THE SECRETS OF WRITING ON MEDIUM, PART 17
How to Get Over 71,500 Views, 1,500 Fans, and Still Make Bupkis
An exploration of the battle for your writer’s soul
You may not be thrilled to read about not making money, but if I can save one soul, isn’t it worth it?
I have spent a lot of time laughing at articles that scream, “I made $11,369 last month writing online, and you can, too!”
But we are all tempted at one time or another to give up our integrity as writers.
Before you turn to the dark side, I want to share a slightly different perspective inspired by this article I wrote on Quora back in 2017: Why can’t Nadal beat Federer anymore?
Not only does the article have over 71K views, but it has also received over 1.5K upvotes. Based on the passionate responses it generated, that’s probably the equivalent to 15-30K claps on Medium.
Here are some of the comments from passionate readers:
“Extraordinary answer!”
“Incredibly accurate and inciteful [sic] analysis!”
“Brilliant answer…”
“I always love reading your answers. Such insight. Gives me a lot to think about. Thank you.”
Quora didn’t start paying writers until 2020, so all that engagement earned me $2.09. But it did give me a blueprint for writing and promoting a great article.
#1. Choose a trending news subject.
I wrote the article linked above in October 2017, after Federer had beaten Nadal at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. It marked a remarkable comeback for Federer, who won his fourth consecutive match that year against his Mallorcan bête noire. In the world of tennis rivalries, this was one of the most shocking reversals in the sport’s history.
#2. Do your research so you can master a topic.
I have a built-in advantage since I used to play and coach tennis at a professional level. I tried to master peak performance training techniques to improve both as a player and as a coach. I’ve followed the sport as a fan, marveling at the incredible champions who have entertained us for the last fifteen years. Even if you’re not a champion in your field, nothing stops you from outworking and out-researching most of your fellow writers.
Determination (also known as “grit”) is one of the most powerful factors in determining your success in any activity. Just ask Angela Duckworth, the professor of psychology who has become the world’s leading expert on that subject.
#3. Write from a larger perspective to give the article legs.
I compared the tactics for each player, tracked the evolution of their games, how they’ve adjusted to getting older, and analyzed how the psychological dynamics of their rivalry flipped in 2017. Finally, I predicted the future of their rivalry, and it has played out that way over the last three years.
#4. Update your published work to maintain its freshness.
When the article reached 1500 upvotes in 2019, I thanked my readers and commented on what was happening to the players at that time, which included the recently completed Wimbledon championships where Federer had memorable matches against Nadal in the semifinals and Djokovic in the finals.
A month later, I gave a shout out to Nadal for outlasting his greatest rivals at the US Open and linked it to my best tennis article ever, “Nadal: This Raging Bull is the Greatest Fighter in Tennis History.”
As a result, people are still reading and upvoting the Quora article and occasionally coming over to Medium to read the Nadal article.
#5. Learn how to market your work and make it as much a part of your daily routine as your writing.
While I didn’t do anything besides bask in the glow of Quora’s promotional activities, I did a lot of marketing work to support the article I cared about the most.
I published the article about Nadal on the morning of the 2019 US Open Finals, and it was on its way to oblivion as it was ignored by Medium’s staff. I decided to make an effort at marketing and did the following:
- Embed article links in other publications and social media websites. Thousands of my existing fans came to read the article because of the links embedded in articles I wrote for Quora.
- Research the best hashtags for my subject and send out promotional tweets. That brought in another wave of tennis fans from the rest of the world.
The results were spectacular for me, as the article garnered almost 94 times as many views, and 25 times as many reads as my regular articles on popular subjects such as writing, humor, and politics.
Besides posting on social media, you can join groups that support writers or share an interest in your favorite topics. Finally, you can learn from online resources. I did a search for “hone your digital marketing skills” and got 641,000,000 results.
#6. Find the right publication for your work.
For me, Quora is the perfect place to write because it involves answering questions, and the strength of your answer determines the size of your audience. Being a celebrity or having a large social media following mean much less on that site. If your answer is recognized as the strongest in a thread, it will be published in the Quora Digest, an email newsletter sent out to people who follow the topics addressed by a question.
It’s always a pleasant surprise when Quora notifies me that one of my articles has been sent to 100,000 people who love tennis.
But if you want to make money, you’ll need to research which publications pay the best and what they require for submissions. Here’s a good article by Roz Warren, my spiritual sister on the subject.
Finding the right publication for your work will increase your earnings and help build a following. But it takes patience and the ability to deal with rejection.
#7. What does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?
My response from Quora reminds me of the absurd and arbitrary nature of Medium’s algorithm.
While it’s frustrating to labor away in anonymity, social media popularity is not a proxy for credibility or high quality writing.
I hope this story helps you realize that external results have nothing to do with your value as a writer.
To quote Shaquille O’Neal’s rap freestyle directed at Kobe Bryant after Shaq won a ring with the Miami Heat, I say to the Corgi-bot curators here, “tell me how my ass taste?”
There are no guarantees you’ll make money, regardless of which path you take.
All I know is, I’d rather be a writer who blogs than a blogger who writes.
