Medium is suddenly better for me than Fiverr
I recently wrote about which was better – Medium or Fiverr. My opinions have changed recently but partly that is because I am idle but also because the income from both has suddenly flipped.
What happened?
My gig was doing well on Fiverr and I was posting the odd thing on Medium. On Fiverr, I was getting inquiries and requests on a daily basis and writing an article every other day. It wasn’t a lot of work and I could do it around other things. I was probably getting around $500 a month.
Then there was an algorithm change and then nothing. My daily views dropped from just below 100 to just below 10 in the space of a month. This is the downside to Fiverr. I mentioned in the piece Fiverr versus Medium, who’s best for your side hustle? that the site is like a notice board in a shop window. Your advert is up there for all to see. To stretch that analogy to an almost painful amount, imagine you could then swipe the noticeboard and get another page of ads. What happened was that the shopkeeper got bored and moved my advert to the last page
I wasn’t all that bothered as it then meant I would switch my side gig to focus more on Medium. I don’t know why it sound a bit lame to say ‘side gig’ but it feels a bit uncool. Anyway, I wrote slightly more but also focused on quality.
You can see my stuff by clicking on this to give you an idea.
In November I wrote two articles on there. So far in December, I have written seven. Which is nothing compared to most people on there. The top writers write an article a day but as I said before, I am idle.
The result has been a noticeable uptick in both followers, views, reads, and consequently, money. The difference on Medium is that if you keep writing consistently, you should maintain an upward trajectory. Obviously, this has limits – I image those earning thousands a month who write an article or two a day eventually plateau. But until then, things are on the up.
Future plans for Medium and Fiverr
I will update on progress occasionally because these sites are both pretty easy side -err, jobs. You can write something in an hour or two and pay the bills. There are a couple of things I can do on these sites to up my stats like I am in a real-life computer game.
On Fiverr, as I am up a rank, I can have ten gigs. I currently have one. So I guess I could start another. Maybe a couple, if I can find the time and/or energy. I assume the algorithm there will mix things around fairly regularly and my single gig may come back in favour. If I have a few in rotation, then maybe that will keep me in readies.
On Medium, I can just write more. Keep up the momentum.
Final thoughts on the differences between the two
I have had good experiences on both and that remains the same.
Fiverr
On Fiverr, I met some really nice people and wrote on topics that I would never have considered looking into. However, there are some topics I wouldn’t particularly be keen on writing about again. You are essentially at the mercy of two things:
- Whoever clicks on your gig is king. If they ask for something weird or wrong, there is very little support for the seller (i.e. me). There is a mild concern every time someone gets in touch that you will end up with a bad review or an awkward client. I once had a client that wanted me to write a hate piece about Amnesty International. I refused and asked for help from Fiverr and they basically said, ‘Just try and work it out.’
- You can have a great performing gig that increases in popularity, clicks and orders. Then the algorithm does a reshuffle and you get nothing. I am sure it will roll back round but I really wouldn’t advise relying on the platform too heavily.
I will add in a couple of more gigs and see what happens.
Medium
I really love writing on Medium. If I read something fascinating or come across something interesting, I can research it and publish it. I can write about Star Trek’s close links to Cheers, why I love JG Ballard, or OneCoin – The $4 Billion Scam.
Essentially, I can write about whatever the hell interests me and I am mostly at the mercy of how many other people are interested in similar things. So far, they have been.
The pay has been less on Medium but it is now going up at a much more rapid rate than before. Which is nice. I will keep up the momentum and see how things go.
Conclusion – is one better than the other?
At the risk of sounding like a copout, they are different. When I got made redundant in March (thanks Covid) I decided to go freelance. I have other money but thought I would try out a couple of these platforms and see what they are like. Fiverr made it pretty easy to make $1000 pretty easily. Which was nice. Medium was harder and feels like you’re shouting into the void for the first two or three articles and it still hasn’t paid as much as Fiverr.
However, Medium feels nicer. It is more fun. If I was in a position where I was making say, $2000 a month from both and wanted to give one up, it would probably be Fiverr. My position and earnings at Fiverr feel more flimsy and at the mercy of outside forces. Plus, on Medium, I can write whatever I want. If you find coming up with article ideas a problem then that is an issue.
I will see how things pan out further down the line. Until then – buy one of my books! There are travel stories, science fiction stories, a scifi novella about the nature of reality (it is fun and humourous though) and a non-fiction but fascinating look at Thai ghosts and demons.
