30 days that changed my writing career in unexpected ways
I have been writing occasionally on Medium since April 2024, and in August, I was finally able to join the Partner Program and monetize my writing. Now, looking back at my first 30 days in the program, I have to say that I am humbled and (positively!) surprised by the results.
How much did I publish in my first month?
Not that much, actually. I aimed to publish 1–2 articles per week. I’m a busy person. I run a ghostwriting business and write more for others than myself. Besides that, I have a full-time job at the university and two school-aged kids, so my time is scarce. And it’s not only about time; it’s about headspace. I often fall into bed exhausted around 9 pm because my days are so full.
So, 1–2 articles/week seems doable, considering my workload.
In the end, I managed to publish the following 3 stories in my first 30 days as a Partner Program member:
In terms of quantity, there’s room for improvement. But if we look at quality, it’s a whole different story!
My success at getting boosted
2 of my 3 stories got boosted: The one about bilingual children and the one about men “helping” at home. That’s ⅔ or 67%! The other article about earnings calculation was never intended for a boost anyway. I just played around with the data, and after getting some interesting results, I decided to write up my findings briefly.
If you don’t know what a boost is: It’s an internal mechanism on Medium, where Medium editors select stories of exceptional quality for a boost. Only 1% of the articles on Medium get boosted.
In practical terms, a boost means that your article gets distributed more widely across Medium’s distribution channels so that more people will find your story and you’ll get more engagement. And financially speaking, there’s a boost multiplier that increases your earnings. A boosted story will earn more money than a non-boosted story, even though they have the same stats (regarding the number of reads, comments, etc.).
How did I manage to get boosted twice?
I spent a lot of time crafting my 2 boosted stories. What made them stand out (at least, that’s what I think) was the mix of personal experiences with science. Of course, I also put a lot of effort into writing, editing, formatting, and choosing adequate images for these stories (needless to say, I also credited all images and used Alt text for each).
While I use ChatGPT in the editing process to look for errors, suggestions, and feedback, I do not use it for writing because I don’t want to sound like a bot. Human-written stories are so much better, and Medium also emphasizes this. However, AI can be a valuable assistant and provide helpful suggestions for making your story more compelling.
How much $$ did I make?
That’s probably what interests you the most, doesn’t it?
Ok, let’s go article by article:
My story “Raising Children Bilingually: A Gift or a Burden?” was published on August 28th and was boosted the same day. Here’s the stats:
In total, until today (September 26th), I’ve earned $90.61 with this story.
My next story, “How Are Medium Earnings Calculated? My Surprising Findings”, was published on September 13th. Here’s the stats:
In total, until today (September 26th), I’ve earned $2.02 with this story. It’s a small amount, but as indicated before, I only wanted to share my results of playing around with the data in case someone might find it helpful. It was a quick write-up of my findings, that’s all.
If you want to learn more about earnings calculation in the Partner Program, you should check out this article!
And finally, my most successful story to date, “Assuming that Men “Help” at Home Isn’t Helping Anyone”, was published on September 17th. It was boosted on September 18th. Here’s the stats:
Until today (September 26th), I’ve earned $315.86 with this story. An absolutely insane result I didn’t expect!
And just to mention, when I joined the Partner Program, I also retroactively paywalled 2 of my older stories:
6 Actionable Tips to Overcome Your Self-Doubt (originally published on April 4th).
Is Watching TV Harmful for Babies and Toddlers? (originally published on April 9th).
The second one was also boosted, but back in April 2024 when I wasn’t in the Partner Program yet. It could have made me good money as well!
These stories have made me $0.06 and $1.82, respectively, until now. Thus, older stories don’t accumulate much, but it all adds up.
In sum, considering the three stories I published during my first month in the Partner Program and the two older stories I paywalled in August, my total earnings for these first 30 days in the Medium Partner Program amount to $410.37.
Wow!
It’s much more than I expected, considering I didn’t publish much. Quality outperforms quantity, at least in my case.
What about my follower count?
On August 26th, I had 85 followers. Today, exactly 1 month later, I have 197 followers and am close to hitting the 200 followers milestone!
Thanks so much to everyone who read my stories, commented, highlighted, and/or gave me a follow. I appreciate you all!
Conclusion and next steps
My first month in the Partner Program was a huge success. I’m definitely hungry for more! I’ll keep publishing high-quality stories about psychology topics and look forward to the next months on Medium. Whether you’re new to the Partner Program or a seasoned writer, the platform still has good earning potential.
I’m excited to keep sharing my journey with you!
Dr. Patricia Schmidt 
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