EARNINGS REPORT
Learning how the Medium algorithm works.
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This is the time to check out the earnings stats.
You will be reading more from others to understand how the writing performs and how the Medium algorithm works.
I have always said that Medium works in very mysterious ways.
Some expected stories earned a lot more than the rest, while some that you expected to be of higher quality — flopped.
I tried to gather data from the first quarter of 2024 and see if there was any conclusion I could draw from these statistics.
January 2024
– Views = 37K
– Reads = 724
– Total Earnings = $68.55
– Earnings per Read = $0.095
– Highest Earning Article = Lessons Learned Before and After Joining Medium Partner ($12.62)
February 2024
– Views = 52K
– Reads = 828
– Total Earnings = $30.87
– Earnings per Read = $0.037
– Highest Earning Article = Utilising AI Assistance to Analyze My Medium Articles (Discover My Findings) ($5.13)
March 2024 (Updated till the end of March 31st)
– Views = 24K
– Reads = 803
– Total Earnings = $40.49
– Earnings per read = $0.05
– Highest Earning Article = Why the Success of Smart City Projects Depends on People and Talent ($4.69)
Note: Many writers, including Lea Bardot, tried to understand Medium’s algorithm, including the earnings per read ratio. But I guess, referring to my last three months’ stats, the earning per-read ratio can’t be used as a reference.
I still believe Medium gave very simple tips on gaining more earnings but will not give the exact formula. It all depends on the number of clappers, highlighters, commenters, and followers after reading the article.
High views vs Low Reads — Do not correlate.
You might wonder why my views reached thousands, yet my reads are less than 1,000.
It does not correlate, right?
It boils down to how I share my stories with my mailing list (more than 8,000).
Imported Mailing List
Please note that most are email subscribers, which I imported from another mailing list, not a Medium member.
The reason is that I have collected emails from different blogs, but finally, I decided to use only a single blog to share any of my posts. I have migrated and hosted this blog on Medium.
Since most of the mailing list subscribers are non-Medium members, I decided to make the story non-paywall.
Whenever I published and enabled the email notifications, thousands of them probably received them instantly and might not click the link to Medium. However, Medium still counts them as “views”.
The actual number of “reads” is from Medium members.
Change of Posting Strategy — Paywall Stories with Friend’s Link
However, in the middle of March, I decided to change my strategy.
I decided to enable all the articles as a paywall (only Members can view them). However, non-members can view it by clicking “friend’s link,” which bypasses the paywall. However, I will not be able to earn anything from them.
In this way, I will be able to observe whether the people who receive the email notifications really want to read the story by clicking that link.
Thus, the impact of the stats for the number of views will be more realistic in figures.
This is What I Found Out
- Make all your stories behind a paywall and let non-members click the friend’s link. This will show how effective or attractive your article is.
- Since my mailing list combines information from various sources, some will start to unsubscribe because the content might not be related to their interests, and some will find the email notifications “too much” for them.
- However, combining into a single mailing list reduces my work posting different content. Now, I can reach 25,000 email subscribers for free instead of paying more for Mailchimp or any other Email Service Provider.
- I will only enable the mail notifications if stories are worth sharing with the 8,000 email subscribers. I will only enable them sometimes. This way, they might feel free of different topics that might not be of interest to them.
I would like to hear your strategy for using paywall or non-paywall features, including when you enable email notifications. Kindly share in the comments section.
Dr. Mazlan Abbas 