How Important is Buy Me A Coffee?

Dreams

Many writers went to Medium because it has an attractive system that reward writers for their writing. It is a fabulous system and even I was lured onto that platform because of this system. The initial days were sort of a fantasy, and I can’t help but dream of what it could mean if it really can be a viable side hustle.

Reality

But dreams are like bubbles, they burst. It didn’t take long before reality sinks in. Even seasoned writers like Benny Lim, who runs Writers’ Blokke with ~8k followers, is only making $120 this month. How much do you think, you and I should reasonably target?

About <10% of Medium writers take home more than $100 a month. The rest of the writers have to fight for the crumb. If you are not one of the 2000 top writers, chances are you are one of those surviving on crumbs, and the amount you get from Medium is not going to be sufficient. It can, at most, buy you some peanuts. Even if you make it to the top 2000, you still can’t depend on it for a living because many of them are only making under $1000 per month. Unless you are living in a third world country, $1000 a month isn’t gonna get you a decent living.

Reach Out to Other Sources

That is not to say you can’t make good money from writing, I believe you can, but you can’t rely entirely on Medium. You have to venture beyond your comfort zone and reach out to other sources where your love for writing can actually help you monetise more. That’s when I chanced on buymeacoffee.com (Ko-fi.com is an alternative choice) and I think all writers should have such an account if you have a dream to earn more than what Medium is willing to pay you. For writers, you could earn more simply by having the option for readers to buy you a coffee for the hard work you have put in for a great article.

In fact, I believe in it so much, I wrote an open letter to CEO Medium, Ev Williams, asking him for it. There are people who call me crazy, I don’t really care, I will fight for what I think is right, and in as many ways as I can think of.

Start Your Journey

But BMC or Ko-fi can do more than accepting tips or coffee. On these platforms, you can actually write down your dream project and if it clicks with the community you may get followers and supporters to help fund your work. This is yet another source of income that all writers should explore. Don’t just write for the meagre payout from Medium. Look out for other sources so that you get decently paid for doing the things you love.

Setting up an account is really simple as it can be linked to Stripe or Paypal, whichever is convenient for you. You can even link it to the one you have used for Medium. If you are unfamiliar, I urge you to explore how other BMC users are doing it, on the BMC website they show you how the better ones are doing it and you can take reference on how you might want to do yours.

While Coffee Times can’t help other writers on this, what we could do was to “make” you aware of this additional avenue so that you can have more sources of income beyond that Medium is paying you. And of course, remember to say thank you and follow my BMC account when you do get a free coffee from Coffee Times. :)

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