will make a difference.

Thanks for reading.

Melanie

JANUARY 1ST, 2019 UPDATE

It is now the first day of the New Year and here I am with an update.

I joined Medium in mid-August. It took me until mid-Sept to post my first locked (paid) article. On Sept 29th I got my first Medium payment — $59.10.

What have I done since I first started this article?

In October and November I just kept on publishing articles. On Oct 12th I posted an article which has now earned over $100 and is still going strong.

You can access this article on Medium OR on MelanieRockett.com

The second highest earning article is the How to Look Good Naked article that got me started. It earned over $45 in the first three months, but unfortunately tanked at $0.00 in December. I’m going to do a bit of work on this article and see if I can get it earning again.

You can access this article on Medium OR on the sugar-free-zone.

The whole of December was a total bust for me. I did ZERO, nadda, nothing on Medium.

I had some good excuses. My Mom who turned 90 in November had health issues and we spent countless hours in DR’s offices.
The overwhelming worry and anxiety sparked off some of my own health concerns AND in addition to Christmas
we had house guests for over a week. Total OVERLOAD.

BUT in the end, any excuse is a good one. I allowed “circumstances” to over ride my “intentions.”

The good news is, after my house guests departed I had a few days to think about creating a NEW YEAR.

I looked up my Medium account and was totally gobsmacked to find out that my earnings for December are $44.44.

The DREAM of residual income has come true!

I did exactly nothing in December and will make enough $$ to keep myself stocked with coffee over the month of January. SWEET

I know I have not made very much compared with some of the Medium writers who started at the same time. BUT I didn’t start out with the intention of making money, so I consider myself well ahead of the game I am playing.

At this point, with four months of paid Medium articles I have:

Paid for Tom’s excellent course … Medium Mastery.

2. Built an audience of 1.5K+ Medium followers

3. My website stats have increased by approximately 5% — Increasing traffic to my website was one of the top reasons I decided to write for and post on Medium. Five percent doesn’t seem like much but it is traffic I did not have before, so it is GOOD!

4. I have been personally contacted by four Medium readers, one of whom has become a paying customer.

So in spite of the stall during December, I am back at it.

I have inserted new batteries and am still going STRONG!

FEBRUARY 15th, 2019 UPDATE

Happy to report that a month and a half later I am STILL going strong.

In January I revved it up a bit and published 14 new articles on Medium.

My FAVORITE article was about my new “just for me” drawing project:

You can access this article on Medium

It is now the first day of the New Year and here I am with an update.

I joined Medium in mid-August. It took me until mid-Sept to post my first locked (paid) article. On Sept 29th I got my first Medium payment — $59.10.

What have I done since I first started this article?

In October and November I just kept on publishing articles. On Oct 12th I posted an article which has now earned over $100 and is still going strong.

My most CONTROVERSIAL post was a cautionary article about rushing into publishing on Kindle without knowing exactly what was involved.

While I got some very positive comments, I also had a woman who went ballistic about what I said. She took chunks of my article, out of context and blatantly breaking copyright guidelines. She ranted. When I pushed back, she “banned” me.

I don’t mind readers disagreeing with what I have to say. What I do mind is people trying to steal my work and make money off of it.

This is the article …

Why you should NOT self-publish. Read this before you even THINK about hiting the self-publish button

You can access this article on Medium OR on MelanieRockett.com

And finally, my biggest WOW came from an article that just took off. In just over a month it got 2.5K claps and is my biggest money earner to date! I am interested to see if it continues to get views over the months to come.

How I lost 50+ pounds without even knowing it!

You can access this article on Medium

January has been my best month so far at just over $250. Again, while it is not a huge amount of money … I am building an audience, have the articles posted on my websites: Sugar-Free-Zone.com and MelanieRockett.com, where I continue to get more traffic and build my email list.

The biggest news so far in February, is that a writer from NBC News contacted me about my 50 pounds article and requested an interview.

Looks like I will hit $300 or more by the end of February. I’ll let you know in my next update!

OCTOBER 29, 2019 UPDATE

It is now over a year (14 months to be exact)since I started my journey on Medium. And I’m actually surprised to still see myself here.

When I started I had spent more than a year bouncing from one interesting thing to another, spending way too much money and never following through.

Though I was determined to break the Shiny New Object Syndrome, I was not entirely convinced that Medium was the way I would do it.

I will confess to a few ups and downs with Medium, I completely stalled out in December 2018 because of my Mom’s health. Her health did NOT become better, in fact it became much worse and at one point she was in danger of not making it.

In spite of that, I kept on going. During one of the really bad months instead of writing new articles I re-published some older ones and that kept me going. Over the past 14 months my Medium income has ranged from my first month at $59.10 to one month over $500.

There were many days when my normal freelance work kept me far too busy to write and post on Medium. There is a big difference between work that pays a per-determined amount when completed and spec work on Medium. And the getting paid for sure work takes priority.

I am absolutely thrilled to have broken the Shiny New Object Syndrome.

I continue to be watchful of the “precarious nature” of a platform like Medium. They fact that they are once again changing the pay algorithm rules, makes me super conscious of this.

The situation with my mother has been getting worse and I have been rethinking my plans for the future. My Mom is now 91 years, and just over two months ago fell down a flight of stairs. She broke seven ribs in multiple places. During her first week in Trauma Care, the doctors told us it was unlikely she would make it.

She’s stubborn and so far has proved them wrong.

Too bad they don’t have a Trauma Care Department for Care Givers. My life has turned upside down and I no longer taking on consulting or freelance clients.

So … what AM I going to do?

I will continue with Medium, BUT … and this is a big BUT, my focus will be on my own blog.

DECEMBER 13, 2021 UPDATE

Fast forward more than two years. Life happened. My Mom who is in her 90’s fell down a flight of stairs. Broke SEVEN ribs and a disc in her back. I spent more than a month in intensive care. The Doctors said she wouldn’t last a month. But she’s a tough old bird and proved them all wrong.

For two years, every day was a brand new day … never knew what to expect or what would be put on my schedule. So I just hunkered down to basics … keeping my Mom and myself alive and well.

Now I’d kinda, sorta ready to get back onto Medium. I’m setting my article writing targets really low just so I get some successes happening.

Why back to Medium? Because even though I did absolutely NOTHING for over two years, the payments have come in every single month. They started high and then slowly did a downhill slide … still, I am getting an average of $75 a month which is always a nice surprise!

So if you are following me on Medium you’ll start seeing me popping up now and then.

Since I never know what my day/week/month will be like when I wake up in the morning I have decided not to commit to anything … to just take each day as it comes … do what I HAVE to do and hopefully have some time left over to do some of the things that I WANT to do.