Happy Friday,

The last time I posted on Medium was January 1. Know what happens when you don’t post for 10 days? I’m sure you can guess… Hello, nose dive.

A lot of people think Medium is a nice little side hustle. Whether that’s true or not depends on how you define side hustle. If you think of a side hustle as something you can do part time, casually, and make consistent income — that’s not Medium.

Unless you’re the right kind of writer.

There’s a lot of people writing every day or twice a day and making under $1000.
Or under $100, for that matter. If you do the math, it’s not great.

But it’s not all hard work for little pay.
There’s people who post once a week and make top payout.

Watching my stats nosedive while I took a much needed break made me think about the types of writers you’ll find on Medium.

5 Types of Writers You’ll Find on Medium.

1) The Hobbyist
The hobbyist is not writing for pay. Either they don’t care about it at all, or it’s just a nice perk. Some even don’t even write behind the pay wall. By hobbyist, I don’t mean their writing isn’t good. I just mean they don’t care much about the payout.

2) The Wader
The wader would like to earn decent income on Medium. Some day. But for now, they’re learning. Dipping a toe in. Or maybe they’re scared and just say they’re learning. Either way, they haven’t really dug in and thrown serious effort at it yet.

3) The Hungry Worker Bee
This is the writer that’s working their buns off. Writing daily or almost or more. But they’re not making the kind of money they’d like to. Not yet. They often bounce between hope, confidence and frustration. So close, but not quite there.

4) The Happy Worker Bee
The serious earner puts in about the same effort as the worker bee, but earns far more. They’re more strategic. They write for publications that get them most exposure. They get curated often. So the amount of work is the same—but the pay is way better.

5) The Elite Earner
The elite earner puts in least effort and earns most pay. They don’t write daily, and they don’t have to. They can post once or twice a week and earn ten times more than most writers who post twice a day. They are usually “known” outside of Medium, and usually have a list or a following that is not dependent on Medium.

Did you recognize yourself?

If you’ve ever burned out and taken a week or two off, you’re probably one of the worker bees. Whether your earnings are weak or strong, you’re working hard. It’s probably not effort you’re lacking, but strategy.

This made me think… a lot. You?

Did you miss any of these?

These are unlocked, so you can read whether you’re a paid member or not. :)

— 10 reasons people won’t buy your book

— 5 places to build a mailing list, free

— The first sentence in Pulitzer Prize Winning Books of the Last 10 Years

Have a great weekend.

xo
Linda