6 Reasons Why I’m Unclear as to How to Monetize My Essays on Medium

Someone, please give me some guidance!

I'd like to make some cash.

I joined Medium back in 2018. I was inconsistent with my posting because I was going through some personal matters and medical issues. As I was getting better, the pandemic struck, upending all of my 2020 plans. One of which was to write more essays.

Since joining Medium, I would receive a curated selection of articles focused on my interest — freelance writing. Some of the articles were helpful such as “How to Start Your Freelance Writing Career” or “The Best Places to Submit Personal Essays.” I would read through the pieces and bookmark them for later review. After reading so many essays, I made my back to Medium and began posting my own.

For the summer of 2021, I set a goal to have at least 100 essays written by September 1st. So far, I’m more than halfway towards my goal. I write every day posting 2–3 essays a day. My writing mojo has returned. I’m excited to be writing long-form once again. But a new problem has arisen, how do I make money from my articles?

Again, I referred to my bookmarked articles and quickly realized that I had saved a lot of articles. Many of them had similar themes about freelance writing and how to make an income. That left me feeling confused and overwhelmed by all the information. So, here are the 6 reasons that I remain unclear as to how to monetize my essays on Medium:

1. Many of the articles provide different information about how many essays I should post to my Medium page ( 1? 2? 5? Daily? Weekly? Monthly?).
2. Several articles argue over niche writing. Some say stick to your niche. Some say branch out and write about everything. I can write for many niches — I’m a mom, a dog mom, an educator, a writer, a poet, and a Black woman. I don’t know about writing about everything. I try to write about topics that I’m interested in and/or passionate about.
3. How important are reads and views to receiving money for my essays? Some of my essays have several views and others have little or no views. It’s the same for reads. What’s a good number for a piece?
4. I have questions about the look of my essays. Most articles specify to include a heading, subheading, and a picture. Some articles have several headings throughout their pieces. Should I set up my articles in the same way?
5. There are so many publications on the Medium platform. Is there a central place on Medium to find all the publications?
6. I need to know how to set up an account with the Medium Partner Program. What are the guidelines? Do I need to have a certain number of followers (I’m almost at 100)? Do my articles need to have a specific number of views and reads?

If I can get the answers to my questions, I think it will help improve my performance on this platform. I’m learning a lot from Medium, but there’s so much information. I’d love it if Medium would give me some direction. After all, they benefit when writers are successful on their site. A successful site attracts more writers and more readers. I want to write my essays, develop my storytelling skills, grow my followers, and make some cash. Someone, please help me!