I’ve Published 300 Articles on Medium!
Here are 3 things I’ve learned about writing for Medium as I reflect on this milestone
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I’ve been writing on Medium since 2018. I write on a variety of topics, including faith, books, personal development, artificial intelligence, and more. I even write a little fiction.
And I’ve now hit the 300-article mark!
That’s 300 published articles…. well, 301 now with this one. :-)
Here are three (3) things I’ve learned:
1) Most of my articles get very few views and make absolutely no money.
The majority of my articles get fewer than 100 views — and even fewer “reads.” Yeah, that’s depressing to write and to think about. But…
It’s a reminder to set realistic expectations. “If you build it, they will come” may have been true for Field of Dreams, but “If you write it, they will read it” is most certainly not a guarantee for Medium writers.
At least not for me.
I’m now in my sixth year on Medium, and only one article has made any significant amount of money — and that was only during its brief run of quasi-virality.
Sure, there were a few others that made a little $$$ here and there, but nothing to brag about. Most made nothing at all.
And that’s okay.
I don’t rely on Medium to pay the bills. And I am okay being a lower-level writer with just over 1k followers. I don’t base my happiness, identity, or self-esteem on Medium stats or money.
2) There are a lot of encouraging and supportive people here on Medium.
I’ve met some neat people here on this platform, but I’ve had to work at it. And you probably will as well.
Now, most of my articles get little attention. (See above). But the ones I write on politics and religion do get some traffic — and some comments. And while some have been supportive or at least constructive, there are notable exceptions.
And it can be frustrating.
