Summary

The article discusses the challenges of writing personal and vulnerable content on Medium and the disappointment when such stories fail to resonate with readers, exploring potential mistakes and lessons learned.

Abstract

The author reflects on their experience with writing personal stories on Medium, which despite conventional wisdom, have not performed well in terms of reader engagement. After analyzing their approach, the author identifies three key mistakes: writing with the primary goal of making money, adopting a superior tone that alienates readers, and using click-bait titles that may deter potential readers. The article serves as a cautionary tale for writers, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, empathy, and a genuine desire to connect with the audience through personal experiences. The author acknowledges the difficulty of this process but remains committed to improving their craft and sharing their stories.

Opinions

Writing personal stories solely for financial gain is inauthentic and less likely to engage readers.
A superior or self-righteous tone in writing can be off-putting, especially to readers facing difficult circumstances.
Click-bait titles, while initially appealing for their potential to draw attention, can ultimately repel readers and undermine the credibility of the content.
Authenticity and the ability to offer valuable insights or lessons are crucial for personal stories to resonate with an audience.
Despite the challenges, the author believes in the value of sharing personal experiences and is determined to refine their storytelling to better connect with readers.

What to Do When You Spill Your Guts, and Nobody Cares

Here are some ideas that can help fix that

If you read a lot of “how to make it on Medium” stories like I do, you’ll notice frequent references to great writers “opening a vein” or “leaving a piece of themselves on the page.” So what happens when you do that, and nobody cares? You need to figure out why and fix it. Here are a few things to think about when you analyze why your story didn’t resonate with others.

At first, you’re a little hurt. “Maybe my guts aren’t good enough,” you think. “Perhaps I don’t have it in me to be a great writer.” Although that’s entirely possible, that might not be the problem.

Ryan Fan urges writers to show their humanity. Michael Leonard says vulnerability is a superpower. To be a successful writer, according to Matt Lilywhite, you have to share your personal experience.

Well, I’ve done it, tears streaming down my cheeks as I write, my life’s blood pouring out of me, and guess what? The stories just sit there. Almost nobody reads them. Is my pain so ordinary?

I’ve been writing and publishing on Medium for several months now, and I’ve done pretty well with certain kinds of stories. But when I open up and share honestly my personal and sometimes painful experiences, I just can’t seem to attract many readers. I decided to look at what I’ve written and try to figure out what I’ve been doing wrong. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

Mistake #1: Doing it for the money

Conventional wisdom is that personal stories have great potential to reach a broad audience. As such, they are more likely to go viral, which generally means more money. When I read that this type of writing would put me on the fast track to Moolah Land, I was all in. Except that I wasn’t. Not really.

A personal story isn’t going to connect with an audience unless it’s written from the heart. It has to be authentic, but more than that, it has to tell your readers something they want to hear. Going through the motions of revealing your inner self to make a quick buck helps nobody but you. In my case, it didn’t even do that.

The first personal story I wrote was about the moment I realized I wasn’t as nice a person as I thought I was. It netted me 11 fans, 397 claps, and readers highlighted ten passages. But only 26 people read it.

Maybe the reasons they read it aren’t the reasons at which I should be aiming. The cheap thrill of hearing someone confess their shortcomings goes only so far. Most people are looking for more than that. They want to learn from your experience, not just hear about it.

Mistake #2: Using a superior tone

My second personal story was about my ambiguity over receiving the COVID-19 stimulus money and how I decided to spend it. The problem with it was that it was too pious and self-serving.

If someone just lost their job and was planning to pay the rent with their stimulus check, they weren’t going to want to hear about my entitled choices. They didn’t have the luxury of donating to the food bank or saving for a rainy day. For them, the sky had already opened.

That story earned me two fans, 100 claps, two highlighted passages, seven reads, and 14 cents. I didn’t deserve any of it.

Mistake #3: A click-bait title can be a big turn off

Headlining my stimulus check story with “How I Made a Profit from Pain and Death” seemed like a good idea at the time. The Coschedule Headline Analyzer gave it a 78.

Looking at it now, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to read it either. Talk about a downer!

Putting into practice what I learned from analyzing my past work, I recently wrote a story that is my most personal one to date. It’s about one of the worst times in my life. I just might be getting better at this. It’s the only story I’ve self-published that’s been curated by Medium’s editors.

I’ll keep trying, but until I hit that winning combination that opens the door to readers’ hearts everywhere, at least I have my trusty history stories to get me some green, and I’ve plenty of guts left to spill.

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