Monitoring Meta Stories on Medium After You "Fix" them
Do you want to check and make sure that your stories continue earning?
Now that the practice of writing Medium related stories is basically taboo, I’m doing more than simply refraining from including content in my future stories, that identifies as meta.
Just like I’ve been announcing and shouting out all week long, ever since l landed on Substack, I’m on a mission to FIX a great deal of my stories, and monitor them, to see if they continue to earn.
In the latter section of this page, I talk about a cool way to monitor specific stories. This is possible if you happen to own a publication yourself, or if the story you want to monitor was featured by a publication owner.
Although the point I’ll be making, is a good way to monitor previously published meta stories that you fix, in order to keep them behind the paywall, the example I’m using below, is a brand NEW story I just published in a really strategic way.
Here’s the thing - any member on Medium who happens to read that particular story, is clearly aware that the “rules” I’m talking about have reference to Medium’s new policy about meta content.
Although that may be the case; in spite of all the story context I provide in an obvious but diplomatic way, no where in the wording of my story do I once mention “Medium”. Nor do I mention any other name or expression that would confirm definitively, that it’s a Medium related meta story.
This just goes to show that there’s always a method to the madness, and if you’re smart, you can learn to apply it successfully.
So now, let me tell you about this interesting and fun fact, that can help you monitor fixed certain stories a little closer on a day-to-day basis.
📌 What you should know if a story is featured by a publication
If a publication designates your story as “Featured” you can easily identify the progress of that particular story in your stats, because the icon you see in the screen shot below, will stand out on the stat’s page, just like this (far right side):
This is a great piece of advice to keep in mind for those who have their own publications, and want to keep a tight eye on a particular story or two.
You’re allowed to “FEATURE” multiple stories in your publication, and enable up to 4 (or 5) of them to be pinned to the pub’s front page.
When a writer looks over their stats and sees those little ribbon icons continue to pop up, they’ll know exactly how the stores they’re trying to monitor are progressing.
And now, speaking of progress, could the stats for this story be an indication that things are looking up, with regards to earnings in general, going back to normal (whatever that really is)?
Here’s why I say that…
A small earnings increase might mean that more is coming
This might not really mean nothing at all, but then again, if a small earnings increase is noticeable, even to just one story; this might be a signal that more increases are coming in the future.
The the earnings in the screen shot seem to indicate two things:
Unlike I originally thought when I first checked, it seems that Medium has apparently accepted this story as being eligible to go behind the paywall.
The amount of earnings for this one story, after being published only one day, has exceeded what I’ve been doing in the past few months, which is earning that much or less, for multiple stories, covering multiple days.
When you consider that the “amount” I’m referring to is only .89 cent, it’s almost laughable - been there, done that.
But nowadays, I’m not laughing anymore - though thankfully, I’m not crying either. I’m just pushing on, the best way I know how.
That being the case, I prefer to think of this as a sign that there’s still hope for change on Medium, at least when it comes to allowing our earnings to reflect some semblance of dignity, if not appreciation for our work.
Final Word
Since getting answers to many of our questions on Medium usually amounts to a lot of “hurry up and wait”, if a change in earnings is taking place, I guess we’ll know when we know.
But in the meantime, I’m continuing on my own path these days, and staying focused on my primary mission and objective, which is to:
Reclassify, Repurpose, and Relocate the most valuable content in my existing catalog of 1,900 published stories.
If you’d like to join me in doing the same with some of your own Medium related stories, you’re welcome to join me by subscribing to The Meta Fixer.
You’re also invited to check out The “Meta” Fix Publication on Medium and take a peek at the simple Submission Guidelines posted there.
If you enjoyed this post, don’t hesitate to share it with another writer.
You can show your appreciation and solidarity for a meta writer when you:
