What’s Happening on My Earnings, Medium?

Finally! I earned on Medium…

It’s a lot, right? 

Right?

Heck, yes and no!

Last month, I earned around $166.67 by publishing actively. I am still active today, posting and engaging with other users. 

But it seems that fate isn’t on my side this month.

Or is it the same for everyone?

I have been seeing posts from different users sharing their worst experiences on Medium regarding their earnings.

Why is that? 

Well, it seems that everyone is now earning cents, including me! I posted two stories a few days ago, and hey, the earnings were very discouraging. 

I Earned $230.39 in December, Here’s the Breakdown
It seems that December was a blast month for me!medium.com

I Saved 3 Hours and 48 Minutes of Writing by Using These 2 Tools
It saves me a lot of time compared to writing on Microsoft Word or Google Docs.medium.com

Guess what? 

I earned 1 cent and 2 cents. This means I got 3 cents for two stories, even though I have a decent amount of engagement between the two.

“Maybe you are just overreacting. The engagement of your stories isn’t enough to receive decent earnings.”

Well, I don’t think so. One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s an obvious decrease in earnings for our stories, even when a story is gaining traction and going viral on the platform.

For example, my post about ChatGPT is now going viral, exceeding 100 claps. You can also see the continuous increase in engagement on the graph, but the earnings are decreasing.

As you can see, on January 5, I got 23 total reads, and it was the highest peak of my earnings, reaching $1.27. 

On the following day, January 9, I had a total of 124 reads, and on January 11 (present), I had a total of 151 reads. 

Yet, I received much lower earnings compared to January 5, where I only got $0.23 and $0.00, respectively.

Now, do you think this is logical? 

Why did I receive 23 cents to zero earnings, knowing that the post is still getting reads from Medium members? I don’t see the point. 

Now, can you explain it?

I don’t know why…but wait…don’t be mad!

Despite this unjustifiable system, I am still hoping that the Medium team will adjust our earnings sooner and give us fair compensation based on our reads. 

After reading a post by Ripton Green, I learned that something like this happened before — last year, to be exact. 

The Medium team compensated the members the following month. I still hope the same thing will happen.

I know there are spammers in the community. But it would be unfair for people like me who work fairly on the platform. 

I think everyone should be compensated fairly, especially those who do this on the side.

Despite my frustration with this current situation, I still hope everything will be fine and we will get what we deserve. I hope the team will talk to us and communicate about what is really happening so we can be aware.

How about you? What do you think about the current situation with our Medium earnings?