February 2025 Earnings Report (Still Hanging In There...)
Medium earnings, affiliate sales, Substack subs, and more!
Last month, I had an article take off, and it helped immensely with my earnings for the month.
That article helped me again at the beginning of February, as you’ll see in the report. And I’m thankful for that because just about everything else fell flat.
Let’s get into it.
These are my current sources of income:
Medium
Amazon books
digital products
Buy Me a Coffee
affiliate marketing promotions
Let me remind you what happened in January.
Quickie January stats
You can read January’s full report here.
Writing through Medium: 5,046 followers & $961.80 in earnings
Affiliate sales: $346.77
Amazon KDP: $4.30
Digital products: $141.10
I made a total of: $1449.67
February 2025 Results
First, let’s go over Medium.
Side note: Today is the day Medium will stop all Medium meta posts from being behind the paywall. I think this will be a good thing overall, but we’ll see!
Because Medium seems to be terrible at communicating, no one knows if:
this affects older articles or just article going forward
they’ll remove the paywall or the entire article (we think just the paywall)
if “writing tips” count or just stories directly about Medium
That’s why I’ll be hosting this report exclusively on Substack. I won’t get paid for it here either since my Substack is free, but at least I know I won’t be banned for it.
You never know what kind of filters you’ll get stuck in over on Medium…
Reads & views
First, January’s reads and views for comparison:
January was my best month ever for reads & views due to that viral article. Here’s February:
You can see it’s still decent but dropped down a lot once the viral article fizzled out.
Followers
In January, I had 5,046 followers. Here’s what February looks like:
It was a pretty standard month for me for followers. I’m happy with it!
Earnings
My earnings dropped down quite a bit from last month, which I expected. I’m happy I almost reached $500:
The problem is…
What’s going to happen in March with no viral story to help push my earnings up?
Come back next month and find out!
Total Medium earnings = $475.56
Affiliate & Benable sales
Last month, I had a pretty big affiliate sale payout. This month, we’re back down to the normal range.
I earned one cash back on Benable in February. Here’s where we are with that:
You need $80 in sales to cash out.
I’m not so concerned with this because I prefer using Benable to point people to my Amazon account so I can make a few bucks there:
However, I believe most of my affiliate sales come from Medium articles.
I haven’t worked on Benable in a while, and that’s something I want to do this month. I’ve been getting quite a few followers over there, and that’s a signal to spend more time creating lists.
I made a couple of other affiliate sales this month, which is great.
But it looks like one of my recurring Wealthy Affiliate members dropped off. That person was a member for several years, so that’s a bummer. But it is what it is!
Total affiliate sales = $105.46
Substack
I don’t have a paid newsletter, so I’ll just focus on the subscribers I picked up. Last month, I was at 640 subs. Here’s what it looks like now:
I know I could grow faster if I:
posted on Notes consistently
collaborated with people
had a focused, targeted message
I just don’t know if I care enough. Is that bad? lol
Some days I feel very motivated, and some days I don’t. I know that’s no way to run a business, but this isn’t a business to me. It’s a side hustle. And I’d like to keep it that way.
I think.
I change my mind a lot. 😅
Amazon KDP
I was surprised when I got a payment from Amazon KDP this month. I don’t know how my Medium Money book is still making sales on there. I barely mention it! (Except for now.)
Total KDP sales = $12.86
Gumroad
Gumroad’s been a little slow for me, but I also haven’t been promoting my stuff. If you don’t promote, no one knows what you have!
Here are the sales from February:
It’s not bad, considering the lack of promotion.
Gumroad Guide = 1 sale ($9) *Note: This is also available as a free bonus with 6 Steps to Write and Market an Ebook.
Medium Money = 3 sales ($44)
6 Steps To Write and Market an Ebook (and Make Money Too) = 4 sales ($88)
The 4-Step Affiliate Marketing System = 18 downloads ($1) Note: This is a free book, but some people pay anyway, even though they don’t have to!
Total Gumroad payments (for sales activities Jan 18 — Feb 21 ) = $96.06
(This is after paying fees + affiliates and includes any affiliate sales I made through Gumroad.)
Buy Me a Coffee
One sweet person bought me a coffee. It’s my first one. Thank you, whoever you are!
Total BMAC sales = $3
Total Earnings
Here are all my earnings since 2024:
January 2024 = $1,008.10
February 2024 = $1.045.69
March 2024 = $664.55
April 2024 = $1,111.32
May 2024 = $713.60
June 2024 = $1,095.47
July 2024 = $953.89
August 2024 = $938.42
September 2024 = $492.98
October 2024 = $508.28
November 2024 = $491.12
December 2024 = $215.38
January 2025 = $1,449.67
February 2025 = $680.08
Final Thoughts
I have a lot of thoughts, but Substack is telling me this post is too long for email, so I’ll have to save those for another time.
20 Lessons From Making $2M Online →
(Substack)I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one: Why I'm Not Going Paid on Substack →
(Substack)My Business Grows Slowly — And I Like It →
(Medium)
Get in the club that teaches you how to write (and finally get noticed).
Grab this ultimate bundle to master making money on the internet.
Don’t miss this 2-hour self-paced course that dives into how to write books for a living.
Hey looks like you’ve been cloned on Medium.
I tried uploading the screenshot here, but it’s not showing. Is there a way to DM you here?
I change my mind so much I rarely finish anything and this must stop. 🤣I started my 100-day challenge 8 days ago. And guess what? I haven't worked on it but for 1.5 hours. Once day. I made up my mind each day I don't follow through I have to stop and start over. this is a psychological block I truly believe I need therapy on, no kidding. Anyway, thanks for being transparent in the numbers. It makes things real and tangible for the rest of us. Great article and recommendations. Why is it you are a person who offers tremendous value and doesn't charge? (rhetorical question, haha) On a side note: How do you market for your Gumroad product? I'm thinking of putting my 100-day challenge products on there and bypassing Etsy to start. Happy Monday!