I joined the Paid Medium Partner Program in August 2023, and by October 2023, I hit the coveted $1,000 income goal. 

To clarify, that’s $1,000 in one month. The previous month, I made almost $300. I took a screenshot of my income earnings since August 2023 so you can see what I’m talking about:

How Did I Do It?

This is the first “how to make money on Medium” article I’ve written since starting with the Partner Program — and I don’t plan to write many of these. Case in point: I didn’t make $1,000 in one month by telling writers how to make money.

Rather, I made $1,000 on Medium by writing about philosophical or societal topics that speak to people’s humanity. As a former journalist who now writes personal and political essays, novels, short stories, and poetry, I cover the stuff that interests me — life, culture, and social issues. 

I work many hours at my day job, so I didn’t want to slave away at a side hustle that bored me. I wanted to monetize my “passion writing,” and apparently, I found my home on Medium.

Therefore, point one: write about what matters to you. 

Under Medium’s updated Partner Program rules, it appears to favor writing that enriches people’s minds and worldview while bringing nuance to unique perspectives. You can only write this way if you gravitate toward topics that interest you.

How do I know this?

Because Medium has boosted nearly every post I’ve written in the past two months. Which leads me to my next point.

Point two: write for the boost.

Getting boosted often has been the main reason I made $1,000 in my third month on this platform. In fact, I’ve come to believe getting boosted is the KEY to making decent money on Medium.

For those who are new to Medium, you might wonder what I mean by “boosted.” You can read more about boosted stories from Medium’s official blog. Essentially, real humans at Medium find good stories on the platform and “boost” them by sending them to more people. 

This is important to making money because Medium pays writers based on “reads” (the number of people who read your story for 30 seconds or more), and engagement (such as “claps” and comments). In order to get more reads and engagement, your essay needs to be seen by many people–which the “boost” helps accomplish.

But how can you get boosted, and often?

The formula is simple. Combine your personal experience with well-researched facts and create nuance. Also try to write about timely topics or events. 

Every one of my posts that got boosted intertwined a personal story with a larger societal issue backed by well-researched (and cited) facts. 

If you want to use the exact formula I did, I created a template that walks you through the essay structure I used to write all my boosted stories. You can download my Medium Post Template here for just $5.

However, even if you write well, how can you ensure the Medium Boosting Gods will actually see your work? Thus, my next point …

Point three: publish your stories in Medium publications 95 percent of the time.

Again, for those who are new to Medium, publications are online magazines or newspapers run through Medium. You can be an editor for a publication, or a writer. However, to be a writer, you must first be accepted to the publication. 

Medium relies on many of its publication editors to submit suggestions for boosted stories. The Medium curators then review those stories and decide which ones to boost.

Now, you don’t HAVE to publish your essays in publications to get them boosted. However, it certainly helps your chances. 

Nearly all of my stories that generated $1,000 in a single month were published in a Medium publication and subsequently boosted.

The key to making money on Medium is to get boosted, so you need to get boosted regularly. The best way to do this is by developing positive relationships with various Medium publication editors. Those who like your writing may recommend your work for boosting more frequently.

So, in summary:

1. Write about what matters to you. Be passionate and real.
2. Write for the boost, which includes combining personal stories with larger issues and well-researched facts.
3. Publish your stories in Medium publications 95 percent of the time to increase your chances of getting boosted more frequently.

Remember, if you need help structuring your essays for the boost, you can buy and use my Medium Post Template for just $5. My template walks you through the exact formula I used to write all my posts that got boosted and landed me an income of $1,000 in a single month.

I hope this post was helpful, and if you use my Medium Post Template, let me know if it works for you! If you want to read more of my writing, please sign up as either a free or paid subscriber for my Substack newsletter, On Point.

The name of the book is The Condemned: A memoir told through selected early works of short stories, essays, and poetry. It’s forthcoming later this year with a planned publication date of Sept. 9, 2023. Pre-orders are currently available, with the e-book priced at a special discount. But hurry! This deal won’t last forever.

What is ‘The Condemned’ about?

In this special memoir told through a collection of earlier works including fictional short stories, non-fiction essays, and poetry, Shari Lopatin tells the story of her younger self—a millennial coming of age through the 1990s and 2000s while fighting to make sense of a world rapidly changing amidst The Great Recession and September 11. Touching on themes still relevant today, Shari shares deeply emotional pieces from her formative years about mental health, the search for home, the awkwardness of dating, love and heartbreak, and the effects of Antisemitism.

