It’s not earnings, it’s not reads, it’s not views, it’s not presentations, and it’s not read ratio.

It’s earnings per read.

What can earnings per read tell you about your article?

It lets you know how much time or effort a reader spent interacting with each of your articles.

This matters because each metric can only show what’s happening at a surface level.

It’s normal that you can’t tell why an article earns more than others.

But this is the whole point: many gave up or looked at it without making any adjustments to what they write or do after receiving feedback from their stats and earnings.

You have to know what your metrics are telling you.

2 articles with similar traffic and reads, but different earnings by a wide margin, are something you should look for.

Once in a while, you’ll find something that fits these criteria. That is when you should take a deeper dive into your stats and earnings.

From my last month’s experience, it can be any topic that you can hold the reader’s attention longer.

The goal is to get them to read the entire thing and engage with the article; however, most readers who read a lot don't really interact.

Usually, your most loyal reader tries to support you here and there; they can help a bit, but overall it will have to rely on your writing to attract more readers.

The first thing is to know which article will do better than others.

This process requires you to write and publish across a few topics with both short- and long-form articles.

I would break them down primary by 2–3 minutes article vs 4–6 minutes articles.

In general, if your longer-form article is getting more reach in terms of views and reads, you should stick to those articles, but occasionally throwing in a few shorter articles could help you discover if you feel your process needs a new mix or not fully optimize your time/effort vs. what your current reach is.

5 small checklists that I try to follow, and most of the time it helps.

• Title — Very catchy or informative
• Image — make you say huh or hmm
• Opening — make you read a bit, stop a bit, and think a bit
• Flow — how well the thought or idea flows; explaining too much
• Formatting/structure — how easy was it to skim and read

These are the basics, yet they are also in most of the articles you see in your feeds.

If we go back to the earnings per read theory, no one can calculate or know why an article earns more than the other one with the same or even sometimes more reads than the other one.

Yet, this also gives us a solid framework to know the difference between articles if we look at it closely enough.

Every article is different, every account is different, and every reader is different. But within these data points, you’ll likely find one that works better for you.

Keep trying your best.

Thanks for Reading

The Biggest Tell to Know What Article Will Do Well For You on Medium was originally published in Write A Catalyst on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This month, everything is fine until I realized it’s already the end of the month and my numbers weren’t moving…

This is the first time in a very long time that the 2nd half of the month is slightly better than the 1st half.

I recall I made about $30 for the first 15 days, and about half of it came from Medium member growth earnings.

Nothing was too spicy, but the hottest article came in on the 22nd with a shy 288 (97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper) coins.

It did feel like some articles were earning copper pennies while some were made of zinc…worth.

These are made of copper, I guess.

What surprises me still is how a random 2-minute article can earn about the same rate while also getting an okay reach compared to the other article that I did put a bit more effort into.

It’s really not about how much time you spent, but more like how you get the reader to click one after another.

The first article was obviously going to have greater reach when writing about AI; when we infused the two topics of AI and writing, it turned out to be the best performer of the month.

Of course, as I mentioned, the 2nd half of the month feels like mining copper over zinc.

Okay, maybe not all the way to the end…

Because just 3 days ago, it kinda crashed back down to square one.

Like a tree growing just to find out that it was just daydreaming for a couple of days in front of a drought.

I’m glad every penny counts.

Not expecting much for the final week; now with 2 more days left, it’s a no-brainer to share the stats and earnings because the needle has likely stopped.

Or maybe this one can reignite some random paywalled articles to be seen again. You never know what the new month could bring you, and it usually starts around this time.

Q4 has officially started in October for many, and right now is the hottest period of the upcoming Holidays and events.

This is a real deal, not just in e-commerce, but also in writing platforms, as people are getting ready to spend most of their time in front of a screen or stay inside and read a book or something like a Medium article.

And the money is coming… hopefully, and the traffic will follow.

This month, I probably can break $70, but I have only published 25 articles so far for October, and this one will be the 26th, and likely one more if I have the time.

Probably not, since I need to bring the kids out for trick-or-treating tomorrow.

Thanks for Reading

Another great piece of news is that one of our Medium friends has bought a copy of the Halloween kids’ activity book for their little one. They told me on Substack, or else it will take me a decade to figure out. Thanks.

Probably the only sale of the year. Happy Halloween 2026.

My Medium Spooky Stats and Creepy Earnings For October 2026 was originally published in Write A Catalyst on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.