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This is My Highest Earning Month on Medium, and I Have Survivor’s Guilt
My excitement is tempered by sadness for all the writers who are losing money
Last year ended on a high note when I received a notification that Medium had boosted my most recent story. I had written a story about health insurance after the killing of United Healthcare CEO Bryan Thompson. This was my first boosted story since Medium announced the program, and I was excited to see how it would affect my views and earnings. I had no idea that my excitement would be tempered by sadness for many fellow writers. As I celebrated my increased earnings, I began noticing stories about changes in the algorithm and significant decreases in earnings.
I first discovered Medium during the pandemic. Since my husband died in 2016, I have been blogging about grief, initially on Tumblr and then WordPress. Medium allowed me to share my writing with more people and was also an outlet for writing about topics my typical readers might not be interested in.
I had just graduated with my master’s in professional clinical counseling. I was beginning my counseling career, so writing was a nice way to unwind at the end of the day. I never had any illusions that I would make a lot of money writing, but it was exciting to see if I would make any money.
In 2020, writers on Medium had the opportunity to have their stories curated (chosen for further distribution to a broader audience). One of the first stories I wrote was about voting for Trump in 2016 and what led me to change my mind and party affiliation in 2020. My story was chosen to be curated, which was very exciting. It received a lot of engagement and made a little money, encouraging me to continue writing.
By the end of 2020, I had earned $99.22 for my writing. This isn’t a lot, but it meant a lot to me. My stories continued earning, and a few more were curated along the way. In 2021, I earned $143.63.
In 2022, I completed my training, passed my licensure exam, and became a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. I still enjoy writing, but I don’t think it will ever provide significant income because I can’t devote enough time to it.
My earnings for the next few years were small: $31.22 in 2022, $5.96 in 2023, and $33.30…
