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Pennies Trickle In…
A Brief Perspective On Medium Earnings
I’ve been thinking a bit about word count and earnings here on this site for a while now, mulling it over in my head just how vast quantities of creative output can yield so little in the way of income. Then it struck me to look at a book one might purchase from a book retailer and estimate the cost paid per wordage. The book I chose is ‘Overstated’ by Colin Quinn, mainly because it happens to be one I’ve checked out from the library recently.
I did an informal survey to determine the total word count of the book over its 243 pages, taking into account the variance of words likely to be on half pages and full pages. In total, I believe I estimate somewhere in the area of 70,000 to 72.000 words in all. The full retail price for this book, as stated on the jacket is $27.99US. If taken as an average, that translates to roughly 35 to 40 cents paid per 1,000 words.
I then did an informal survey of my own writing here on medium, estimating that over the last year I’ve written and published roughly 140,000 words in total. Fucking staggering amount when you consider it in its entirety, if I’m being honest. All told, between June of last year, when I first entered the Partner Program, and March of this year, I’ve earned about $61US. If I do the same monies per word count average I did with the Colin…
