MEDIUM

Dear ILLUMINATION Writers — Please Don’t Be Spammy

Dropping your plugs on someone else’s work is almost always rude

Tit for tat quickly gets you a bad reputation here on Medium. Spamming is not a good way to build organic growth for your profile — and ILLUMINATION writers are getting a bad rap from the actions of a few. (Lately, more than a few.)

What do I mean by “tit for tat?”

Here are some examples, all being spammy ways to grow your profile and generate views.

• Expecting follow for follow — save that mess for Insta or TikTok, please.
• Reading someone’s work and expecting them to read yours in return.
• Cleverly inserting a link to your own story within a comment on someone else’s story. Or worse — promoting your book, website, goods, and services.

I realize that by writing this I may be stepping on toes or hurting people’s feelings and I assure you that is not what I’m trying to do. I am trying to draw attention to a behavior that many people are implementing without thinking of the consequences.

I have been writing for Medium for a year and 1/2. I am a writer for over 60 publications, own three of my own, and am an editor for at least 10 publications. I am a published author, a professional freelancer, and offer professional poetry editing and mentoring services.

In other words, I’ve been around the block a bit both here and as a professional writer, and I’m not a newbie to this platform.

Recently, I published a piece here on ILLUMINATION and not one, not two, but three people so far have commented on the poem in what seems to be an effort to draw attention to themselves and their own work. (One was well-crafted and in my opinion well-done, one was flat out rude, and one was so full of agenda that the self-promo was blatant.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I have done this before. But it is a rare occasion and it is typically done because something I read there inspired me to start a conversation with that writer. But it’s a two-way conversation.

It is in getting to know that writer better and it is meant to start a conversation. The problem I have with these recent comments is not that they are starting a conversation with me, it is the root of that conversation that is annoying. The whole point of those comments is to draw all my attention to their work in a manner that is intrusive. It is meant to be self-promotion disguised as a comment. Kind of like walking into someone else’s conversation and changing the subject immediately to one’s self. Think of how this makes you look to the other readers coming along behind you and seeing your comment? You are detracting from the original writer’s post and trying to siphon their attention and their readers.

A comment should, first and foremost, be about the work you just read, the writer’s talent, and the impact of the piece.

It makes you wonder if the person commenting even read your piece. Other writers can easily see the topic of the piece and quickly go to their own archives of work and find a related work and then leave a well-crafted comment that inserts their link. Or they can just be rude and plop down their link in a comment expecting you and your readers to click the link and read their work or buy their product. I’ve received two recent comments that promoted sales: one promoting a book, and one promoting her CBD oil product — on an article I wrote to promote MINE.

When these comments happen — I am often instantly annoyed.

I wrote a piece. It is a beautiful piece. I would prefer to hear thoughts and comments and analysis over the style, the content, the emotional reaction to the writing. What I’m getting are conversations with people that have an agenda. To be honest — I don’t have time for that. I work long hours writing and I read a lot of work from other writers here — pieces that catch my attention with interesting headlines and quality writing.

Do not hitchhike your links on someone else’s work to get your work noticed.

If you plan to drop your links in comments on other people’s work, at least put in the effort to make it a conversation about the original writer’s work and talent.

Let me explain to you why link-dropping and tit-for-tat behavior will never generate loyal readers.

First of all, you’re treading on very thin glass here. You are borderline being rude and spamming other writers in the effort to get other people to notice you and your work.

I ask, how likely is someone to develop a positive opinion of you based on a spammy comment? How likely are they to return the favor and read your work without already having a rapport built with you? They have no reason to trust you or owe you anything so what you are doing is testing the limits of a relationship before it has even begun.

No, you do not have to develop a relationship with every writer you interact with — but if you are asking favors, don’t you think there should be grounds sown that warrant you asking them for favors? Shouldn't there be some rapport?

If you have been advised in some way to trade your reading services to other writers in order to get them to return the favor, then I implore you to think about the long-term effects of this behavior. You are risking offending other writers. You are generating nonsustainable readership. And you are causing damage to your own reputation within a community that you are trying to build.

