I’ll cut straight to the point: Basically nobody earns money with online writing.
There are a select few who make a decent amount of money with writing on Medium or in other places online, but that’s a handful in a million.
The rest is making real money with other things.
The question is: do you want to be a writer or do you want to earn money?
Marketing insights
On Medium, you write… or so it seems.
When you take a closer look, however, most big-name writers on this platform don’t just write.
What they do is sell stuff.
The Zulie Ranes or Sinem Günels of this platform don‘t depend on the partner program earnings. They use Medium as a sales funnel. As well as their other writing platforms. A sales funnel to sell a course, a digital product, or a service.
Don’t get me wrong, all of this has to do with their writing, of course. That’s how people found them after all. But make no mistake, writing isn’t the pure focus. It isn’t even the major one, I believe.
The focus is marketing. Marketing yourself and your stuff.
Course 101
Ever wondered why everyone is selling a course about making money on Medium?
Even newbies that only started writing here a few months ago, suddenly launch their own course.
Again, don’t take this as a negative on my part. It’s brilliant because the real money lies in these courses. Or products. Or services.
Take my friend and Medium goddess, Kristina God for example. She’s been on this platform for a little over a year. She’s now marketing her own boot camp for aspiring writers. And she’s brilliant at encouraging, connecting with, and helping new writers on this platform. Because she’s truly helpful and she knows what she’s talking about.
The thing to remember is, though, that this boot camp or courses about Medium with 10, 15 members, and more sell for a lot of money.
It can be around $150 or much much higher. Multiply these $150 with 15 participants and you got a nice income. Much more than most of us will ever achieve in a month with writing on Medium alone.
This is a brilliant way to make a living by writing online.
To the pure writers
It is, however, an issue for writers who only want to write online and make a living with that.
Without the hassle of marketing, promotion, creating courses or digital products.
For those people, it is going to be tough. It’s not impossible but it’s damn tough.
I wish it was easier. I’d love to just write.
Then again, I do enjoy creating other content as well. So, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket.
The bottom line
Do I want to be a writer or do I want to make money?
Obviously both.
But in 2022, on platforms like Medium, writing alone might not be enough to earn decent money.
If you excel at other things, like courses, designs, creating eBooks, or other digital goods to sell, Medium might just be the perfect platform to write and make money.
