Followers Will Not Make You Money — Here’s What Will

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This article is meant for those who want to become successful writers on Medium! To start monetizing your content on Medium.com you need to have published at least one article and have acquired at least 100 followers. Becoming a subscriber isn't necessary but it can help connecting with other writers, gaining traction, and getting access to quality content. If you decide becoming a Medium subscriber, consider using my affiliate link. That way a portion of your membership fee goes out to directly support my work.

The Truth About Getting 100 Followers on Medium and Why It Shouldn’t Be Your Main Focus

If you find something uninteresting be sure to skip ahead and focus on the headlines and the text in bold. I tried to provide as much value as I can but you may find some parts of the article more useful than others.

Followers Mean Nothing

Apart from getting into the partner program having 100 followers or even more will bring you nothing. Medium pays its writers for the read time of paying medium members. Since Medium announced the requirement of 100 having 100 followers to join the partner program and start earning from your writing there are tons of users who simply follow others to get followed back.

What does this mean?

It means that if your goal is getting 100 followers and starting to earn big bucks on Medium. You will be disappointed. People who follow you and hope you will follow back won’t read your stories. And you still won’t be making money even if you join the partner program.

• Followers ≠ Views

• Followers ≠ $$$

• Views ≠ Reads

• Views ≠ $$$

• Reads ≠ $$$

You only make money from paying Medium members actually reading your articles.

What Should You Do?

You need to maximize the time that people spend reading your articles and following people to get followed back is a super inefficient way of doing so. What you should focus on is providing value. Providing real value to paying members of Medium. And instead of following everyone, focus on creating a real connection with someone.

1 Reader is worth more than 100 followers

Focus on getting readers who are really interested in reading your content. This will actually make you money. Interact with other creators on and off the platform. Leave genuine feedback. Be true, don’t try to fake it. Create your own communities of like-minded people. Read the articles you are genuinely interested, in and interact with them. Leave your take on the subject in the comments. Readers who enjoy content are usually interested in various opinions on the topic they are passionate about.

Writing online is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is an investment. And as with any good investments the gains compound over time and are truly worth it if you are persistent and patient. Here is my take on what patience can bring you when investing in the stock market. I am sure that many successful writers could confirm similarities to writing and investing. But I am still working to get to the point. Nonetheless, I have been vigorously looking for the most efficient ways to get there. As I do when I pick where to invest my money.

Leave Trails of Your Work

Leave trails of your work. But do it mindfully. Leave links to your articles when you are talking about related topics like I did in the section above. Answer questions online, and provide more thorough answers in your stories. Leave breadcrumbs across the internet for others to pick up and find your work. But make sure to make your work a priority. Make sure it is worth reading before you spend your time attracting readers.

It is with content as it is with money — the rich get richer. The more quality content you have out there the more you can leverage it to get more exposure. Weave an interconnected web of content. Think about how you can link your older content when working on something new. Spread across different platforms to gain more traction. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Another parallel with investing. Diversify. If you are interested in the topic of diversification, here is a good article by Stephen Foerster on the topic.

Provide Value to Other Creators

Together we stand, divided we fall! Share the work of others. If you like what someone has created share it. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. You might be afraid of losing your readers to the work you shared. But the reality is, your readers will like your work more if you help them discover more valuable content. And this way you can bond with other creators. And who knows maybe they return the favor.

My Call To Action

I hate looking at writers who struggle with getting 100 followers and end up disappointed because they are still not earning from their writing. So I decided to take action and create a new publication.

New Publication — Apply as a writer Here!

Seeds For The Future

The publication is just the first step. I want to create a community for writers who are just starting out now in 2022, during these difficult times in the world. Everyone will get a chance to submit their stories. But some might get rejected as I am looking for some quality, but I will make sure to leave some feedback.

Next Steps

As I want this to be a community, not just another publication I will also think about communication channels where people who join the publication as writers will be able to communicate, help each other with tips and feedback and work on projects together. Apply as a writer and stay tuned.

If you have any questions about the platform or suggestions on how to improve the process of building a community be sure to comment below!

Apply for my publication - Here!

Best wishes!