MAKING MONEY AS A WRITER
Why Medium Was Exactly What I Was Looking for, When I Decided to Try to Make Money As A Writer
And why you should write on Medium, too
With such recent Google searches as “modern day jobs” and “jobs that don’t require pants” I realized I was being stupid, or at least far too grounded, if I didn’t give it a shot.
It, of course, was making a living as a writer.
Next began my search for a place on the internet where I could feasibly make enough money writing to quit my day job. And then I found Medium.
Medium appealed to me immediately, though I wasn’t 100% sure why. But I wanted to know what drew me to it. The layout? The accessibility? The built-in audience?
It turns out I was attracted to Medium for the following reasons.
It looks nice
Honestly, this was a key factor in deciding where to write. My profile says it all: “Lover of white space.” Medium offers writers an unlimited pass to use white space, without reservation or fear of condemnation.
Simple. Clean. White space. Yeah, it looks pretty. So there was that.
It’s possible
The level of transparency provided by Medium writers to Medium writers is unsurpassed. Here is a collection of successful individuals who are willing — no, they’re actually getting paid — to share their secrets with newbies such as myself.
And they have statistics and data, too. So I knew it was possible to make money here.
It’s the perfect time
People are on the internet more, period. The audience is bigger. Though internet speeds in some countries have slowed due to increased usage, the U.S. seems to be doing just fine (knock on wood).
And I’m working remotely. You can put one LARGE set of air-quotes around the word “working.”
It’s unfortunately impossible to perform my day job to the same degree from home, so I’m technically doing very little (although I like to think that, on the “very little” scale, I swing towards the side that is doing something).
On the bright side, I’m still getting paid, and doing very little. Might as well turn up the heat and get to writing.
It adds up
In all the “How to Write on Medium.com” guides I’ve read — and boy, are there a lot of those — the numbers show that, on average, writers are being paid more and stories are earning more today than they did in the past.
Time to cut myself a slice of the cake, I guess? I’m running out of cute sayings.
It pays off
Everything I’ve read says that if you put in the time, the return on your investment will appear. Slowly. Eventually. But it will happen.
Though I may not be texting the same guy in thirty days (sorry, kind of), I better still be writing here.
I’m committing to thirty days of writing on Medium, and if you want to call it an experiment, then let’s call it that. Part of me wants to see if all the “how-to” guides and expert writers have it right. Part of me wants to work hard at something I love and see if it pays off, literally.
And part of me wants to fail, because sometimes it’s scarier to realize your dreams are within reach than to keep them at arm’s length.
It’s time to take a risk (on behalf of dreams)
This is the part where I say, “I’m committing to thirty days,” and hit “publish” before my head gets in the way of my heart.
