How to Start Making Money on Medium With These 3 Easy Steps

How you can start your writing business

Photo by Joshua Mayo on Unsplash

I published my first story on Medium in April 2023.

For the next few months, I made $0 from writing.

I didn’t know what I was doing. My content went unnoticed.

Then I started to learn from the best writers. I experimented a lot. I eventually understood how it works.

My earnings from Medium.

In 2024 I made $704 just from writing on Medium. Now I’ll show you how you can do it in 3 easy steps.

Before you start

If you want to start making money on Medium, first you need to become a Medium member.

The benefits of membership are great:

• access to every story,

• support your favorite authors,

• earn money from writing.

Medium membership costs $5. But don’t worry. You can quickly get it for free.

Write 2, maybe 3 stories a month to earn at least $5, which can cover your membership fee.

And no, you don’t need thousands of followers.

Once you have your membership, every time you write an article, make sure you check the Paywall your story box when you publish it:

Now you can go to the next steps.

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Step 1: Join Medium publications

One of the best thing about Medium are the publications.

But what are they actually?

Medium publications are shared spaces for stories written around a common theme or topic, usually by multiple authors.

That means you can follow and read not only the most popular authors, but also new writers with fresh ideas.

A great place to explore!

But publications are also the perfect place if you want to start writing online.

By sharing a story with a publication, you can land in front of hundreds or thousands of readers!

Cool, right?

Screenshot by author

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How to submit an article for publication?

First, you must be approved as an author. Each publication has its own rules, but it is usually not complicated.

Often all you need to do is leave a comment or send a short email.

What publication you should join?

Not every publication is worth writing for.

I’ve found that some of the larger ones don’t get as many views/interactions because they’re so big.

There are too many stories being published all the time and some of them are too generic.

To get started, focus on a few (3–5) small or medium-sized publications with engaged audiences.

Here are my 4 favourite publications:

1. The Shortform by Jonathan Townend, RMN — Editor — Friend of Medium

2. Short. Sweet. Valuable by Martynas Ki.

3. Bouncin’ and Behaving by Jason Provencio

4. Word Garden by Carl Jeffers

They make me money on a regular basis and I get new subscribers to my newsletter every day (literally every day, even if I don’t publish).

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Step 2: Write daily

To start making money from writing you just need to write regularly.

I know it’s not easy. I had the same problem.

In April 2024 I started a 30-day writing challenge.

30 days is enough to build a new habit, a natural writing routine.

And if you write often, you start getting more followers.

Also, it’s a great way to experiment with your content and see what works and not.

Just give it a try and write daily for 30 days.

That will change everything for you.

Photo by Chris Spiegl on Unsplash

Step 3: Engage with other writers

Writing is not enough. You must follow other authors, read their content and ALWAYS leave valuable comments.

This is how you will get noticed by others.

Sometimes you’ll be surprised at how engaging discussions go on in the comments. Join them!

To build a habit I set a daily routine in Apple Reminders:

Screenshot by author

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Summary

Here is what you need to do to make money on Medium:

1. Become a Medium member.

2. Join 4 publications and rotate around them.

3. Write everyday for 30 days. You will quickly get new followers (more readers = more earnings).

4. Engage with other writers.

Thanks for reading

-Robin