How $5,000 a Month Writing on AI Engineering Isn't About Going Viral

Raking in $5,000 in a single month from writing about AI engineering on Medium sounds like hitting the jackpot. But if you dig deeper, it's more of a story about the power of compounding and finding a precise niche than just viral flukes.

The Real Breakdown of a Successful Month

May was a big month, but it didn't come out of nowhere. Just a couple of months prior, the same account gathered 3.9K views. Fast forward a month, and it was 10.9K. The jump to $5,000 wasn't magic. It was more methodical.

Sure, some pieces like a guide on Claude Code setup and a breakdown of local LLMs pulled in tens of thousands of views. But here's the catch: these weren't standalone hits. They were gateways into a deeper catalog. Readers came for a viral post, but stayed because they found a treasure trove of equally compelling technical dives.

Compounding: The Quiet Force

Compounding and consistency are what fueled this growth. March was quiet, almost dull. But by mid-April, the daily views began to rise. Each new post gave a nod to the older ones, and the entire collection started to move in tandem. I once thought 'go viral or go home' was the motto. But in reality, it’s more like 'keep publishing until it clicks.'

Compounding looks slow, almost boring, until it isn't. It's waking up one day, seeing a surge in an old RAG post you forgot about, and realizing your catalog is alive and kicking.

Niche: Deeper, Not Wider

Here's where the real lesson kicks in: the niche wasn't just AI. It was AI engineering, which is a far cry from generic AI commentary. This niche had depth, and every post was part of a larger, interconnected web. When readers stumbled upon a piece about RAG chunking, they naturally gravitated towards related content like reranking or hybrid search.

So, why should anyone care? Because this isn't just about writing. it's about strategy in content creation. It's about not diluting your brand with random content. It's about staying relevant to your audience. The broader your topic, the more you fight for attention. The more specific you get, the more you win over dedicated reads.

In the end, what matters isn't the viral post. It's whether the readers find enough value to stick around. And as I've been in that room, I can say, the pitch deck says one thing, but your content tells the real story.