Earnings on Medium

 Just under two years ago I joined medium. I wrote a post on this here.

 There's lots of history writers, also politics, and science and many other topics to read daily in their digest you get on your e-mail.

It's $120 a year to be able to read most writers and after the first year I felt ten bucks a month was worth the world of and wealth of reading I was reading. 

Then I figured out how to get paid for my writing. You go on their Partners Program sight, get set up with the IRS and I was on the Partners program, then when I got looks and reads from my writing, I would get paid. I had a post that was getting thousands of looks and reads, but the first time you post you need to click a square that says Partner Program to get picked up for money. About 2/3's of the looks and reads didn't get applied and for that month I only earned $24. The next month was $40 and the third was in the $80's. That was for Sept, Oct and Nov. Just got my IRS form and I made $145 for 2024.

Compare that to 23 years of publishing novels. Optimus: Praetorian Guard was originally published by Publish Ameria, and I spent over a thousand dollars buying books and trying to sell them at book signings resulting in earning back about 20% of what I paid to buy them and giving most away to family, friends and others. Since 2011 I've published Optimus on Amazon, had to pay Publish America $200 for publishing rights, and have published 7 novels, 5 anthologies and have earned $250 in royalties in 13 years. Most of that was in the first two years when it was new, and then the avalanche of writers hit the market. I'm in the hole on all my books up to around $2,000 or more over the years.

So far writing articles like on Blogger, I've made $145 for 2024, and total cost for two years is $240. In December two posts went crazy and for that month I earned $154, paid in this month going to 2025 income. I'm already in the black. That month was an aberration as this month I've only earned $46, but you never know if someone puts your post on their reading list and that person's readers follow his or her suggestion. Still $40 a month is still $480 for the year.

There are many writers that I read that are living off their writings. I not expecting that, but whatever I make helps my income a lot more that hitting my head against the wall in trying to put in the time and effort to write a novel only for it to drain me dry trying to market it.