How I Gained 1K Followers On Medium in 6 Months Through Advice Experimentation.
We have to experiment with advice. Some works. Others might be trash.
I wrote about my journey in my previous story, how I felt and what I went through. This story is built on the previous one, and I will share my thoughts on commonly found advice found on this platform.
I want to say this before I continue. I believe every writer who dishes out advice for writing success, is well-intentioned. This story does not intend to challenge that. I want to reflect on a bundle of advice that works and that which does not.
Take this as an empathetic tutorial, if you may. Every piece of advice presented here have been experimented with, and where I have gotten results. I will also show, through my journey, how I tweaked sub-optimal advice into ones that work.
So, what should we do if we want to gain more followers and readers for our work?
Let us begin with the first one — Write a lot.
You Have To Write A Lot To Gain Followers — Yay or Nay?
Verdict: At the high level — Yay.
However, the issue with this advice is like eating your vegetables daily. They are well-intentioned, generic, and well, not that specific.
While eating your veggies is good advice, we have to tell our children to eat more spinach and broccoli if they are iron-deficient. This is what I mean. Second-level details are required.
So, this is my viewpoint. Yes, you should write daily and it is not for the followers. Or at least, not at the beginning. We do that because writing is a practitioner sport. You got to do it to understand it. Your comprehension increases when you commit more hours to practice.
Self-improvement is the reason you need to write a lot. Allow your self-improvement to compound daily. Followers will come after that.
Always Submit Stories To Publications Instead of Self-Publication. Yay or Nay?
Verdict: Context is everything.
You should submit your stories to publications if you are just starting out. Let me define what starting out means: -
- You published 20 stories or less.
- You have less than 50 followers.
- You take more than 2 hours to write a 3-minute read.
If you happen to be at this stage of your writing career, I would advise you to go the publication route. You need to learn the rules of the game first.
When you submit stories to publications, editors work to screen your work. They will connect with you if a re-write is necessary. They will also teach you the ropes, especially when you are green. Take, for instance, highlighting the tools you can use for plagiarism checks and grammar cleansing.
There are benefits to quality assurance checks. One, you know exactly where to improve. It is difficult to see where our blind spots are, however, it is easier for others to notice. You need to know where to improve, to improve. Two, you get a greater sense of comfort knowing that your story is polished multiple times before it gets circulated within the platform.
That said, there will be time and space for self-publication. If there is a story that has been rejected by publications multiple times — do a self-publish.
There is no need to worry about reception. I found out that self-published stories attract invitations from small and medium publications. These publications are hungry for growth, and they need contributors. Your rejected masterpiece may find a home somewhere out there. Having exposure to new publications means you get to put your work in front of a new audience.
Do not trash the rejects. Self-publish them instead. It will work for you in ways you never thought it will.
Circulating Stories To Social Media Increases Readership And Income — Yay or Nay?
Verdict: Nay.
First, circulating your stories to social media reduces organic reach. These platforms want your connections to stay in, not get out.
If you attach an external link in your posts or tweets, it encourages you to hop out of their platforms and hop into Medium. If you understand this, you will understand why your post and tweets have low views.
Plus, there is no guarantee that your connections and followers will actually hit on the link to read what you write.
So, why do we do this?
The answer is awareness and exposure. We have to let our connections and followers know what we are doing and what we are producing. When visibility compounds, interest will follow.
When that happens, your social media followers will start following and reading your stories published on Medium itself. It takes a long while for this to happen, if I may add.
We Have To Write 5–8 Minute Long Stories Because Readers Love Longer Stories— Yay or Nay?
Verdict: Nay.
What you write matters more than how long you write. Some of my 8-minute reads are spectacular flops, while many of my 3-minute reads have a high readership and attract followers.
And, we might be seduced to write long-duration stories at the beginning because: -
- Longer duration stories attract more followers.
- Longer duration stories require longer reading time.
- Longer reading time equates to higher earnings.
How do I know this? Because I am guilty of this. Let me share why longer stories may not work for you.
First, you might subconsciously expand your word count with unnecessary repeats. When the metric is word count, we will do what it takes to hit it. Quality takes a beating when it comes to meeting the numbers. Readers can smell that and exit your stories before they finish reading.
There is a high chance they will not follow you either.
Next, you might not be suited to write 8-minute long stories. If it requires you 4 hours to write an 8-minute story today — You need to consider if you are willing to invest this amount of time.
Of course, just because you wrote an 8-minute story does not mean you will earn a high income from that story. Do factor in flops. There might be zero readers and viewers after a week.
How do I know this?
I failed many times.
The key is to find your sweet spot. 3-minute stories can be very well-received. Do consider that.
My Takeaway.
This is my advice: -
- Listen.
- Experiment.
- Adopt them if it works for you.
- Discard them if it does not.
Unfortunately, a vast majority of the advice we read on this platform will not work for you. The authors may have good intentions, but we have to understand what works for them may not work for us. The best approach is to experiment actively.
And this is my basis of self-improvement. I know what works for me through advice experimentation.
Will my advice work for you? Let me be honest. I do not know. Give it a go. If it does, adopt it. If it does not, discard it and seek better ones.
I hope this makes sense to you.
Aldric
About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.