23,032 Views in 30 Days on Medium

Summary

Julius Evans, a writer on Medium, reflects on his recent success, having achieved 23,032 views in 30 days, and discusses the unpredictability of viral content, emphasizing the importance of consistent, quality writing.

Abstract

In November, Julius Evans experienced his most productive month on Medium, writing an article daily. Despite aiming for a certain number of reads, he realized that consistently producing valuable and entertaining content was key to influencing readership. Evans illustrates the unpredictable nature of viral content with his own experience; a story about R. Kelly that initially received modest views suddenly gained significant traction, outperforming his other work. Attempts to replicate this success with articles about popular musicians like Ed Sheeran and Olivia Rodrigo did not yield the same results, leading Evans to conclude that there is no formula for virality. He emphasizes the importance of persistence in writing and maintaining quality, as his metrics continue to grow. Evans also provides options for readers to subscribe to his work and supports fellow writers by encouraging the use of his referral link for Medium membership.

Opinions

Evans believes that the number of reads an article receives is not entirely within the writer's control, and the best strategy is to focus on creating valuable, entertaining content.
He suggests that virality is largely serendipitous, as demonstrated by the unexpected success of his R. Kelly story compared to his other works.
Evans' experiment with writing about trending topics, such as popular musicians, did not guarantee increased readership, leading him to the opinion that there is no reliable method to ensure a piece goes viral.
He advocates for the importance of consistent writing and quality content as the foundation for any potential success on platforms like Medium.
Evans values reader engagement and provides avenues for readers to support his work, including buying

Going Viral is a luck of the draw, but anyone can do it

Screenshot from the author’s Medium account taken Nov. 30, 2021.

There are many articles from authors sharing how much they made while writing on Medium. Some may be clickbait and some may be actual analysis of the writing process.

The month of November has been my most productive month so far. I wrote one article per day and found it very doable.

I tried to have a goal of reaching a certain number of reads daily, but that’s not a number over which I have any influence. The best thing I could do to impact the number of reads was to continue creating valuable, entertaining content.

Sometimes, writer seek to tell stories that will make readers want to spend time reading their material, but honestly, there’s no real way to know which story will strike interest in the majority of readers.

Case In Point

On October 31, I was sitting in my writing spot and listening to music. An R. Kelly song came on and I found myself listening to many other songs he performed. As I listened, I thought about his controversy. I had already watched all the documentaries. Next thing I know, my little fingers were typing away. It was a short story and I entitled it, R. Kelly Was a Lot of Things — Surviving R. Kelly. The first week, it did ok. It received a couple hundred view and even fewer reads.

Then one day, it happened.

While making my usual check of the system, the numbers on the R. Kelly story exploded.

Stats for the R. Kelly story as of Nov. 30, 2021. Author’s screenshot.

The story went from a couple hundred views to several thousand views in one day. It had outperformed all my other 49 stories combined. And there was no rhyme or reason why. I just sat down and casually wrote that story just as I am casually writing this story right now.

I pondered why this happened. Then, I thought I had figured it out. Since a very popular musician was in the news, maybe that’s what readers wanted to read. I wanted to try my formula out again. I wrote about two other very popular musicians. Ed Sheeran had more than 3 billion YouTube views at the time. Olivia Rodrigo had multiple millions of views as well. You would think I had cracked the code, right? Wrong! That story named, Ed Sheeran — “Thinking Out Loud” and Olivia Rodrigo — “Driver’s License,” got 49 views and 12 reads! lol.

So my non-scientific experiment did not net the results I was shooting to achieve. What I learned was you must just keep writing and write well.

Since I wrote this story, my numbers have changed, as they constantly do. Now, the top number is 23,397 views, 9,973 reads, 358 fans, 465 followers, 12 email subscribers and a partridge in a pear tree.

About the Author

Julius Evans has a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI; a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from City University, Bellevue, WA and an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas. He is a 1985 graduate of the Defense Information School of Print and Electronic Journalism, and Advanced Public Affairs. DINFOS was relocated from Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, IN, to its present home in Fort Meade, MD.

The Past 30 Days Went By Quickly

23,032 Views in 30 Days on Medium

Going Viral is a luck of the draw, but anyone can do it

Case In Point

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