Medium is strange. There are many ways to show the writer you like their article. These include clapping up to fifty times per article, highlighting parts of the article, or commenting on the article. Writers can show other writers they like their piece by tagging it. I was tagged this week for an article I wrote as a challenge response to the Globetrotters publication, and it felt good.
Some of my readers only clap once. This is probably my fault. I told some of them that Medium counts all claps the same; it doesn’t matter if you clap once or 50 times (the maximum), it all counts as one, like by the person responding to your reading. So, they only have to clap once if they like what I’ve written.
But, as I’m about to explain, it does make a difference when you look at the numbers. The difference it makes is a psychological or motivational one.
Let’s say I write an article and 10 people read it. If those ten people only clap once each, I have ten claps. BUT, if those people clap a maximum of 50 claps each, I have 500 claps for my article.
Now, it’s not making a difference in what I earn. I get credit for ten people liking my article, whether I have 10 claps or 500 claps.
But it does make a difference to my motivation and how much my articles LOOK like they are appreciated. Scrolling through articles on Medium in the morning, I might be more likely to read an article with 500 claps than 10 claps, even though I don’t know that each of those articles only had ten people read and like them.
Lately, my articles are not receiving many claps – maybe 100-200 if I’m lucky. The article linked above, which I tagged as a challenge response, has 455 claps from 17 people. It has people who clapped once and people who clapped 50x, as well as many others in between. All I really know is that 17 people thought enough about my article that they clapped, at least once.
I just read an article by another medium author who kindly described how it is important to highlight articles and comment on them as well. Both of these actions tell the writer you have engaged with their article. And BOTH help writers earn money on the platform.
As both a reader and a writer on Medium, I try to do all these things – clap, highlight, and comment. Of course, I can tag other articles or writers, too. And, I do.
Look, it’s gotten harder and harder to make money on Medium. But there are some easy ways to increase my income (which will just make the payout threshold of ten dollars this month). And these easy ways are to ask you, dear reader, if you belong to Medium, to use not only claps but also highlights and comments when you read my articles.
Ugh, I long for the days I made $150.00 or more for a month of writing on Medium. It seemed easier a year ago.
Another thing to consider is that we are not supposed to write about Medium on Medium. This is difficult. And a change from when I started back in 2022. So many people were writing (and earned big bucks) about writing on Medium. I rarely did it. But, when I did it the other day in my article, July: A Month of Pennies, I was told by a publisher that there is a rule against it (writing Meta).
You know, I don’t get this. I also don’t understand why a publication won’t put an article out because it contains a polite but negative or alternative opinion on a topic. This is true for a variety of topics, not just politics or the Medium platform. How are things supposed to improve if we never discuss the things that we see as problems?
Hey, I know there are only so many hours in a day. I appreciate all those who read my articles here or on Medium, but it is getting tougher to hang in there when numbers fail to motivate, and words become censored. I know there are days that I am short on time and give a one-clap, fail to comment or highlight, and move on. But those are rare now. I’m trying to help fellow writers by using claps, highlights, comments, and tags to motivate them. I hope some (and you) do the same for me.
The Apples in My Orchard 