Included in this hand-selected collection are the fictional short stories “Pomegranates” about the power of kindness and connection; “A Call from Paris” about a young marriage falling apart; “Stone from HELL” about the effects of a monstrous society; and the namesake of this book, “The Condemned” about finding self-acceptance. Shari also included other personal essays and poems never before seen.

Ultimately, The Condemned: A memoir told through selected early works of short stories, essays, and poetry reveals one young woman’s struggle to find herself within a confusing and sometimes ostracizing world, and the messages of love, hope, and truth she now brings to others.

Did you know only half of adults in the United States can read a book written at an eighth-grade level?

It’s true! That stat is from the Literacy Project. The same project also reveals that 45 million American adults are “functionally illiterate” and cannot read above a fifth-grade level.

If you’re writing for the public–whether as a journalist, consultant, expert, business owner, or communications professional–you cannot be successful if you refuse to acknowledge these facts.

So how can you ensure your writing is effective? As a former journalist myself, who’s now been a writer, editor, and communications consultant for more than 15 years, I’ve spent nearly half my life writing for the public.

Here are my key rules for success.

Stay Consistent in Your Writing and Messaging

People cannot handle too much information.

In fact, Bertram Gross, a Professor of Political Science at Hunter College, first coined the phrase “information overload” in his 1964 work, The Managing of Organizations. I don’t have access to the original peer-reviewed article, but the Interaction Design Foundation quoted him as defining information overload as the following:

“Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently, when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur.”

In other words, if you provide too much information at once (especially conflicting information), people will make poor decisions.

Therefore, decide what you want your content’s main point to be, and stay consistent with the angle. Don’t provide conflicting messages or information.

Write Content at an Eighth-Grade Level or Below

How do you know whether your content is at an eighth-grade reading level?

Check your readability stats!

If you use Microsoft Word, like me, you can check your content’s reading level under the Home tab. Here are more specific instructions from Microsoft on accessing your reading level information.

Keep Your Sentences and Syllables Short

Words with shorter syllables lower reading levels. Therefore, rather than using words like “gregarious,” use words like “social.” On a similar note, average comprehension begins to diminish after 14 words in a sentence. This means the shorter your sentences AND words, the more the public will absorb and understand your content.

Cut Out the Jargon

As a communications professional, I’ve primarily written for healthcare companies. This means I’ve also interviewed and written articles for doctors, chief medical officers, and medical directors. One of the most common problems I’ve run into is jargon.

The average person does not understand an industry’s jargon. While a well-written article can explain some terms, using too many will still confuse people. You’re better off simplifying the language into more common terminology.

Less is More

At the end of the day, people will understand more of your message if you provide less information. Write shorter blog posts (400 words or less) and keep your topics narrow. If you have several angles you want to cover, break them up into a series of posts.

And here’s the big one: ask readers to take only ONE action.

• Buy my product
• Sign up for my newsletter
• Make a donation
• Share this post

I hope you found this article useful! Don’t miss more writing and communications tips and sign up to get future posts from Shari sent right to your email address.

Are you struggling to jerk your mind out of the daily grind and into creative mode for some seriously awesome writing? Then below are five writing prompts I developed for fiction writers to help get your imagination juices flowing:

Fiction Writing Prompts

1. You wake up in a room you don’t recognize and cannot recall how you got there. You find a heavy soccer trophy laying nearby–although you don’t play soccer–and a spot of blood on your shirt.
2. You walk out of your house in the morning and discover the streets no longer have the names you remember. As you drive to work, you don’t recognize any of the landmarks.
3. If you could go back in time to revisit someone you loved who died, who would it be and what would you give up to see them again? What if you could never return to your loved ones who are living?
4. Walk outside and randomly find an object: a pebble, a plant, a lawn chair. But pick something quickly, then consider the origin of that item, its journey to your backyard, and how it might end. Write that story from the item’s perspective.
5. What if your phone started verbalizing all your thoughts the moment they happen, regardless of who’s around?

Stay tuned for more writing prompts in the future! Sign up for my writing blog for writers.

Before I was a journalist, I was a creative writer. Short stories and poetry. A barrage of unfinished novels.

I remember the first story I ever wrote. I was 7 years old, and it was about a group of aliens that came to Earth and befriended a girl. She named them all after food items. The one I remember most was Butter.

The first poem I wrote was about the garbage truck man, how he picked up our trash. “Garbage truck man, oh garbage truck man …” Give me a break; I was 5, or something.

My first love in life was dance. My second was writing–creative writing. That second love stuck around to become my profession. While I enjoy writing people’s stories, and occasionally aspects of my own, something about unfiltered creative writing really speaks to me. I truly love it.

Here are four reasons why.