Let’s make ILLUMINATION a place of honest support

This publication has been taking a lot of heat for this type of behavior and some pretty harsh criticisms over the structuring of the publication. While I am not on board with these opinions and support this publication for the supportive atmosphere, the writer promotion by the editors and the large body of readership, I cannot support practices that continue to tarnish the reputation of all writers here for ILLUMINATION.

If you are finding and reading other people’s work simply so that you can support yourself, promote yourself, and draw attention to yourself, then I implore you to change your strategy from greedy and needy to honestly supportive and communicative with other writers.

Read what interests you. Leave comments when you are particularly moved or impressed with someone’s work. Follow other writers because you are honestly interested in seeing what they have to say. THIS is how to build community. THIS is how to earn fans of your work that will be there reading for you when the Medium stats are plummeting. Trust me.

If you are so moved by a piece that you want to start a conversation with that writer — do it. If you have other works of your own that you really think that writer would be interested in, then start a conversation with them about their own piece and show them to begin with that you share a mutual interest. You might even make a new friend and find common ground on which you can build an organic and mutually inclusive, shared experience.

The creators of ILLUMINATION have worked very hard to build a supportive community. Let’s not ruin it with rudeness.

DO NOT

• Do not hitchhike your comments to someone else’s work to get yourself noticed.
• Do not hitchhike your links on someone else’s work to get your work noticed.
• Do not read someone’s piece and then point out to them that you read it and ask them to read for you.

Perhaps you have been doing these things and didn’t realize it is unsavory behavior. Or maybe you have been asking other people to read your work after you read theirs and didn’t realize the tit-for-tat feeling that that generates. Perhaps you are new here and are still trying to figure things out. This is why I’m writing this article for you.

When I first started writing on Medium I ran around clapping for everybody’s work and I read lots of work. I was so desperate to make friends here and meet people to start out on successful footing. If it hadn’t been for the kind instruction of a more seasoned writer here I would still be running around one-clapping every article I read, not realizing that it could be interpreted as rudeness. I had no idea you could clap more than one time so I still don’t know how many people I one-clapped and potentially offended. I am grateful that someone took the time to explain to me how the clapping system worked. Sure you are welcome to one-clap if you want but there are a lot of writers that interpret that as — I came, I read, I was not impressed.

There are ways to generate readership that is more genuine, authentic, and respectable.

Here is an article that provides 12 creative ways to generate followership and readership. (Curated in Writing and Creativity)

EXAMPLES of what might work better

“Hello, I have been reading your work lately and I love your writing style. I have been working on a piece and I am struggling with _____. I respect your opinion and your craftsmanship. Would you mind taking a quick glance at it for me if I send you the draft link?” — author’s example

“Hello, I really enjoyed this piece. Your writing style/this piece made me feel____. My favorite lines were____. Just brilliant. I’d love to stay connected with you so I gave you a follow. I hope we can stay in touch! Again, great work.” — author’s example

“Hello, I really resonate with this piece. I write some things that are kind of similar to this so I loved reading your interpretation of some of the topics I also love writing about. Maybe you’d like them? I can private message you one of them if you’d like to see it. I look forward to reading more of your work. Do you have any more pieces like this one?” — author’s example

In conclusion

I have learned a lot from seasoned writers here on Medium and I invite you to continue to seek out these writers who have been here for a while. Look to see what they have to say. You may learn something that changes the game for you.

In the meantime, of the three comments I received on my latest work here, I’ve decided to hide two of them because they seemed to be purely self-promo. One of the three comments was well-crafted, very conversational, found good common ground with me and built interest. It felt genuine. If you are good at doing this — carry on! But understand that ANY link-drop can be interpreted as an intrusion. Tread carefully so that your honest intentions don’t get misconstrued.

Let’s go and do better — authenticity and honesty are so needed right now. Wouldn’t you agree?

Thank you for reading. I appreciate all my readers and for the new ones who may still be figuring a few things out — I don’t carry a grudge. I just felt this needed to be addressed and someone out there reading Medium stories today will see this and think — oh, I hadn’t thought of that — and change their strategy for the better.

We are all in this together.

Thank you Dr Mehmet Yildiz for giving my lovely poetry and my informative articles a home here on ILLUMINATION. I appreciate you.