Monthly Round-Up June'24: I'm Now a 4-Figure Writer!
I made this happen within my first 4 months of consistent writing on the Internet. Here's exactly what I did.
It’s here!
My first monthly round-up!
It’s a summary of the past month about my:
Content: strategies I implemented and their outcome
Distribution: platforms I used and how they perform
Monetization: how much I earned in total and a breakdown by platform
Outlook: what I plan to start, stop, change, or continue, and why
From now on I’ll share these round-ups monthly, exclusively with you: the people on my list, who trusted me and found my writing valuable.
Let’s begin!
Content
I started writing consistently on the Internet in February this year. It was the time when I gained enough confidence that I knew what I’m doing.
Kinda…
How it all started?
I was never to call myself a writer. I’m a marketer with a pinch of sales. Not so much of the advertiser type.
More of the bitchy type, who had to do everything which no one else wanted to do about the product or the customer.
The one who had to point out every problem.
The one everyone hated but always listened to.
I hated writing. Because of so many reasons:
I made lots of typos
It took too much time and I loved to get things done fast
I only knew how to write emails and sms-s, not very good at it - people always thought I was passive-aggressive so I had to call to explain what I meant most of the times.
I always wanted to do something on the side.
Something more “mine”.
I tested pretty much everything but…writing: shooting, graphic design, 3D art, dropshipping, print on demand, you name it - I have it.
Nothing worked.
Until the day AI appeared. This was my time. It simply crushed all my limiting beliefs:
no more typos
writing with the speed of light
automatic formats ready-made for me
Plus: it instantly gave me a topic. Everyone was crazy about AI. I was already into tech, so I only had to learn a few things at a time and share them in my stories.
Easy!
This happened in January 2023. I set up my Medium account and started my good old trial-and-error journey.
It worked. People were interested. But the money was just a few bucks per month. And my engagement sucked. My read ratio was below 30%…
So I decided to stop doing and start thinking. Or...analyzing.
I researched every successful writer on the platform I knew. Read every book I was curious to read about it. Took every course that made sense.
Fast forward to February this year.
I was confident enough.
I kick-started my consistent writing applying everything I learned.
A summary of my findings:
People read (consume content online) for three main reasons:
to experience something - entertainment, trill, suspense, love, affection, you get it…
to learn something new - a skill mostly
to help other people or themselves - mostly solve a problem
There’s no money in the experience part - you can monetize only if you become an influencer and deal with brands (thanks, but no thanks). You have to teach or solve problems, or both.
You don’t need expertise, people come to the internet to search for other people's experiences. Even if these experiences come from total newbies. Write about what you do, not about what you know. Share experience, not knowledge.
No one cares about how-to, listicles, what you read in the news, or what you researched and summarized unless it’s a bestseller already. People want personal stories, which tell about experiences.
Formal language is crap. You have to “talk” in your writing. As if you are talking to your best friend in the bar. Keep it conversational.
Short form is better, but Medium boosts the long form.
Formatting is huge factor - no bulky paragraphs, single sentence on a line is just perfect.
Titles are everything - you need emotions, personal experience, some numbers, and power words. Spark curiosity. Make them feel
Niches are obsolete. You can talk about everything. Just put it through the eyes of a specific audience. I chose people like me - who aim to make something online with writing and a bit of automation.
Followers don’t matter. There are writers with 50k, 100k and more followers, who get the same engagement as I do with less than 2k followers. All you need is loyal readers.
Emails are the true assets. Give everything for free and build a list. You’ll monetize later. Give away everything valuable. You’ll know if you deliver real value when you start getting payments on free products on Gumroad.
Big part of the comments on Medium are fake - people just want you to read their stuff. Even so, I still clap and answer them all.
Make it about the reader. Let it be just one person you’re talking to. No one cares about you. Honestly. Speak from your experience but in the context of your audience. In my case - writers.
Don’t start without a lead magnet. Start gathering emails from Day 1. It’s a must. If you don’t have one, create one. I didn’t have the time to write my full AI guide yet (on it), so I created a few templates.
SEO matters a lot. Name your image files correctly, add alt texts, and update SEO titles and descriptions.
Images matter a lot. I use Midjourney to generate unique and impressive visuals. I use human faces because people relate to people and because I can show some emotion when I want to.
Meta content is king. Write on Medium about making money on Medium, post videos on Youtube about YouTube monetization, sell books on Amazon about selling on Amazon, and so on.
Consistency is key. If you don’t stop for a year, you’re already ahead of 90% of the creators. I currently write and read every day.
You have no competition online. Your personal experience is unique.
The 5 a.m. club is overrated. I write every day in the evenings mostly. I’m not a morning person. On the weekends I work on the guides and create more value for paid subscribers.
You don’t need systems, you only need a firm commitment. Know your why. Let it be different from the money. It will help you face the challenges when they come.
Baby steps. Take one platform at a time. Trying to do them all at once is overwhelming.
Repurposing, automation, and AI make life easier. But it won’t do the job for you. AI need trining and editing, don’t just copy paste hallucination.
Distribution
I chose Medium as my first platform.
Why?
Because on Medium you can test freely. And the community is supportive.
I didn’t touch Substack until last month, as I didn’t have any subscribers. Back then, there was no option to grow organically on the platform, so I left it for later stages.
I set up all of my social media accounts as well. And a few affiliates.
Last month I set up my Substack. I was kinda kicked in the ass by the many changes on Medium. I wrote about it here.
Here’s my channel distribution split:
Monetizaeable: I choose my focus based on monetization potential and the effort required, which so far I identified like this:
Substack
Amazon KDP
Gumroad
Medium
YouTube
Quora
X
Traffic generators:
Facebook
Pinterest
LinkedIn
TikTok
Affiliates:
Amazon
Impact
Few AIs
So far I was focused only on Medium, but it keeps getting down on my list lately, as it needs more and more effort, and the returns decreasing. Last month I started Subsctack and I plan to put more focus here.
I build Gumroad and Amazon KDP as I grow.
Video creation is something I love, researched well, and tested in the past, and will start doing it consistently soon. Right after I launch few more benefits for you: the people on my list.
Right now, you’re my number one priority.
I’m also slowly but steadily researching social media and other channels.
I’m flexible in my strategy. I’ll adapt if I feel so.
Monetization
I’m currently earning from:
Medium
Substack
Affiliates
Amazon KDP
Gumroad
Quora