A New and Self-Published Writer Won The Grand Prize and $60K
with zero followers and little engagement — here’s how you can succeed too, as a new writer
I know a lot of new writers are disappointed that they didn’t win the Medium Writers Challenge.
Still, a newbie won the competition! That’s good news, isn’t it?
First-time Medium writer Randi Ragan won both the Grand Prize and #Death prompt with her essay: Keeper of the Place.
When Jermaine Hall called her last week, she was astonished:
I have never won anything in my life; why would this time be different? Except that it was. Astonishingly so.
Randi became a Medium member in September 2021. Prior to winning, she had only 7 (!) followers.
Her winning essay was published on August 9 and was the only story she has published prior to winning.
Let’s have a look at what we can learn from Randi’s (overnight) success.
Analysis of Randi’s success
Fellow writers Elizabeth Dawber made a quick analysis of the four official prompt finalists.
Here are her 3 key takeaways in a nutshell added with my expertise:
#1 — Small follower base is okay
All winners had a small follower base. At 8 p.m. on 12th October, CET, Randi had only (!)7 followers.
When you start your writing journey online, you start as anyone does!
With…
- zero followers
- zero earnings
- zero views
At the same time, you are able to grow and build an online business from scratch.
I’m a small fish in the pond, but let’s take me as an example:
Within 10 months I’ve somehow ‘scaled’ my ‘business’ on Medium from…
- zero followers to around 1.6K
- zero earnings to around $400
- zero views to around 25k
Scalability means little steps.
Randi is in the middle of experiencing a sharp rise in her followers because of her win.
Her follower count is 200+ now and will tick up during the further promotion of her essay.
When I got my first $500 cash bonus from Medium in April 2021, I had around 400 fans, which is a small follower base too.
If you want to earn money on Medium without entering a writer’s challenge you have to have 100 followers first.
You will achieve this first milestone step by step. Experiment, write, self-publish, get published, connect with others, and grow your follower base organically.
Baby steps are the way to go! I’m cheering you on.
Randi didn’t have a huge follower base but her article provided a lot of value to its readers.
#2 — Self-publishing is okay
All of the winning essays were self-published, meaning Randi didn’t submit her entry to a big publication but simply self-published it.
For me, this is another proof that Medium took another step towards becoming a place where the self-published author can flourish without publications. This is the way Medium wants it.
There are around 1.5K publications in the Medium universe.
Surprisingly, Medium’s biggest pubs such as P.S. I Love You, The Post Grad Survival Guide, and The Ascent closed lately due to Medium’s recent announcement.
In my trending article about Medium’s evolution you can read more:
You may think:
Maybe the reason why I don’t get much traffic is that I need my article to be published in a publication instead of being self-published?
Yes, it’s definitely an extension to your followers and you get in front of a much bigger audience — BUT with a view to the above-mentioned changes and Randi’s win, I also recommend experimenting with self-publishing.
It’s smart to self-publish and, for instance, to start a personal publication. This is a publication for your own personal use only.
5 benefits of self-publishing:
- 1) you’re your own boss and can publish whatever you want and when you want it
- 2) you can build a newsletter email list that can bring the engagement you have with your (small) follower base to a new level.
- 3) your views, likes, and comments are likely no less than what you will get from publishing in a publication
- 4) you can leverage your follower base. The publication’s followers are yours as well.
- 5) your article can get chosen for further distribution (CFFD) by Medium’s editors
Dare to self-publish and experiment!
#3 — Low engagement is okay
All winning essays had zero to 3 comments for each story and no more than a couple of hundred claps each.
Engagement (= claps, likes, comments) is key on Medium. Still, as I said in regards to a small follower base, we all start at the same point on our writing journey.
When you’re new to this platform, you start with zero followers.
The more followers (and subscribers) you have, the more eyeballs are likely to see your content. Still, there’s one key metric you have to look at.
It’s ‘average reading time’. This is the key metric you get paid for.
Average reading time = the average amount of time all readers (who have looked at your post) spent actively reading your story
Getting paid for one’s writing is one of Medium’s most attractive features for content creators, isn’t it?
👉 The more minutes (paying) members actively spend reading your article, the more money you’ll earn.
Don’t check the wrong metrics. Check the ‘average reading time’ on your ‘Stats page’ to get a feeling of whether people actually read your text or not.
Analyze the data you have and ask yourself:
- How can I keep my reader’s attention?
- How can I offer an added value?
In my trending article about Medium’s key metric you can learn more:
Final Takeaways
‘Overnight success stories take a long time ‘ — Steve Jobs
Do you think Randi is an overnight success?
Randi has been a freelance creative all her working life. She’s an entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and book author. Decades of working, networking, and improving.
Everything Randi has experienced makes her who she is now.
Keep in mind it’s about getting every day a little better than the day before.
We all start at the same point on our journey.
Play the long game and with time you’ll see big rewards $$$.
Starting small can still pay big!
👉Follow her on Medium, Twitter, and Quora.Kristina God is 12x Top Writer and one of Medium’s Top 2,000 Writers. 4x she received the Medium bonus. She loves to share her Medium 101’s and hacks.👉 Get her'Medium 101' newsletter with more tips and tricks 📨!👉 Become a Medium member here!
