Nicolas Cole 🚢👻

Writing On Medium 101

Over the past few years, I have made more than $100,000 publishing content behind Medium's paywall.

Meanwhile, the average writer earns $100 or less.

Here's how to get the most out of the platform, and the 10 types of articles most likely to make $$$ 🧵👇 https://t.co/zjXaFH9IBt

On the surface, Medium is not the best publishing platform for writers.

• Smallest audience (Medium = 30M users, Quora = 300M users, Twitter = 700M users)

• Slowest distribution flywheel (much slower than Quora/Twitter)

• No 'infinite scroll' feed = sparse homepage. https://t.co/iYvuLGKHqV

However, Medium is the only publishing platform with a paywall anyone can leverage.

(Think Spotify for writing.)

• Anyone can publish content behind Medium's paywall
• $$$ is earned based on views + engagement + reading time per article
• Payouts happen monthly

Not bad!

If you're starting from ground zero on Medium, be prepared to play the long game.

I started writing on Medium in 2017.

I didn't start making real money until 2019.

The secret?

Volume wins.

The only way you make $$$ is by publishing a TON of content.

Since 2017, I have been publishing (or re-publishing) an article per day on Medium.

My library has 1,000+ pieces in it, paying me dividends every month.

However, some content performs better than others.

These are the 10 types of articles most likely to earn you $$$ 👇 https://t.co/Ji6Bg2UI2M

Article #1: Life Lessons

The most popular category on Medium is personal development.

By a wide margin.

(Personal development is also one of the biggest content categories on the Internet.)

Universal life lessons have the highest chance of resonating with the widest audience. https://t.co/YBSOhaeglh

Article #2: Subtle Signs

The word *subtle* is powerful because it implies "an answer most people don't know about."

Readers LOVE this kind of stuff:

• Subtle signs
• Subtle mistakes
• Subtle personality traits

...just make sure they aren't cliche (and they're DIFFERENT!). https://t.co/mY7NxCIEzk

Article #3: Success

As a society obsessed with being driven achievers, of course Success is going to be a popular content category.

HOWEVER...

If your "success tips" are "try hard, be consistent, do what you love," etc., don't expect to go viral.

Must. Be. Different! https://t.co/Aja9zLx4T0

Article #4: Relationships

Another massive content category on Medium (and the Internet at large).

The best relationship content speaks to:

• Small problems that lead to huge disasters
• Reasons why your partner does XYZ
• Tips for overcoming X obstacle

+ tell a story! https://t.co/K3VkqOLcWS

Article #5: Intelligence

Medium's user base leans educated/affluent compared to the rest of the world.

"Intelligence" content =

• How to become smarter
• Memory hacks
• Traits of "smart people"
• Lessons learned from elite universities, high-paying jobs, etc. https://t.co/nchO8KpYCd

Article #6: Wealth

"How to make more money" is one of the age-old content buckets of the Internet.

In addition, there is a massive 'freelancer' community on Medium, many of whom moonlight as retail/crypto traders.

Money tips, tricks, best practices, etc., do well here. https://t.co/aHRQpWe90V

Article #7: Productivity

Any combination of: how to do more with less

This type of content is the easiest to sound cliche, so if you are going to write about productivity, make sure your tips are unconventional & hyper-specific. https://t.co/mGfN7bojN0

Article #8: Habits

A subset of Life Advice, habit-related content is always a hit.

The secret here is to focus on "small" habits that unlock "huge" results.

• Habits to achieve specific goals
• Habits for success within specific industries
• Bad habits that keep you from X https://t.co/kkTIp97zwl

Article #9: Toxicity

• Toxic workplace
• Toxic relationships
• Toxic habits
• Etc.

Put the word "toxic" before any of these proven categories and voila!

People don't just like reading about the good.

They also love reading about the bad. https://t.co/ELBGyOU16e

Article #10: Writing advice

Since Medium is a platform for writers, that means there is a huge audience for writing-advice content.

• How to write
• Where to write
• How to make money writing
• Etc. https://t.co/tX1rIgWERE

TL;DR: 10 types of articles most likely to earn $$$ on Medium

• Life Lessons
• Subtle Signs
• Success
• Relationships
• Intelligence
• Wealth
• Productivity
• Habits
• Toxicity
• Writing Advice

If you're new to Medium, or have been thinking about writing there, we have a whole Intro To Medium curriculum in the #Ship30for30 Member Ship.

+ tons of other resources for writers!

https://t.co/w0CjMHaZpj

Author | Co-Founder https://t.co/sAz2vYnVbZ | Your fastest path to make money as a writer is ghostwriting | Free blueprint to get started👇

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