$3.23 in a week or $5551.87 in the last 24 hours?

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   TessSchlesingerposted 12 months ago

   It's not much of a choice, is it?
   
   I cannot remember when last, if ever, I received $3.23 for a week of viewing. I have $49.10 owing to me from last month and the month before, and some $13 earned this month.
   
   Compare this with something like $17,000 made in the last 3 weeks through my writing. You will forgive me, therefore, If I just deleted all but two of my articles from Hubpages. I will leave those two here as a service to those tourists who need to know about the transport services available in Cape Town, South Africa.
   
   I also confess to feeling some embarrassment at the ads that dominate my article. I am a serious writer, focusing on ethics and intellectual issues. The last thing I want to do is appear in something that looks like a tabloid.
   
   At the risk of getting chucked off Hubpages, I will say that I don't think my writing is going to be doing much good here anyway. That wouldn't be because it isn't being read. I can see from the poll figures that my articles are being read. Nope, it's because I think that the parent company is increasingly going to be paying writers less and less, and if I was desperate, maybe I would stay. But I'm not desperate. I'm earning enough to live.
   
   Anyway, just thought I'd say my bit.
   
   $3.23 in 7 days? Wow. There was a time that for the same articles a few years ago, I was earning 3 figures.

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      Kyler J Falkposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      It does seem to be about time that TAG and its affiliates felt some much-needed backlash for their poor operations decisions.
      
      I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment, Tess, and I'm equally as concerned. Let's see how it all plays out.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         +++

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      Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Congrats to you; those earnings are remarkable. With 12 million views here, that's probably as much as I have earned in10 years.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         Medium has a different method for writers to earn. One can sell through affiliate marketing, but I only do a bit of that. Mostly, I earn through Medium directly, plus through patrons 'donating' to me every month. I have a bunch of people who donate money to me every month - some up to $100 and others making one off donations of a few thousand.  Then, I have my books which sell rather better than they used to because I've written about them on Medium, and that drives people to buy my books.
         
         I do want to point out that I write in a very specific niche, and the kind of people who read what I write are a small demographic. It's just that most people don't write for that demographic, and it tends to be well educated and moneyed, so that comes my way. I am deeply humbled by it all.

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      vrdmposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Sounds like a good move Tess.  I too have been complaining about all these intrusive adverts splattered all over my pieces - even with the ads switched off!  I was advised by Hub support to "get an ad blocker"! 
      All the best, DM

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         TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         What is the use of an ad blocker? One doesn't look at one's own stories. This is for readers out there who come to one's stories and then go away because there is too much intrusion.

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      OldRosesposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Your analysis of your earnings is just a tad misleading.  When someone says that they earned X amount from their writing, they are usually talking about earnings directly from articles they have written.
      
      Earnings from Patreon and Kofi are not usually counted as "writing" earnings because those earnings are subscription earnings that result in a monthly income whether you are actually writing or not.
      
      So you might more accurately say that you earn 3 figures with the occasional 1k month from your actual writing and thousands from subscriptions on Patreon and Kofi.
      
      The reason that I bring this up, is that people looking for places to earn from they writing see that you say that you earn thousands and may not delve into the details you provide in the breakdown of your earnings.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         I''m not quite sure what you're saying. I'm not selling subscriptions. I don't write newsletters. There are certainly people on Ko-fi who are doing, but I am not.
         
         I write on Medium. I have a note on the bottom asking for patrons - either on Ko-fi or Patreon. I give absolutely nothing in return other than I write most days on Medium.
         
         People gift me because they like what I wrote.
         
         I was very clear about how I earned what I did, and make no mistake, people will not give you once off donations or monthly donations if they don't like what you write.Or if you stop writing. So your point that they pay you whether you write or not is mute. They will just stop their payments if you stop writing. Why does it matter if people chose to pay you a monthly fee because they enjoy your writing?
         
         I'm just curious why you think that I'm not being paid for my writing. Of course, I'm being paid for my writing. Just in different ways. I'm also sure that lots of people don't care how they paid, so long as they are paid.

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            OldRosesposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            Actually, I did not write my reply for you.  It was to clarify what you wrote to the people reading this thread.  I don't want them to join Medium thinking that they are going to earn $17k a month and then when they earn pennies as most Medium writers do, wonder what they did wrong.
            
            They need to understand that you earn $17k a month from subscriptions to your Patreon and Kofi.  You only earn a few hundred dollars a month from your actual articles on Medium which is still much better than most Medium writers but a far cry from $17k.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

               No, I don't earn $17K a month from my subscriptions. I said that so far this month, I had received that much. I have had one-off donations for about $14.5K (these are not recurring), monthly donations payments on Patreon for $370, monthly payments on Ko-fi for $120.
               
               My subscriptions are, then about $500 per month. That's it. It's the one off donations that are the bulk of what I receive.
               
               That said, there are people on Patreon who are earning $25,000 per month writing fictional web series. i'm going to be starting that, and I have every confidence I will do well. I am, after all, primarily a fiction writer.
               
               As soon as I've settled into my new home, I have ever intention of writing a novel and of doing a web series. I feel confident that while I have always had the skill to do these things, I have lacked the platform. Now I have it.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

               Caren, you are right about one thing. This is not something that happens to everybody. I've just been very lucky these past six months. That's it. It could happen to anybody, but it seldom does.
               
