How To Roll With the Punches and Still Make Money
Plus 50% off all my success kits
This year is less than three weeks old and I’ve already had to pivot a few times in terms of how I’m going to be operating as an online writer and what I’ll be doing to keep my head above water, financially speaking.
Everything is changing. My main writing platform, Medium, is in flux, reportedly due to having to do a huge spam purge. Social media platforms are imploding left, right and centre.
If you’re a writer, or online creator of any kind, here’s my advice right now.
Stay flexible in approach
People are saying Medium is broken. I’m not convinced (yet). For now I’m following the advice of
to focus on quality over quantity on the platform, and submit mostly to publications run by Boost nominators (here’s a list of those for the Medium writers out there).If your writing landscape is changing, try to stay on top of the changes and work with them rather than just railing against them. Maybe it’s time for a change of platform. Maybe it’s time to use your current platforms differently. Maybe both, to be honest, which brings us to the next point.
Don’t be scared of exploring new platforms
I’ve written before about how I’m now focusing on three main platforms, but nothing is set in stone. You have to be prepared to move on. I’ve also written about how I’ve weathered the changes in the online writing landscape over the past couple of decades and survived in spite of it all. Medium was once ‘the new Squidoo’ for me. I guess one day something will be the new Medium.
I only use TikTok as a consumer, not a creator, but watching US creators this week trying to move their audiences to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and various other apps (all of which have their own issues to be fair) has been an education.
As I touch on in this article, TikTok was paying more per video to creators than most other platforms (with the average price for a sponsored TikTok video around $2,700), and many were making a full-time income there, which the US Government (or more specifically the Supreme Court) seems largely unaware of, or unconcerned by.
On a related (if much less important) note, I jumped onto BlueSky this week. I’m hoping it will be an alternative to Twitter/X where I have around 9,000 followers and almost zero engagement.
It certainly has a similar vibe to Twitter in the very early days, so I look forward to getting started over there, though I’ve yet to put up a single post (follow me, anyway, if you want to – things will liven up on my profile soon, I promise).
Be open to new opportunities
Someone commented on a Medium article of mine this week asking if I would be interested in submitting original articles to a site she works for. A year ago that would have been a hard no. I had more work than I could handle, mainly working for a content marketing agency.
That work dropped off due to AI stepping in a while ago. But just recently it’s dipped again (due to AI stepping up its game, perhaps?). Either way, I’m looking for sites that want proper, journalistic, human-generated writing, so I got in contact. We’ll see how that goes.
If anyone knows of more solid, revenue-generating opportunities (that involve writing, not crypto, direct sales or taking my clothes off - none of which play to my strengths) feel free to share.
In short:
Nothing is certain. Change is inevitable. It’s survival of the fittest - by which I mean (much like Darwin) the most adaptable - in 2025 and beyond. How are you prepping?
Oh, and I mentioned 50% off all the success kits. Here you go (discount baked in at these links – no coupon code required):
Some thoughts from others I’ve been enjoying this week
Behind the Scenes of Earning $500/Day in Passive Income from Writing Books by
Why Substack Can Be Your Author Platform by
I Found Two Questions Writers Should Ask Themselves In A Killer Book by
How to Build a Good Strategy to Maximize the Power of Both Medium by
4 Ways To Fast-Track Your Substack Growth and Substack by
A (Really) Bad Idea Might Just Be What You Need by
What else I’ve been up to this week
Listening to: Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport (I’m putting aside just 20 minutes a day for this so it’s taking a while - somewhat fittingly)
Watching: My fave US TikTokers before they disappear
Working on: A new strategy that embraces and works with the changes I’m seeing right now
Taking time to: Walk in nature, eat healthy food, use my optician-recommended hot eye mask (just 20 minutes a day - while listening to above audio book), get some microgreens and sprouted seeds started to support that better nutrition
This week’s Medium post
(Friend link, as always, so you can read for free if you’re not a member.)
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Look on Blue Sky for new magazines with paid for articles. One was rec'd by Freelance Writing Zone.
Thanks for mentioning my post this week!