From Medium:
I started publishing some of my stories through Medium’s Partner Program in September of this year. In that first month, I earned over $600. I was incredibly surprised and pleased. Was an extra $600 a month in my future? I wondered. That would be pretty sweet. I paid a little more on my student loans.
The second month, I earned just about $500. Still surprised and pleased. I bought my parents a hotel room for their anniversary trip to Niagara Falls.
The third month, I made about $375. I bought a ticket to Dublin for next year. Better spend it now while I have it. At this rate of decay, will I even be earning anything three months from now? What will be the equilibrium point?
. . . .
Obviously, there are many, many factors to consider here. First, there’s the content of the story itself — some topics are of more interest than others. Second, there’s the curation variable— some of my stories have been featured or Tweeted by Medium Staff while other stories have gotten little to no play in Medium features or on social media. Third, there’s the mystery algorithm — how is Medium actually calculating earnings?
I know I’m not alone in wondering about this. There seems to be a general confusion among Medium writers about how the Partner Program determines payment for members-only stories.
Officially, Medium says this:
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I don’t really know for sure, but I think it’s that last sentence that explains the variability I’m seeing in earnings. Essentially, each member’s claps are weighted differently. Plus, non-members are allowed access to 3 free articles per month, and while their claps don’t equate to dollars, I wonder if that also explains some of the variability. Maybe articles published earlier in the month (before non-members have used up their 3 free stories) garner more claps, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll earn more money on them.
. . . .
I think maybe Medium is still trying to figure this all out the same way we are, and so I don’t really expect to find clear-cut answers right now. And I’m okay with that. The fact that I’m earning something (anything!) on things I was otherwise publishing for free is amazing.
The shift from recommends (remember those little green hearts?) to claps was kind of revolutionary in a sense and I think it will take a while for that to sort itself out as a mechanism that works. I still clap pretty randomly for things with no rhyme or reason. If I liked something, it’ll get anywhere from 1 to 50 claps.
Link to the rest at Medium
PG says the way of calculating how much authors earn on Medium or anywhere else should be 1. transparent, 2. easy to understand and, 3. difficult to manipulate to unfairly reward an author.
Medium’s explanation is that claps by Medium Members while a post “is set for Members” are important, “though other factors may be considered.” Then there’s something called “engagement share per member” which sounds like a portion of a Medium Member’s monthly fee is divided by claps (unless something else qualifies as engagement, too).
PG has just read an occasional story without paying anything to Medium, so perhaps he’s missing some subtleties here.
- Does Medium disclose what percentage of the members’ fees go to authors collectively?
- Does Medium say how many dollars are paid to authors collectively each month?
- Is there any way an author can check his/her payments to make certain something isn’t wrong with Medium’s back-end?
Is this information from the OP all the information a Medium author receives regarding the basis for calculating payments?
I use Medium to create blog posts that primarily promote my self published fiction. On a lark I made one post for subscribers. It had four readers and earned 12cents. I’m surprised it earned that much. I concur. Their algorithms are a mystery.