avatarDerek Hughes

Summary

The author shares their journey of growing from 0 to 400 followers on Medium in 166 days by using batch writing, engaging with the community through valuable comments, and discovering their niche in writing for new writers.

Abstract

The author began their Medium journey with a failing newsletter and took inspiration from Nicolas Cole to start writing on the platform. Despite initial slow growth, the author's breakthrough came from adopting a batch writing process, which significantly increased their productivity and follower count. They also emphasize the importance of audience hacking by contributing insightful comments on other writers' stories to gain visibility. The author's advice includes working in batches to produce more content, providing value through comments, and exploring various topics to find one's niche. The article concludes with the author's top five performing stories, which all cater to new writers, and encourages others to consistently improve and use data to guide their content strategy.

Opinions

  • The traditional advice of "write daily" may not be the only or best approach for all writers.
  • Engaging with other writers' content by leaving valuable comments can effectively draw attention to one's own work.
  • Finding one's niche is crucial for success and may require experimentation with different topics.
  • Consistent improvement in writing and content strategy is more important for growth than mere consistency in output.
  • The process of growing an audience is long-term and requires patience and persistence, with the understanding that

0–400 Followers In 166 Days. Tips Anyone Can Use To Grow

How I made the breakthrough on Medium

Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash

My weekly newsletter was failing.

Then Nicolas Cole blew my mind.

‘Write where people are (Medium) — even better you can get paid’ he told me.

So January 2023 I dived in full of hope.

After 66 days I only had 28 followers.

I felt deflated.

I was about to give up when I discovered Eve Arnold.

I’ve written previously about the lessons she taught me. The key one was that it’s a long road. It takes years to get seen. Eve had been writing for 2.5 years before she got her breakthrough.

I adjusted my expectation and started studying how the big guns wrote. I upgraded all aspects of my writing. It was still slow going.

Fortunately my own breakthrough was just around the corner.

My breakthrough moment

The key discovery was my writing process was holding me back.

I’d write 1 article at a time:

  • think of a topic
  • do research
  • start writing it
  • edit writing
  • add a title
  • find photo

This took me many hours. Some parts I could do quickly but other sections were slow going. But this was an inefficient way to write.

It is faster to work on many articles at the same time. But only do 1 type of task each session.

I start working in batches.

  • One day I’d create lots of outlines
  • Other days I’d do several first drafts

This created an explosion in my productivity. From 1 article/week up to 4 every week.

This was a catalyst for my follower growth:

Months 1–2: 28 followers

Month 3: 69

(start writing 4/week)

Month 4:202

Month 5: 326

Month 5.5: 425

Tip 1: Work in batches to publish more articles

Audience hacking

This is an underused tactic by new writers.

You can get 100’s of eyes on your by writing by borrowing someone’s audience.

You do this by commenting on stories. If your comments show value people will check out your articles and profile. Don’t ask for people to follow your stuff. Demonstrate you are worth following.

Showing value in your comments by:

  • adding interesting content to their story
  • sharing something of your experience
  • signposting to useful resources

Avoid:

  • Arguing
  • Being bland (thanks for the tips)
  • Disagreeing (this makes you look like an idiot )

Supercharge by comments by appearing in front of the same people each time.

I recommend you make a list of writers whose content you want to engage with. It needs to be the same topic you write about. Have a mix of big and small accounts. Note on big accounts you are speaking to their audience. With smaller accounts speak to the author.

Don’t be self-promotional. Genuinely share your knowledge and experience with humility.

You’ll find people will be drawn to you.

Tip 2: Show your value by adding valuable comments

Think like an archeologist not an architect

Writers who act like an architect fail.

An architect develops the full plan before the house building starts. New writers who decide in advance what they want to write about. Rarely find success.

A wiser approach is be an archaeologist.

Do a bit of digging. If there is no hint of a find. Move on. Do a bit more digging. Keep doing this. Until you find something. Then dig deeper.

I found my niche by doing a bit of digging. I wrote on all the topics I knew about -Investing. Productivity. Happiness. But when I looked at the numbers. Few were interested in what I had to say.

So I kept exploring new topics

Finally I discovered my articles for new writers were popular

So I dug deeper on these topics & wrote more stories.

My top 5 stories reveal what people want from me:

How I gained 100 followers & Medium Partnership

5 ways I’ve improved my writing

Eve Arnold taught me these 5 lessons about life and writing

5 Writing mistakes I fixed to 10x my views

New writers have been sold a lie. The hardest part isn’t getting started

80% of my writing is now helping new writers

Find what your audience wants. Don’t have a fixed plan. Do a lot of digging on different topics you have knowledge about. Keep looking at the data.

Tip 3: Write widely until you find what works

Building an audience for your writing is a long road. But growth is possible. Consistency won’t deliver growth. But consistently getting better will.

I hope my learning shortcuts the process for you.

If you like this, you’ll love this:

Medium
Writing Tips
Audience Engagement
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