Member-only story
Writing on Medium
Hey Writers: Are Your Story Views and Reads Down This Month Too?
If so, what gives?
It’s frustrating, to say the least.
At my all-time high, I was making around $1,200 on Medium. All I had to do was write one article per day and publish it. Easy.
Then my views slowly declined, as I watched my earnings fall to the $800-$900 per month range.
I was still grateful to see that money show up in my bank account every month. The earnings stayed consistent for another three or four months.
Then my views and reads on Medium took another hit. My earnings dropped to $650 in the month of July.
But now, based on my estimates, I’ll barely break $200 this month. And that includes what I earn from the member referral program.
Why could August be my worst month yet on Medium?
Because my views (and reads) plummeted 80% in the last 30 days.
My views were consistently in the 40,000 to 50,000 range during my peak months. And even when they dropped the first time, it wasn’t too bad.
Collectively, my stories were still getting between 25,000 to 35,000 views.
For the life of me, I can’t pinpoint the exact reason I’ve seen such a big decline in traffic, views, and reads.
I know we’re toward the end of summer. Many writers on Medium have been impacted by these slow reading months.
But I worry once the summer is over, my story views won’t recover. I feel like there’s something else at play.
Maybe it’s because I used to write extensively about cryptocurrency and NFTs, and since the crypto market has taken a hard hit, fewer people are looking for information and advice on these topics.
Or perhaps Medium’s algorithm has changed yet again.
Because with every algorithm change, when Medium’s developers tweak the story distribution system, it seems more and more writers are impacted. And most of those writers feel it in the worst kind of way. In our pocketbooks.
But whatever it is, I’ll keep writing and publishing on Medium. It might not be as consistent as it once was.
Yet, I remain here, to write. Because that’s what we writers do.
We write.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are your views and reads down? Are your MPP earnings trickling down to record lows? If so, let’s discuss it in the comments.
