My First $0.01 Paycheck from Medium & Why It Inspires Me To Keep on Writing
The Dead Sea is lowest point on earth and it’s salty, very salty. Receiving my first Partner Program deposit for $0.01 resembles that salty-sort-of, lowest point on earth type of feeling. It’s gritty, grimy and it hurts all of my existing writing wounds. Ouch. Descending to low points can be humbling but when you reach the very bottom, well it’s beyond humbling to say the least. The positive side is that I can only go up from here; And upward and onward I shall go.
This record low for me and yet it still inspires me to keep writing. After all, it’s technically the first payment I’ve received from Medium but not my first from Amazon and other platforms where I’ve published my work. If there’s one thing that I understand about writing is that there’s writing for yourself and there’s writing for your audience. It’s true, I do write mostly for myself. However, I write a lot and I love helping people. If people can somehow be helped through what I write, I consider it to be a success, even if it helps just one person.
Here are the lessons I’m continuing to learn through online writing.
SEO Counts. Truth be told, I’ve been dancing around it for a long time but if this doesn’t serve as a wake up call, then I’m not sure what does. It’s not my strong suit but in this era of writing and self publishing, it’s a crucial effort I can no longer ignore.
Digital Networking. In real life, to say I’m a social person is an understatement. I can make friends anywhere and everywhere. I’m the kind of person that likes to greet people that I see on a daily basis, ask them about their lives and exchange stories. Strangers then become friends and a big city like New York City becomes a whole lot smaller. One thing I don’t do so well, is connecting with writers, readers and people in general online.
Tags. I have a love/hate relationship with tags. I know that they matter and to some degree, I understand that they are effective, but making my tags effective, is a whole other story.
Ask for Help. When all else fails or better yet, before failure, ask for help. It’s not that I feel that I have failed but I do feel that perhaps the lack of developing a promotional strategy has led me down this road. So, to you the reader, I’m asking for your feedback and comments. What do you suggest that I do? What’s worked for you and why?
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