Writing
I Became a Top Writer in 3 Topics But Haven’t Got Any Benefits Yet.
What else do we need to get internal views on Medium?

What is the point of being a top writer on Medium?
When I joined Medium, I thought being a top writer was extremely important and a privilege to those with enormous audiences. I started posting daily and interacting with other writers hoping my content would get some readers.
The only time I couldn’t write was when I got Covid virus which hit me badly: Covid Virus Finally Infected Me Despite Intense Caution.
After writing about YouTube, featuring some top writers, and posting several articles about social media, for the first time, I was recognized as a top writer in social Media. It was a great pleasure. I shared my thought in a story: Medium Recognized Me as a Top Writer in Social Media.

Later I started posting my gaming articles and established a gaming publication. Within a few weeks, Medium also informed me that I had gained a top writer badge in gaming.

In addition, recently, I also got a badge for reading. I liked this badge as I love reading very much and sharing what I read with other readers.

These well-designed badges are great to have on our profiles. Seeing them in emails excites me. However, I did not notice any improvement in my stats. My stories still get a handful of views (not reads) from Medium members.
An Abundance of External Views and Scarcity of Internal Views
Interestingly, many stories received excellent visibility from Google and Android devices. When I checked my stats, an article that received over five thousand views from google only earned 76 cents. Obviously, not many Medium members had a chance to read it.
Here are a few samples:



I am a relatively new writer, joined Medium earlier this year. I wrote many articles, but none of them got more than 50 views. I gained 1.2K followers, but getting a handful of views is not motivating.
Allegedly Medium has millions of readers. I wonder where they are.
Is this common for new writers on Medium?
Maybe my expectations were very high when I joined. I thought our stories would get thousands of views.
When I mentioned to a few mentors who are longer than me on this platform confirmed that not many people get thousands of views from internal readers.
So who does get views from Medium readers?
Does Distribution Really Happen on Medium? If So, Who Gains Value from It?
I heard about curation, but none of my stories were chosen for further distribution. So I can’t comment on the performance of distributed articles. However, a few online friends mentioned that their distributed stories also did not get many views.
Now that notification for distribution seems to be removed, meaning we will not be informed, writers lose motivation. Honestly, the top writer status, does not motivate me anymore as it does not bring any value.
I keep wondering whether distribution happens on Medium after we post our stories. It looks like the Medium algorithm does not distribute my stories to my followers in the publication followers as they don’t get more than ten views a day. Those ten views come from a few loyal readers from my Social Media followers who find links on my Slack channel.
I love writing and reading on Medium. But if what I write does not find readers, there seems to be no point in writing here. I better write my thoughts in my diary.
Or perhaps I write here and compile them for an e-book as suggested by Dr. Yildiz in the story Here’s How to Create A 30,000 Words E-book in a Month. I think I already wrote 30,000 words on Medium. I will think about it.
These are just thoughts after seeing my stats this weekend. It was so exciting to see some articles with thousands of views. But when I noticed they only got under ten views from Medium members, I got disappointed.
But it is not only new writers. Many experienced writers also look disappointed with their stats.
I recently read an article posted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz. It looks like both new and experienced writers have low stats. Here’s the link to his fascinating story: I Started Feeling Unappreciated on Medium, Just Like Jessica Wildfire.
If experienced writers struggle, what is our chance, as Jennifer Geer mentioned in a story: If Jessica Wildfire Feels Unappreciated by Medium, What Hope Do the Rest of Us Have?
As a new writer, how do you feel about your stats? Do you also get many external views like me? Or is it my content that attracts gaming readers from external sources?
Challenges of New Writers
I know new writers have several challenges. For example, they need 100 followers to qualify for Medium Partner Program.
Fortunately, I read a story of Dr. Yildiz when I joined, and it helped me gain the required followers very quickly without much stress. His techniques worked well for me. But some new writers seem to struggle.
I share this story with new writers hoping it might be helpful to them. Here is the link: Beginners: Increase Followers on Medium In Six Easy and Proven Steps.
Top writer badges might be valuable for new writers in some topics, even though gaming and social media did not bring me, new readers. I posted a video using the ideas of Dr. Yildiz and hope new writers can learn from this video or related article.
My Perspectives on the Possible Monetization of External Views on Medium in a YouTube Video
I wrote an update version of this story to share my findings about external views.
You may also check the video I created on YouTube.
Here’s the link to the video. Please give it a watch and let me know your thoughts in the comment section of this post or the video on YouTube.