I knew I’d get to this point, even as a new Medium Partner who hasn’t earned revenue, even before they changed the way payouts work, I knew this part of my writing journey would end up here.
This isn’t a “I’m Quitting Medium” post, although it is a moment of clarity I needed to have.
Can I confess something to you? I am a 46-year-old nerdy witch who’s just happy you’re reading my work. I know it sounds silly to you but when you have been blogging for 5 years, the fact I have 136 followers here, 240 on my blog and almost 2000 followers on Instagram is impressive. At least to me. After all, I’m a whole introvert.
I won’t lie, just last month I wrote up a plan on how to write and do my social media posts. The plan was posting at least 3 times a week here and preplan my social media posts. So far so good this has gone well. It was this plan that despite Medium changing the Partner rules, I reached 100 followers within months due to consistent posting.
I didn’t know there was a come down to the “I made Medium Partner” high, but I assure you it is. I have taken a few days to step back and reevaluate what I am trying to achieve. This process was necessary, so I am not living through other writer’s stories of earnings and such.
While my analytics here show people are looking at my work, my writing hasn’t earned revenue yet. I know it will at some point, so this is why my moment of clarity is necessary. I am choosing QUALITY WRITING VERSUS QUANTIY OF WRITTEN WORK. I know how to write 500 words and make it count but there’s something telling me I need to rethink my approach. Perhaps more words will be needed. With more words, the quality of your work begins to stand out, but I know with too many, people will get bored and skip to the next story.
I am putting myself on a two post MAXIMUM for the time being. When I start earning revenue, of course this can change but the focus for me right now is quality. How do I know if my writing is good quality? By the feedback, applause, likes, and subscriber counts continuing to trend upwards.
Now I know the veterans here are shaking their head at me but before they do, let me explain. I won’t go into who I work for. I’m an Operations Auditor which means exactly what you think. It’s my job to point out errors and while productivity is great for quantity, it can be the death kneel to quality.
Doing the job right the first time removes rework. In the case of platform writing, excessive articles can come across as rework.
Some writers are literal machines as they spit out articles all week, for them writing for platforms is likely their full-time job. While a lot of the writing is good, it can get redundant, at least in my opinion. There are only so many “how to write” articles one can write correct?
When I am auditing, I always hope to find everything is correct and not have to write errors because those take time. I love when this happens because that tells me the analyst took the time to do the job right the first time instead of worrying about how many contracts they can produce.
And that’s the point of this piece.
Yes, I’m new here still but I don’t want the thing I love the most to turn into a never-ending saga of “how much revenue earned” game. Writing to me is therapeutic, it allows me the absolute most creativity and I cherish that more than one could ever understand. Which is why I adjust when necessary. I have sources of income outside of writing that has sustained me for decades. I won’t torture myself with comparisons.
Instead of focusing on how to get a payday, I implore new writers to focus on the writing. I know it’s the cheesiest shit you’ve ever read, but what they say is true, focus on the talent and the money will come. Rome wasn’t built in a day and there are few, if any, writers achieving overnight success. I read so many articles of people trying to crack the “monetization code” , I’m wondering how exhausted they are.
With the Partner payout scale changing, writers who made fulltime figures say it’s not working out as before. Now I’m just getting confused because I let my 100-follower accomplishment trick me into thinking if I write more and post all the things, I too will earn a full-time salary and can retire from my day job sooner than planned.
See how I got distracted? I have read so many stories here focusing on earnings that I briefly forgot why I am doing this in the first place. I came to Medium because I want to share my writing. Earnings is nice, but now, I need to build my audience.
SO, FOR NOW………
My mind isn’t on earnings, I want to become a better writer, and like learning, the process never ends. I tell people all the time “there are no shortcuts to success”, and for a moment, I wasn’t taking my own advice. Don’t worry, I’m better now.
Till we read again
Dawn
If you enjoyed this article Buy Me a Coffee, it’s greatly appreciated and keeps me motivated.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/diwritesU
Leave a Reply