Summary

The author achieved and surpassed most of their writing goals during a 30-day challenge, with one article going viral.

Abstract

In June, the author embarked on a 30-day writing challenge with specific targets: to publish 20 long-form and 30 short-form articles, aim for 1100 reads, 110 views per day, and double their follower count to 300. Despite initial concerns, the author not only met but significantly exceeded these goals; they published 21 long-form and 32 short-form articles, garnering 2131 reads and an average of 144 views per day, and their follower count grew to 258. The author's strategy shift to submit work to larger publications in the latter half of June led to an article going viral, which was pivotal in surpassing their targets. Additionally, the author discovered a newfound love for short-form writing and observed the importance of timing, citing the example of publishing an article on digital nomad visas during Croatia's Digital Nomad Week. They concluded that persistence in writing challenges contributes to personal growth as a writer.

Opinions

The author believes in the power of adjusting strategies mid-way to achieve goals, evidenced by their switch to publishing in larger publications which led to their article going viral.
They express a love for short-form articles, finding them both challenging and beneficial to improving writing skills.
Timing is considered crucial for success, as demonstrated by the serendipitous publication of an article coinciding with Croatia's Digital Nomad Week.
The author values the growth gained from completing 30-day writing challenges and encourages others to participate.
They acknowledge that while not all goals were met (specifically the follower count target), the overall success and lessons learned were significant.
The author implies that writing for different publications can lead to unexpected success and increased exposure.
They suggest that writing short-form content can be financially rewarding, contrary to some popular opinions.

10…9…8…Blast Off!

The angels were on my side for my 11:11 challenge

In June, I set myself the challenge of publishing 50 articles — 20 long-form, and 30 short-form.

These were my goals: ▪️ Post 20 long-form articles, half to my publication, half to others ▪️ Post 30 short-form articles ▪️ 1.5x my reads to 1100 ▪️ 2x my views to 110/day average ▪️ 2x followers to 300

So how did I do?

Does the rocket ship in this article’s artwork give you a clue?

I published 21 long-form articles and 32 short-form articles. For the first three weeks, I was concerned that I wasn’t going to make my goals. Then, on June 23rd, I had my first article go viral. So far, it’s had 1.95k views, and the percentage of traffic coming from outside of Medium is now over 30%. So I not only reached my goals, I blasted past most of them.

Post 20 long-form articles. ✔️ I had 21 long-form articles published: 7 in Getting Ready for the New Day, 5 in Feedium, 2 in 30-Day Challenge, 2 in Meld of Minds (new), 2 in ILLUMINATION, 1 in The Writing Cooperative, 1 in Start It Up, and 1 in Know Thyself, Heal Thyself (new).
Post 30 short-form articles. ✔️ I had 32 short-form articles published: 26 in The Daily Cuppa, 3 in The Short Form, and 3 self-published.
1.5x my reads to 1100. ✔️ 2.67x my reads to 2131.
2x my views to 110/day average. ✔️ 2.5x my views to 144/day average.
2x my followers to 300. ❌ 1.5x my followers to 258.

Growth by the numbers

From May to June, my stats rose across the board: 🔼 Average views/day: from 57 to 144 🔼 Highest views/day: from 139 to 628 🔼 Days with 100+ views: from 4 to 14 🔼 Lowest views/day: from 13 to 34 🔼 Most popular article: from 355 reads to 621 reads

My May Statistics. Screenshot by Author.

My June Statistics. Screenshot by Author.

No plan survives first contact

I’d originally planned to publish half of my long-form articles on my own publication, Getting Ready for the New Day. When I’d gotten to June 16th, and only reached a high of 162 views, I figured I’d better try something different. I focused the remaining two weeks on getting my work into bigger publications. At that time, my most popular article had been published in Feedium, so I wrote more articles for them. I also sent two articles to Start It Up. They rejected the first, but the second became my viral success story.

I also had no idea that I would love writing short-form articles as much as I do. They offer a wide range of challenges as a writer, and I think writing them is improving my writing. I love writing for The Daily Cuppa, and the editor is a joy to work with. She took a stack of articles that I wrote in advance of a trip and released them one a day while I was gone. Best of all, one of them provided the spark for my viral article.

My top 5 articles of June

Top 5 articles in June, by revenue. Screenshot by Author.

The first article is the Start It Up story that went viral. The second story was my top story for May, in Feedium, still producing strongly in June. The third story was May’s #3 story, in Start It Up. It was no doubt helped by exposure from the viral article in Start It Up. The fourth story was a new Feedium story. The fifth story was a complete surprise — it was a short-form story in The Daily Cuppa! So for all those who say you can’t make money from short-form stories, clearly, you can!

Overall, my income for June nearly doubled what I earned in May.

Wrapping it up

This month, I learned that I love writing short-form and that I get a huge benefit from it. That’s going to be part of my writing strategy from now on.

I learned that if you have a strategy that is working, you should stick with it. And if it’s not working, you should change it up so it does work. But don’t quit.

I learned that timing is everything. I had no idea when I submitted my article on great destinations with digital nomad visas that it would be published during Croatia’s Digital Nomad Week, with the country doing huge publicity to attract applicants. (They processed over 100, from 35 different countries.)

And I learned that every time I complete a 30-day writing challenge, I grow as a writer. If you’d like to participate in July (or a 30-day span from whenever you read this), here’s the guidelines.

Get my free guide to increasing your confidence here!