3 Ways to Boost Your Own Writing

If you want to get boosted on Medium, elevate the quality of your writing

A seismic shift has occurred on Medium. It’s called “Boost Beta.”

If you’re a writer on Medium, are you paying adequate attention to it?

I read Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine’s announcement of the new boost published on February 21. I confess, I didn’t fully grasp the significance of the change myself.

Then my views plummeted.

I received my first boost on March 7. It has garnered 3.7K views.

But that beautiful boost didn’t make up for my overall decline in views and reads. Suddenly, articles that routinely received 300–800 views and sometimes thousands received less than a hundred.

After a bout of despair, I realized, “I have to figure this boost thing out.”

In its new quality standards, also published on February 21, the same day as the launch of Boost Beta, Medium states:

“…elevating quality is one of our most important jobs, and why we’re continuously working to build the best reading experience on Medium.”

Herein lies the seismic shift.

Medium’s new focus is on elevating quality above all else. If you want your stories to get boosted, you need to improve the quality of your writing—unless you’re already perfect that is.

Can you improve your writing 1%? 5% 10%? More?

I’ve written on Medium for two years. I’ve navigated several platform changes already. I know the only way forward is to adapt to the new program.

Otherwise, you’ll get stuck in the past and lose views, reads, and income.

If you want to adapt and flow forward, here are three ways to boost your writing plus a few insights into the Boost Beta program.

1. Criticize Your Writing

Do you write one story after the other and never look back?

Wouldn’t it be better to stop on a regular basis, for example, at the end of the month, and evaluate your work, piece by piece?

• Review stories that tanked—the weak points and how they could have been improved.
• Review stories that did well—their strengths and how they could have been even better.

A regular review process will naturally improve your writing. Because as you begin to string your words together for the next post, your past mistakes as well as your past wins will be fresh in your mind.

And, most importantly, you should absolutely review every new post in relation to Medium’s new quality standards. Because, according to a recent update on Boost Beta, meeting the standards is a requirement for boosting:

“The stories nominated must all meet Medium’s standards for Boost distribution. We encourage nominators to amplify stories that feel like feature stories: constructive, well-crafted, memorable, original, and written by a credible author with relevant experience.

This last bit is significant. If the story feels like generic content or like it could be written by anyone with access to Wikipedia or ChatGPT, it’s not a good fit for Boost. For nonfiction writing, the best authors specifically tell readers why their advice or information can be trusted.”

Read the new quality standards in full—there’s more to know than the points quoted above.

Also check each element of your story against the traditional writing standards that top writers on the platform repeat time and again:

• Is the headline powerful without being clickbait? Does it evoke curiosity? Does it offer a benefit?
• Will the first line of your story hook the reader?
• Are the sub-headings enticing?
• Does one section lead into the next?
• Does the conclusion leave an impact?
• Is the article formatted appropriately for online reading?

“Start by having candid conversations with yourself about your writing. Doubt is a powerful tool. I’m constantly asking myself, out loud, ‘What is wrong with this?’”—Sean Kernan

2. Shake It Up

Are you stuck in a writing rut? Do you always write on the same topics? Do you always use the same words or tired cliches?

What could you do differently to infuse your pieces with a new energy?

Since the inception of the Boost Beta, I’ve asked myself, “What kinds of stories could add a little more zing to my usual fare?”

If you want to shake it up too, try top writer Sean Kernan’s 70–20–10 rule for writing online content.

• 70% of his content fits within a few comfortable topics
• 20% pushes the boundaries a bit
• 10% is off-the-wall or let’s say more unusual

Shaking up your writing might bring you more inspiration and motivation too. The creativity involved might even make one of your stories boost material.

If you write in the same publication(s) day after day, you might want to shake that up too.

When Boost Beta began, I wasn’t publishing often and had taken the easy one publication route.

But is that the best approach?

Boost Beta began with 15 editors who could nominate 3–5 stories a week for a boost. It’s gradually scaled up to 62 nominators. It will continue to scale up.

If you publish in a single publication, what are the chances your stories will get nominated week after week?

I’m not suggesting you try to game the system. It just makes sense to spread your work around to at least a few different publications.

I’ve had three stories boosted in one publication, but none in the past month. My fourth boost came when I published in a different publication.

However, you don’t have to publish in a publication for your story to be boosted. Medium’s internal curation team boosts stories daily that are not in publications.

3. Tell a Story

Powerful personal stories have always seemed to do well on Medium. That means stories that are original and memorable, not journal entries.

But you don’t have to become a full-on storyteller. That wouldn’t be appropriate in every niche.

Just consider how you can bring your personal experience and more personality into your story.

Adding just a few lines or a single paragraph of personal story, when done well, can make your article more relatable, more original, and more memorable.

It can also demonstrate your credibility and relevant experience.

Stories are powerful. They connect us human to human in a unique way.

“It turns out that a powerful story can have a hand in rewiring the reader’s brain — helping instill empathy, for instance — which is why writers are, and have always been, among the most powerful people in the world.” — Lisa Cron, Wired for Story

What Can You Expect from a Boost?

Medium’s March 2023 data shows this level of impact from a boost:

• 95% of boosted stories receive 500+ views
• 73% of boosted stories receive 1k views
• 20% of boosted stories receive 5k views
• 8% of boosted stories receive 10k views
• 1% of boosted stories received 50k views

My boosted stories have received between 1.3K and 3.7K views.

What about stories that aren’t boosted? Medium says:

“It’s important to note while Boost increases a story’s chances of reaching a large audience by ten times, there are five times more stories that reach large audiences every month that have NOT been Boosted.”

That surprises me. I know views on every other story of mine, aside from those boosted, have radically declined. But it’s another piece of information to put into the mix.

Concluding Thoughts

If you experienced a drop in views and feel discouraged, I understand.

I’ve been fortunate to have four posts boosted. But the boosts weren’t larger than my best performing posts before Boost Beta. And views on all my other stories have radically declined.

The shift into the Boost Beta program has produced a net loss for this writer so far.

But I’m not giving up.

Boost Beta is in an experimental stage. Medium staff is still building the Boost Beta infrastructure and learning what works and what doesn’t work. More boost nominators will be added over time.

I don’t think the basic character of the program will change, but there may be positive evolutions we have yet to see.

In the meantime, one thing is clear.

If you want to see more of your stories boosted, you need to elevate the quality of your writing. You need to pay attention to Medium’s new quality standards and not blindly continue writing in the old same way as if they didn’t exist.

Unless you’re already a perfect writer, of course.

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