1) Creative Writing is Therapy

And it’s way cheaper, too. While I always advocate for finding a solid therapist (if you think you don’t need one, you probably do), creative writing has been unofficial therapy for me since childhood.

I always wrote my heart out and felt better afterwards. As an adult, I now peruse my older writings from grade school, middle school, and high school. I realize I was often writing about my deepest fears, insecurities, and feelings as metaphors via the actions and thoughts of fictional characters. Creative writing became an outlet for my subconscious, and I believe in many ways, it still is.

2) Creative Writing is an Escape

Let’s face it: at times, reality sucks. But when I’m lost in the world I created in my head–writing the next chapters, then sharing my story with others–I forget about the realities around me. It’s a dopamine rush.

Perhaps some might call what I do disassociation. Maybe they’re right. In that case, disassociation via creative writing created a buffer between me and the torturing effects of bullies growing up–getting chased into bathrooms, hairspray dumped on my head, laughs and whispers and name-calling and threats of physical violence.

As an adult, I sometimes have trust issues with groups of women because of those experiences, but it ends there. Because I escaped into my stories.

3) Creative Writing Creates Community

Whether it’s online, a readership, a writing program, or a professional collaboration, the mere act of creative writing draws community around it. I sometimes struggle to talk about the things that are me when I meet people, but I can talk about writing for hours. I bond with others over writing craft, storytelling, and the writing life.

One of my favorite feelings in the world is writing a story, publishing it to the world, and then engaging with readers about the story. When they get carried away as much as me, we share that experience together. They can then share that experience with others, and it just grows.

Think of all the communities that exist because of creative writing: book clubs, writing workshops, group therapy through poetry. When people bond over a shared interest or story, they are less likely to fight one another. Which leads me to my final point:

4) Creative Writing Heals

I always say that storytelling is the great human connector. Before the written word, we used to pass stories down verbally from one generation to the next. Because stories are the great connectors, they also have enormous power to generate empathy, and ultimately, healing.

A 2020 article from Discover Magazine reported that a growing body of research suggests “people who read fiction tend to better understand and share in the feelings of others — even those who are different from themselves.”

If we are more likely to connect with and understand others, we are less likely to engage in violence and hate against them. Therefore, creative writing has the ability to heal entire communities. Not to mention, the mere act of creative writing can help a person heal individually, as well.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? If you are a writer, what do you love about creative writing? Please feel free to comment below.

Hi! I’m Shari. I’ve worked for more than 15 years as a professional writer, editor, and communications consultant. Follow my blog for more posts on writing, craft, how to make a living writing, and how to build your following as a writer.

The workplace effects from COVID did writers a huge favor. They normalized remote work.

Since writing is one of the best jobs that can be done remotely, the corporate world is now filled with available, full-time remote writing jobs.

Awesome, right?

Below are a few of the best career websites where to find remote writing jobs that work for you.

FlexJobs.com

*Freelance or Full-Time*

So disclaimer here: FlexJobs does cost money, but it’s minimal. In fact, it’s so minimal that I continued paying for this platform even while going through unemployment (about $40 every three months, or $60 for one year). FlexJobs was around well before remote jobs were popular. The platform posts some really high-quality stuff. I’ve applied to jobs I found here from companies like Oracle, Vox, and Slack.

LinkedIn

*Freelance or Full-Time*

We’ve all heard of LinkedIn, write? (See what I did there?) Well, this social media powerhouse of professional networking has also turned into a gold mine for finding remote writing jobs. Simply type “copywriter” or “writer” or “content writer” into the search field, and “remote” into the location field, and voila!

MediaBistro.com

*Freelance or Full-Time*

MediaBistro goes back about two decades. They used to be an online hub for news about the world of news, media, and publishing. However, they’ve now become a great place for creatives from all fields to find full-time and freelance work, including writers. I use MediaBistro as my back-up to LinkedIn and FlexJobs.

Upwork.com

*Freelance Only*

If you’re looking strictly for freelance work but want your pay to be more than Fiverr, Upwork is a great compromise! You can set your own hourly rate, or “bid” on existing jobs that are seeking freelance help. Use Upwork to actively find work, or allow the work to find you. This is also a great platform for beginning writers who are actively building their portfolios to eventually land full-time writing jobs.

Hi! I’m Shari. I’ve worked for more than 15 years as a professional writer, editor, and communications consultant. Follow my blog for more tips on writing, craft, how to make a living writing, and how to build your following as a writer.

Whether you’re writing an editorial for your local paper, an argumentative essay for class, or a ranting blog post, you want to change minds.

Right?

