Writing on Medium has been an awesome side hustle for me.

It’s like a game of poker — sometimes you get dealt a great hand, and other times it’s garbage.

I feel the same way about my writing. Some days the words flow easily, other days it’s a struggle to get a good sentence down.

But the beautiful thing is, on Medium you never know when a quick 30-minute post might blow up.

That’s what happened to me, and now one short story has earned me over $2000!

Here’s my idea on how I made that cheddar with minimal time and effort.

The magic 30 minutes

I write stories of all different lengths throughout the month, from 500 word micro-posts to 2500+ word reads.

It takes me anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours on average.

The exciting part of posting on Medium is you have no clue which piece might suddenly gain traction.

That was the case with my $2000 article.

It took less than 30 minutes to write since I didn’t have much extra time in my daily schedule back then, working a 9-to-5.

When I first published it, I had no expectations it would become my top performing story!

But it sure did.

Hitting the jackpot

There are probably easier ways to make money online than writing — with more steady paydays, too.

But on Medium, it’s always a fun surprise to see which stories pop off.

I went from a few thousand views a couple of months in to over 250K views when that top story hit.

For 30 minutes of work, I’ve now earned over $2100.

And that number is still growing many months after the story was published! It feels like hitting the creative writing jackpot.

The impact

I simply wrote about my real experience starting a YouTube channel.

The post has a catchy title, strong opening, and easy to follow arc. It gained 100K views quickly. And now closing in on 200K.

$2000+ was great supplemental income for me, back then.

But the impact went further — that one story also grew my subscriber list substantially (over 500 new subs), exploded my followers (by around 5000), and brought in 100+ Medium referrals.

That’s the beauty of Medium. You never know when you’ll hit a viral post.

Behind the scenes

You might be wondering — what’s the secret sauce to writing a post that blows up?

I really can’t tell exactly, but here are some of my strategies:

• Pick a catchy, searchable title. Use keywords people would search for.
• Open strong. Share an interesting personal story, statistic, or question to hook readers.
• Structure clearly. Use subheads and tight paragraphing to make it scannable.
• Write conversationally. Use an informal, approachable tone and natural voice.
• Make it personal. Draw from real life stories and examples. Vulnerability connects. Also it makes it look way less like AI-written stuff.
• Optimize images. Include quality custom images to break up and amplify text.
• Promote it. Share new stories organically on X, LinkedIn, and with email subs.
• Analyze data. Study stats to see what resonates with readers and do more of that.
• Iterate and improve. Try new titles, intros, and formats and see what sticks.

It’s a mix of craft, promotion, optimization, and luck. But it’s possible to increase your odds!

Medium in 2024

“The only constant is change,” they say. Man, that definitely fits to Medium.

This platform is constantly changing and evolving. Lately with the boosting.

But the key things are still the same. You know, the things everybody mentions:

• Write consistently — build writing into your routine, even if just 30 minutes daily.
• Stay curious — explore different genres, story formats, headlines. Adapt to the platform.
• Promote passionately — don’t just publish and forget. Share your stories actively. To be honest, I am still working on that myself.
• Engage your audience — reply to comments, ask questions, build relationships with readers.
• Have patience — viral hits are rare. Focus on gradually improving craft and reach.
• Track stats — analyze your data to learn what works. Apply lessons to optimize.
• Monetize wisely — use a mix of avenues like affiliate links, products, subscriptions.
• Enjoy the journey! Writing should energize you. The money is a nice bonus.

Your breakout story could be one click away.

Now get writing!