This article is an analysis that will help you identify what stories make the big bucks on medium so that you can learn from them and possibly do the same. Thanks to Michael Deng, I’ve been spending hours and hours using this wonderful resource.

How This Medium Story Made $1,744.21 in One Month

<ul><li>The highest performing story for members only of the year was Laziness does not exist by E price.</li><li>The story was published in March 2018.&nbsp;</li><li>According to the Partner Program Updates email, the most money earned by a single locked story in March 2018 was $1,744.21.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Medium Partner Program Figures

Medium.com received 56,888 claps from 5,616 people, substantially fewer than the top story of the previous month. How did the month's top Member-Story perform worse than the month's before but earn considerably more money ($1,200+) the only theory I've come up with is the scenario where of the total number of people who clapped for the story, medium members clapped more, thereby generating more payment.

Inside The Partner Program Hood

Medium.com Eliason’s story received slightly fewer claps (54,910), but from a greater number of people (6,950), increasing the likelihood of more members doing the applauding. The only reason I feel confident about the Laziness does not exist story earning the $1,744.21 is that there aren’t any other member stories that come close to it that month. It seems to show medium is making a genuine effort to reward quality writing and ideas.

The Real Stats

<img alt="Dave Schools" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*tM0zDW96dXuCxICKr6n6kw" width="48" height="48">Doing research for a Medium writing tips course, I stumbled upon a discovery. I found a way to prove that one Medium story made exactly $1,744.21.This article is an analysis that will help you identify what stories make the big bucks on Medium so that you can learn from them and possibly do the same.Here’s how.For background, I should mention the <a href="https://mediumwritingcourse.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">email course</a> I’m creating delivers 30 writing tips based on the top Medium stories of all time.Thanks to , I’ve been spending hours and hours using this wonderful resource:It’s a list of the top Medium stories of all time, filterable by year. My course pulls insights from observations and patterns embedded in this rich gold mine of amazing ideas.Today, I cross-referenced this list with the data that the has provided for members in their monthly Partner Program Updates emails.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Here’s a spreadsheet that contains this information, organized by month:</h2><figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*CNekqypqF43reFkUCE8YD" width="785" height="95"><figcaption dir="auto">I’m missing December and January — I must’ve deleted the emails or they were never sent (LMK if you have them and I’ll update this). Anyways…</figcaption></figure>With these two resources, I triangulated three pieces of information to determine this story by made $1,744.21<UL><LI>The story was published in March 2018.</LI><LI>According to the Partner Program Updates email, the most money earned by a single locked story in March 2018 was $1,744.21.</LI></UL>If we assume that the most money earned goes to the highest performing locked story of the month, then Laziness Does Not Exist is that story from March 2018 and earned $1,744.21 for it. was also published in March 2018, but it received fewer claps from fewer people (81,221 claps from 8,112 people). I’m assuming it earned less money, but here’s a catch: of the total number of people who clapped, we can’t see how many of them were members.We know that <a href="https://medium.com/creators" rel="noopener" dir="ltr">only claps from members result in payment</a>. So it’s possible that the Porn story received more claps from members than the Laziness story and if that’s true, then the title of this article is inaccurate and Anastasia’s story might be the one that earned $1,744.21.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">The next month, April 2018, presented an interesting twist.</h2>The most earned by a single locked story in April 2018 was $2,904.03, substantially more than the previous month.The most popular locked story in 2018, published in April, was Today’s Problem With Masculinity Isn’t What You Think by .This story received 56,888 claps from 5,616 people, substantially fewer than the top story of the previous month.How did the month’s top member-story perform worse than the month’s before but earn considerably more money ($1,200+)?The only theory I’ve come up with is the scenario I mentioned above, where of the total number of people who clapped for the story, Medium members clapped more, thereby generating more payment. Each month, Medium must allocate a pot of cash to be dispensed for its Partner Program, and depending on the number of member stories that month, it gets divided accordingly until depletion.If this is true, then the story that earned the $2,904.03 payout might not be the Masculinity one at all. It might very well be this one, from :Eliason’s story received slightly fewer claps (54,910), but from a greater number of people (6,950), increasing the possible likelihood of more members doing the applauding.Eliason tweeted about this story’s performance:<figcaption>From his screenshots, it’s not impossible that his final monthly payout made it to $2,904.03 (missing data for Week 5).</figcaption>However, his “stats” still remained small relative to the Laziness piece in March, which leads me to believe that their were fewer outstanding member stories published in April 2018, compared to March 2018 when several high performing locked stories were published.It’s relative, but perhaps Medium’s budget stays the same (allowing them to forecast costs and operate a company) and this fact could explain the sliding ratio between claps and people and pay.The only reason I feel confident about the Laziness Does Not Exist story earning the $1,744.21 is that there aren’t any other member stories that come close to it that month. It’s far and a way the top performer in March 2018.Was this analysis helpful? I don’t know. But it seems to show Medium is making a genuine effort to reward quality writing and ideas. The top stories that are earning thousands and thousands of dollars month after month are really, really good. For anyone who wishes to do the same, it would be beneficial to study these top stories and distill the best practices and emulate them.…or just take my free <a href="https://mediumwritingcourse.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" dir="ltr">course</a> when it comes out, because that’s what I’m doing right now 😅