In that case, there is one simple thing you can do to knock your opponent’s viewpoint and elevate your own.

Ready?

Acknowledge, and even validate, the opposing viewpoint in your essay.

Yup! Seriously, it’s that simple. When I was in college and studying for my B.S. in Journalism, my professor taught us this trick for writing convincing editorials.

The structure works like this:

• State your position
• Cite your facts and sources to back up your position
• Acknowledge the opposing viewpoint and why it might make sense
• Return to your position and counter the opposing viewpoint by citing additional facts and sources

Works like a charm.

Of course, you want your argumentative essay to be well-researched and use information from reputable sources. However, by acknowledging and validating your opponent’s viewpoint, you can actually delegitimize it more.

Try it, and let me know what you think!

If you found this information helpful, then please consider making a small tip/donation of $2, $5, or $10. I’m a small-time indie writer who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., and your donations help me afford to continue writing great content that helps other writers improve their craft, grow their audiences, and make a living. Thank you!

*Just a heads up that you might run across a few links in this post (mostly for books) from which I may get a small commission should you click and buy. But don’t feel bad. If you do that, you’ll be supporting a small-time indie writer rather than Amazon.

My creative writing has taken off lately. Like, swoosh, jet-streamed it to the moon!

Perhaps I’ve finally matured as a writer. Maybe it’s the 15+ years I’ve been hounding this craft. Or possibly–just possibly–it’s the driven, hardcore intention I’ve invested into growing my voice lately.

Whatever the reason, below are three actual ways I’ve improved my creative writing over the years. Perhaps they’ll help you improve, too:

1) Write like a journalist. Hook your audience with a solid ‘lede.’

Yes, I’m a former journalist. Like, a real one, who wrote for a daily newspaper as a staff reporter and freelanced for magazines. In journalism, we have something called the “lede” (pronounced like “lead”).

A lede is the first sentence AND first paragraph of your article. It’s usually 25 words or less, and it hooks your readers into the crux of the story without giving too much away. It’s a tease.

The case for writing a good lede goes like this: if a person reads your first sentence and is intrigued, then they’ll read the second sentence. Then the third, fourth, etc. As soon as you lose their interest, however, you’re caput.

Write like a journalist.

Make your opening line short, intriguing, and teasing. Then, write every sentence thereafter as if you’ll be fired if the audience loses interest and stops reading.

2) Draw out your readers’ emotions. Read The Emotional Craft of Fiction to learn how.

This book has been lifechanging for me. LIFECHANGING.

The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface was written by literary agent Donald Maas, founder of the Donald Maas Literary Agency in New York.

I tend to write with a lot of emotion–sometimes too much. But Maas talks about the power of suggestion, making the case that simply writing the character’s emotions isn’t enough. You have to draw out the reader’s emotions by giving them their own journey.

Let’s just say this: The Emotional Craft of Fiction became the jet fuel that launched my writing from good, to fantastic. I employed some of Maas’ techniques and received an enormous response from readers. I cannot recommend this book enough.

3) Use all your senses.

I’ve been told I’m pretty dang good at writing descriptions. I believe this is because I use all my senses.

My first instinct is to write using sight: what the character sees, what the setting looks like. However, I then take it a step further. What does the character feel? How about smell, or sound? And don’t forget about taste.

Writing a feeling of disgust? “Tammy tasted the acidic bile in the back of her throat.”

Is someone hot? “The air was thick with heat and crushed Josh’s lungs until he couldn’t breathe.”

You don’t have to make the added description long, maybe an additional sentence. But challenge yourself to use all your senses, and you’ll make the scene come alive for your reader.

Well, there you go! I hope these three tips will help improve your creative writing. Anything else you would add to this list? Leave a comment below.

If you found this information helpful, then please consider making a small tip/donation of $2, $5, or $10. I’m a small-time indie writer who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., and your donations help me afford to continue writing great content that helps other writers improve their craft, grow their audiences, and make a living. Thank you!

I have a confession to make: I’ve struggled to make a living as a writer.

It’s not easy. During the course of my 15-year career as a writer, editor, and communications consultant, I’ve worked as a daily newspaper reporter, freelance magazine writer, public relations professional, social media manager, freelance writing solopreneur, fiction indie author, and communications manager. I’ve worked full-time, freelanced, gone back to working full-time, and tried freelancing again.

I say this to squash any delusions you may have that you can write for companies and poof! Make six figures. Yeah, no …

Writing is work. It’s strategy. It’s savvy. It’s gut instincts and street cred and a knack for what makes people tick. It’s psychology.