               My point is that I see no reason to write on Hubpages if my takings are $3.23 for a week when I am taking some so much elsewhere.  Add to that, the uncertainty of the platform, and I would hesitate to put any effort into it.
               
               With regard to my articles on Medium, I won't stay on the platform forever. I'm determined to branch into fiction. It doesn't have the sort of come backs I've had to endure for years.
               
               All of these things are educated guessed, calculated bets. I think I have a 75% chance of achieving what I set out to do. I know it might not come off, but I have the funds to do the marketing, so I'll try.

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   Solarasposted 12 months ago

   When they are too embarrassed, unconcerned or ignorant to tell us how we are paid, then it is time to consider alternatives.
   
   It leaves one to wonder, are the pageviews and impressions being reported legitimate.
   
   Sad.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      I have questioned that for a few years now.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 12 months ago

   Agree that earnings here are dismal at the moment but that's amazing to hear you're earning well as a writer! If you don't mind me asking, can you share what avenues are earning you so much elsewhere?

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      TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      The best way for writers to earn now is by offering something that patrons would like to support. If you recall, in the 19th century, artists had patrons. That has now become an accepted idea by the general public as a way of supporting artists.
      
      I use Ko-fi and Patreon. On it, I have people who will pay me as little as $1 per month, while some pay me $100 per month. Still others (very few, but they are there) will donate once off 4-figure amounts.
      
      That's where about 70% to 80% of my income comes from. The next biggest section comes from people reading my articles on Medium. Medium earnings have gone down for most people, and mine hover between the 3 figures and 4 figures. Last month I hit 4-figures, and as I'm on $936 or something this month so far, I think I'll probably finish on about $1200.
      
      Other than that, affiliate marketing and my books bring in a small regular amount.

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         How to - Answersposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you for sharing your experiences of writing on different platforms.  It is an eye opener and has given me the wake up call to spend less time writing articles and more time researching the best places to write them on.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            +++

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         Amara Hassanposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         Wow thats mean even medium is paying its writers well than HP. I dont know why HP is doing this. My earnings are getting lesser and lesser with each month. I think its the time to think for medium.

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            eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            Remember you need to write regularly on Medium to earn (depending on topic, if it's popular it may be re-read/shared). Also you don't earn from external, non-member traffic.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

               Yes, but you can earn through other means - which hubpages does not allow.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            I don't think that Medium is necessarily paying its writers better. It is giving them more opportunity to earn in different ways. They can use affiliate marketing (to a degree). They can sell courses or promote themselves. They can add links to sites where artists and writers can ask for patronage, etc.
            
            As with all writing sites, a few writers float to the top of the earning tree and tend to earn most of the pennies.

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         Kierstin Gunsbergposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you so much for taking the time to share, Tess. It sounds like you've worked very hard to build your base.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            I have in one way - that I kept on writing. I also tried different platforms and different mehods. I've had some people with me for 14 years, and they have followed me from platform to platform, so I know that once readers like what you write, they do follow you.

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   eugbugposted 12 months ago

   Interestingly, GA shows no drop in views from UK readers visiting my articles, even though they haven't been shown ads for the last 4 days or so. Possibly though GA still registers views for readers that back out within the first few seconds. I think slow image loading on mobile devices and page responsiveness might be more of an issue. The orange line in the graph below is the UK traffic. Most people probably use ad blockers too. Impressions should be several times higher than views because as I understand it, an impression is when someone sees an ad. If there's lots of ads on a page, there should be multiple impressions per view. For me however, impressions are about 60% to 80% of views.
   
   
   

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      TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      Those are good points. Do you think that the use of ad blockers is higher now than it was 2 or 5 or 10 years ago?

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         eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

         I don't know. Chrome has a blocker built in I think. I don't know whether it's on by default.

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            Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

            Its not on by default. 2021 they estimated that 27% of users have ad blocking software turned on. 50% of those users are in the 16-24 year old age group. So if you write on mature subjects up to senior topics you should have a 15% of your pageviews as an ad blocking user group. Your earlier comment about impressions is a good question.  My impressions are half of my pageviews. That is impossible, unless slow ad load speed means no impressions.

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               eugbugposted 12 months agoin reply to this

               Ads can be very slow to load. On my phone it can take 10 seconds or more. So if I user doesn't stay on a page for long, the view may be registered, but there could be no impressions and that would bring down the overall average impression/view ratio to less than 100%.

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                  Solarasposted 12 months agoin reply to this

                  Over on the post i made about what is our share of ad $$$  i made a formula. Take a look at it. It assumes only 25% of readers make it 3/4 of the way through the article. With all the ads and vudeo crammed in there we should still make double the impressions sfter the old split. Try putting your numbers in there. I  believe i am earning the 34% of impressions they bragged about in the press release about reducing partner revenue share.

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   eugbugposted 12 months ago

   Here's another stat, time on page versus date for UK readers. No ads, but they're not staying any longer.
   
   
   

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      TessSchlesingerposted 12 months agoin reply to this

      That's interesting. So would that mean that readers are reading (or not reading) the text just as much, but the readership is going up and down (which it always does)?
      
      If so, what is causing the drop in earnings?

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   eugbugposted 12 months ago

   This is odd.
   
   The same parameters, but extending back further in time. Maybe these are just anomalies? Or is it due to someone viewing a page and leaving their browser open on an article for hours at a time and then eventually leaving the page?
   
   
   

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