Doing research for a Medium writing tips course, I stumbled upon a discovery. I found a way to prove that one Medium story made exactly $1,744.21. This article is an analysis that will help you…

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

Doing research for a Medium writing tips course, I stumbled upon a discovery. I found a way to prove that one Medium story made exactly $1,744.21.

This article is an analysis that will help you identify what stories make the big bucks on Medium so that you can learn from them and possibly do the same.

For background, I should mention the <a href="https://mediumwritingcourse.com/">email course </a>I’m creating delivers 30 writing tips based on the top Medium stories of all time.

, I’ve been spending hours and hours using this wonderful resource:

It’s a list of the top Medium stories of all time, filterable by year. My course pulls insights from observations and patterns embedded in this rich gold mine of amazing ideas.

Today, I cross-referenced this list with the data that the

has provided for members in their monthly Partner Program Updates emails.

Here’s a spreadsheet that contains this information, organized by month:

With these two resources, I triangulated three pieces of information to determine this story by

<ul><li>The story was published in March 2018. </li><li>According to the Partner Program Updates email, the most money earned by a single locked story in March 2018 was $1,744.21. </li> </ul>

If we assume that the most money earned goes to the highest performing locked story of the month, then Laziness Does Not Exist is that story from March 2018 and

was also published in March 2018, but it received fewer claps from fewer people (81,221 claps from 8,112 people). I’m assuming it earned less money, but here’s a catch: of the total number of people who clapped, we can’t see how many of them were members.

We know that <a href="https://medium.com/creators">only claps from members result in payment </a>. So it’s possible that the Porn story received more claps from members than the Laziness story and if that’s true, then the title of this article is inaccurate and Anastasia’s story might be the one that earned $1,744.21.

The next month, April 2018, presented an interesting twist.

The most earned by a single locked story in April 2018 was $2,904.03 , substantially more than the previous month.

The most popular locked story in 2018, published in April, was Today’s Problem With Masculinity Isn’t What You Think by

This story received 56,888 claps from 5,616 people, substantially fewer than the top story of the previous month.

How did the month’s top member-story perform worse than the month’s before but earn considerably more money ($1,200+) ?

The only theory I’ve come up with is the scenario I mentioned above, where of the total number of people who clapped for the story, Medium members clapped more, thereby generating more payment. Each month, Medium must allocate a pot of cash to be dispensed for its Partner Program, and depending on the number of member stories that month, it gets divided accordingly until depletion.

If this is true, then the story that earned the $2,904.03 payout might not be the Masculinity one at all. It might very well be this one, from

Eliason’s story received slightly fewer claps (54,910), but from a greater number of people (6,950), increasing the possible likelihood of more members doing the applauding.

Eliason tweeted about this story’s performance:

However, his “stats” still remained small relative to the Laziness piece in March, which leads me to believe that their were fewer outstanding member stories published in April 2018, compared to March 2018 when several high performing locked stories were published.

It’s relative, but perhaps Medium’s budget stays the same (allowing them to forecast costs and operate a company) and this fact could explain the sliding ratio between claps and people and pay.

The only reason I feel confident about the Laziness Does Not Exist story earning the $1,744.21 is that there aren’t any other member stories that come close to it that month. It’s far and a way the top performer in March 2018.

Was this analysis helpful? I don’t know. But it seems to show Medium is making a genuine effort to reward quality writing and ideas. The top stories that are earning thousands and thousands of dollars month after month are really, really good. For anyone who wishes to do the same, it would be beneficial to study these top stories and distill the best practices and emulate them.

…or just take my free <a href="https://mediumwritingcourse.com/">course </a>when it comes out, because that’s what I’m doing right now 😅

How This Medium Story Made $1,744.21 in One Month