Crystal Aura Gaze

In November 2022, I joined the Medium Partner Program, which allows me to earn money through blogging on Medium. My earnings are determined by how many people read my stories.

I wanted to provide an extremely transparent look at how much money I earned through Medium. For my fellow bloggers, you may be wondering if Medium is worth it — something I wondered myself for years before ever joining.

I had massive success only one month after being accepted into the program, when I earned close to $600 in January 2023. It was an absolutely incredible feeling. It was a dream come true. To earn money by doing something I love, which is writing, was a fantasy come to life.

This first graph includes January’s earnings.

This graph does not include January, which makes it easier to see all of the months together.

January: $567.44 earned, 18 stories published.

January was my highest earning month. I didn’t reach even close to that level for the rest of the year. I did, however, still make some money every month.

At first, I was really proud of myself for my instant success, but that also came with some (unexpected) negative feelings. I was in so much shock that it didn’t feel real, which made me feel like I didn’t deserve it. I experienced “imposter syndrome” for the very first time in my life. I dealt with negative thoughts like, “I’m not that good enough of a writer to be this successful” and “I struggled for too long to receive this success so instantly.”

February: $171.23, 14 stories.

February began a drop in earnings, but it was still a significant amount. At this point, I would continue to publish often, but I wasn’t as engaged in Medium as I was in December and January. The instant success also came with instant burnout and I was really overwhelmed.

March: $116.18, 6 stories.

At this point, I was using Medium much less. Views were still rolling in but I wasn’t posting nearly as much anymore.

April: $51.86, 2 stories.

May: $40.09, 5 stories.

June: $23.13, 2 stories.

July: $11.71, 3 stories.

Over spring and summer, I really wasn’t putting much focus into Medium. Part of it was overwhelm and imposter syndrome, another part of it was that I was really busy in my daily life. Work was taking up a lot of my energy because I was still fairly new to my job, along with a lot of concerts, seeing friends, and going out. I was making the most out of the first official pandemic-free summer. So, I wasn’t giving Medium the energy required.

August: $18.86, 7 stories.

In August, I started putting more focus back into Medium. I posted a few more stories, but I wasn’t as engaged with other Medium authors. I’ve realized that part of success on Medium isn’t just about posting frequently, it’s just as much about viewing other stories, following new people, building connections with your followers, liking and commenting on other posts.

September: $8.28, 1 story.

September was when I used Medium the least and only posted once. Considering that my membership is $5/month, this was still not a loss! This was also a very busy month — I was planning my move-out and looking for a new apartment, so that really took so much of my time and attention. I also broke my foot this month, which was kind of emotionally draining.

October: $17.80, 5 stories.

At this point, I decided to prioritize Medium again. Seeing my earnings dip gave me the motivation to get back into it.

November: $57.92, 9 stories.

December: $172.56, 8 stories.

I’m ending the year strong, with a comeback. Let’s hope that continues going! I think that in 2024, I can earn even more for the total year.