Monthly Transparency Report

September 2021

Left to right, newer first

History

I signed on to Medium June 2020. I spent the first three weeks reading and reading and reading some more. On the first or second story that I posted, I was approached by The Ascent. They wanted to know if they could add me on as a writer. Uh yeah! I worked one week in July and earned .44 cents in read time.

Sept 2020 I spent mostly sick and didn’t write much and it is reflected in my earnings that month. A whopping .88 cents. I was heading upward until Dec hit. Other writers had started complaining the month before that their numbers were dropping off. Mine didn’t hit until the following month. And while others began picking back up in Jan, mine didn’t begin picking back up until Feb. We all blamed the holidays. But since then…

It’s been all uphill in more ways than one.

June and July I earned $50 in read time plus I received $50 in bonuses each of those months. The bonuses stopped in July. So August’s $100+ is all earned read time. In September I was on fire. I published the equivalent to a story a day for the entire month and it paid off clearly.

$166.29 jump in one month. From $102.40 to $260+.

Views in the last 30 days. The screenshot was taken on Oct 1.

Reads in the last 30 days. The screenshot was taken on Oct 1.

Fans in the last 30 days. The screenshot was taken on Oct 1.

I had one story go viral.

And people are sweating getting 100 followers in a few months even doing the F4F gimmick? Try writing something people want to read.

HUGE increase in a matter of 9 months.

I started 2021 out with 316 followers. I now have 1122 of this moment.

I have gained 806 followers in 9 months.

Without schemes, gimmicks, or paying for them. Organic growth with real interaction. Anyone who reads my stuff can tell you that I answer every comment. Well, unless you’re an asshole then that’s a different discussion.

Write and engage. Write and engage. Write and engage. I can’t say it enough.

665 published stories and 3400 comments made.

I was interviewed by the Washington Post in September for a story I wrote in August of 2020. You never know who’s watching. You never know who’s reading.

You just never know.

The reporter had been given an assignment for the 9/11 anniversary but with a twist. In DC on 9/11/2001, we also had to deal with anthrax as well as the DC Snipers and I wrote about the experience.

13 Months in a Living Nightmare

In researching this angle for the story I was the only resource that she came up with. Me. Just me. No one else. No other internet hits. Just mine.

I had no idea when I wrote that last year that this year I’d be the center of attention. Her story got picked up and ended up in a lot of different places including MSN. Wanna know something?

She included my Medium story link at the end of her story.

Screenshot by author

And it was curated.

It doesn’t get much better than that.