BUT. It is possible to make writing for a living work for you! Here’s how:

1 – Decide if you want to freelance or work full-time as an employee

This. Is. Crucial.

I say this because what an employer wants and what a client wants are two different things. An employer may want a bachelor’s degree in English, communications, marketing or journalism (in which case, you may have to go to college). A client might care about affordability. Determine which route you want and that will guide your strategy toward future success.

2- Build your writing portfolio

Regardless of whether you apply for jobs or plan to attract clients, both sides have one thing in common:

They want to see your clips.

Clips are examples of published writing, usually by someone other than you. For example, I’ve written for Phoenix Magazine. An editor hired me to research and write an article. The magazine published my article. The magazine then paid me for my work. That’s a clip, also the best kind of clip.

However, if you’re starting from scratch and can’t get someone to pay you, offer to freelance for free (hint: find a small online publication or blog and reach out to the owner or editor via email). I freelanced for free for some local magazines at the beginning of my career. Those clips built my portfolio, which I used to land my first staff reporter position on a daily newspaper. Mission accomplished.

If freelancing for free isn’t an option, start a blog, or a newsletter–anything to show off what you can do. At the end of the day, clients and employers want to see what you’ve done.

3 – FREELANCING? Save money and find multiple avenues for writing referrals

If you’re anything like me, you suck at sales. Which is why I find multiple paths for referrals. You can too. Here are some places you can target that will send you regular streams of work without too much outreach:

• Small-or-medium-sized marketing firms that find the clients, but subcontract with you for copywriting
• Staffing agencies and recruiters (that you trust)
• Career coaches who need help writing resumes for their clients
• Editors at magazines and online publications

Before launching into full-time freelancing, I recommend holding onto your day job and trying to land a few clients part-time. Then, save the money you make from those clients to create a safety net for when you transition to full-time freelancing.

4 – APPLYING TO JOBS? Look for entry-level content writing positions

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is your writing career. Whether you’re starting out in life or making a mid-career transition, I encourage you to be patient. You will have to start at the bottom.

Seek out entry-level writing jobs. Some might say “copywriter” or “junior copywriter.” Others might say “content writer” or “content marketing.” Either way, avoid anything with the word “senior” in the title.

Once you land that first job, work it for about two years. Then, if you want to move on and move up, the world is your oyster!

Was this information helpful? Then consider making a small donation of $2, $5, or $10. I’m a small-time indie writer who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., and your tips/donations help me (Shari) afford to continue writing great content that helps other writers improve their craft, grow their audiences, and make a living. Thank you!

I have some exciting news! For those of you who followed me on WordPress in the past and saw I stopped blogging because I moved to Substack ….

I’m baaaaaaack!

I’ll be changing my focus, however. Starting today, I’ll pick up blogging again on WordPress, but on the topic of writing. Yes! Everything about the craft of writing:

• Writing prompts
• Freelance writing
• Essay writing
• Copywriting
• Narrative writing
• Creative writing
• Business writing
• Writing tools
• How to get paid to write

And so on …

For MY Creative and Essay Writing, Sign Up for My Substack Newsletter, Rogue Writer

To be clear, my blogging here on WordPress will remain focused on the CRAFT of writing, whether for marketing, communications, business, nonfiction, or fiction. However, if you enjoy reading MY writing–my fictional stories, my books, my essays–then you’ll still want to sign up for my e-newsletter on Substack, Rogue Writer.

Over the past year, I’ve built a nice following of readers on Rogue Writer, where I publish nearly weekly with:

• Serialized fiction (I’m currently in the middle of publishing a six-part fictional series called “The Curious Case of Elizabeth Seams,” about a 12-year-old girl who can talk to trees)
• Personal life stories and narrative essays
• The occasional sociopolitical commentary, influenced by my life experiences and past work as a daily newspaper reporter
• Poetry
• Sporadic book reviews and interviews with other writers, change-makers, thinkers, or people with interesting things to say
• Updates on new books I’m writing, articles I’m publishing, or other writing projects

If you want to be the first to know about new writing projects, stories, articles, or just keep up with my essays, sign up for Rogue Writer now!

Otherwise, see you around again, fellow writers, authors, essayists, marketers, and writing enthusiasts.

Shari Lopatin is a former award-winning journalist and nationally featured communicator with 15+ years of experience creating communication plans, writing multimedia content for newspapers and magazines, and managing editorial outputs to raise brand visibility, promote messages, and broadcast company stories across a range of industries. She is the author of the science fiction dystopia, The Apollo Illusion, and writes serialized fiction and personal and political essays on her Rogue Writer newsletter on Substack.