2 Traits of Top-Earning Medium Authors
Read this if you feel lost on how to start your articles
You have to get a million readers to like you in 3 seconds or less.
Well, probably not a million. It’s more like 100.
Writing a killer intro when you’re a beginner is like trying to pull blood from a turnip. You’re still new, green, and have that voice inside you screaming, “you don’t know what you’re doing! No one will read this!”
Most people give up and fall back on the way they were taught to write in school.
Not the greatest idea.
Writing for Medium is a whole different animal. You’re trying to seduce the reader into becoming so enthralled with your story that they forget about time.
It’s not as much about imparting information as it is about learning the art of storytelling and persuasion.
I know what’s running through your mind.
You’re afraid that no one will read your work.
You’re paralyzed into falling back on your old techniques that don’t work.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Thankfully, there are loads of articles on Medium written by expert authors who are great at storytelling. I’ve been incorporating their techniques into my own writing, and my views have spiked.
When in doubt, steal, steal, steal!
I don’t mean to plagiarize other people’s work. I mean that you need to study what they’re doing right.
There might even be a few resources at the end of this story, just waiting to be snatched up by a talented new author like you.
Let’s dive right into it.
How top-earning authors suck readers in
Trait #1 — They include a show-stopping first sentence
I studied three large, beginner-friendly Publications for this article: Age of Awareness, Illumination, and The Shortform.
I searched for “top stories 2021 ___(name of publication)___”. This brings you to a list of the top stories for each year the publication has been open. You can also click on each month for more stories.
It’s an awesome research tool for the spreadsheet nerds out there.
I looked at 18 top stories total and wrote down the opening sentences of each one. Here are some examples.
“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life,” Mortimer J. Adler said. I disagree. — Eva Keiffenheim
Distraction is often thought of as just a problem of the modern age. — Joe Hunt
I have one bag of clothes, one backpack with a computer, iPad, and phone. I have zero other possessions. — James Altucher
Out of the 18 stories, here are the stats:
- No opening sentence (3)
- A funny or emotional personal story summed up into one opening sentence (5)
- A bold or controversial opening sentence describing a specific event, news story, or concept (10)
15/18 articles had a first sentence that packed a punch.
- Made the reader laugh
- Evoked a very strong emotion
- Touched a sensitive pain point
- Sparked a furious controversy
- Was so interesting that they had to keep reading for curiosity’s sake
Trait #2 — They tell a story in the first paragraph that makes the reader forget where they are
Here’s a great example of a personal story that sparks the reader’s curiosity. This first paragraph, combined with an interesting Title, made for a very clickable read.
My son was sixteen when he got himself a job. He networked through friends and found out about a fast food business that needed employees. We found out why later. — Ruby Lee
- Painting a picture of the audience’s problems by listing them out, one by one (4)
- Personal life story (10)
- Interesting news story (8)
The objective was to draw in the reader so that they became so engaged in the story that they wanted to finish it. They didn’t tell the entire thing, just enough to spark curiosity, then they finished it in a grand finale at the very end.
Takeaways
- Open a fresh Medium document. Practice writing single sentences that grab an audience’s attention. Study headlines from popular magazines like Readers Digest. They are great about getting people interested in their stories.
- Study storytelling. Seriously. Practice taking small events from your life that stick out, then write a paragraph about it. Use bright, vivid imagery with funny comments and interesting details. Choose a specific emotion to target in the story.
- When you write conclusions, make the takeaway tips part of the reader’s transformation. Take their fears from the first paragraph, incorporate them with the solutions from the article and summarize to show the reader the new person they can become.
When you started reading this article, your mind was filled with doubts about your writing abilities.
You were fearful that no one would read your articles or (even worse!) that you would get a bunch of negative comments.
After reading this article, you’ve realized that you have the capability to become an amazing storyteller.
Just a few tweaks in your writing will make a huge difference in drawing people in.
Trust me, it worked in my writing. Once I started telling stories in the intro, my read time went up dramatically.
Now go and actually do it.
Don’t just read these How To articles, say, “that’s nice” and forget about them.
For more information on this topic, check out these articles:
What Shocked Me About the First Month’s Earnings on Medium
You Don’t Have To Be a Medium Superstar To Get More Story Views
Templates for Writing an Article People Will Actually Read
