My Story Was Boosted. This Is What Happened Next.
Thanks to one boosted story, 313% more views and 902% more earnings.
Every writer dedicated to Medium should have their story boosted sometimes.
It’s great to see your story's traction when exposed to a wider audience, not just a few people in your small, closed circle.
It took me ten months of writing on Medium to get my first story boosted. My first boost happened thanks to the Better Marketing publication.
The funny thing is I didn’t try to write to got boosted. I’ m also pretty sure you can’t write for a boost. It doesn’t work like that.
- I wrote a quality article to get published in a high-quality publication.
- My writing on Medium is a side hustle exercise, and I have no more than one hour daily to write.
- To produce long-form, quality articles, I usually spend one morning outlining and writing and another morning editing.
- So, I’m not nearly as productive as some successful writers here — I had ten articles in my best month. I am slow as a snail.
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”
Maya Angelou.
Every network has its own “Holly Grail”.
On Medium, that can be a famous “Boost”.
Unlike many social networks, fuelled by sophisticated algorithms, Medium has a more human (and subjective) approach:
Real people read and nominate high-quality stories for a boost — an additional push in front of a large group of readers.
It’s flawed, but at least trying to keep a human touch. In a world of AI-produced crap that pills us every day — dealing with the subjective judgment of boost nominator is quite refreshing.
For me, being boosted with the help of Better Marketing publication wasn’t about the money or big success on Medium;
it was a big confidence boost for me.
Some weird approval: I can write well in English as I have been writing well in my mother language, Serbian. Sucks to you, my imposter syndrome!
I know, this sounds crazy, so you might need a bit of context about me.
After almost a year of writing on Medium, my views and earnings were still more than modest, despite my not-so-modest opinion — My stories about content marketing and productivity were good!
They were useful.
Well-written.
Why then they didn’t deserve more than 50ish views per day?
That answer is in the hands of Medium gods and ever-changing algorithms.
Changes in statistics
My Boosted article attracted many more views, 313% more!
Most new visits were accounted to my boosted article, but other articles were found more in the next few weeks.
Changes in earnings
Having a boosted article will undoubtedly reflect in your earnings.
So far, my boosted article earned $146, much more than any other story I wrote here.
Unlike some other writers, I don’t go into analysing overcomplicated ways of how Medium earning is calculated. I couldn’t do it, even if I wanted.
I can’t explain why stories with similar numbers of views and readings have such different earnings. It’s out of my writer’s mind ( and perhaps explains why I’m not so successful on Medium, lol).
What after boosting?
Every experience is different. Some people, like Derek Hughes, used their boosted story to take off their Medium account. And that’s probably the best outcome you can wish for your promoted article.
In my case, the change was temporary, although that article still brought me the money. And I can blame only myself for not getting the better results:
- I wasn’t as consistent as I should.
- I wasn’t strategic enough with my topics and approach to writing.
- I didn’t invest enough time in building a community and engaging with fellow writers.
- I didn’t repeat my boosting success; this was my only boosted story.
- I listened to the wrong advice from some Medium gurus ( what works for them may not work for you because Medium changed x times since they built their Medium business).
All these points can guide you on what to do to get the best from your boosted Medium article.
On the other hand, trying to boost your article is like trying to get a Lotto win with just one ticket.
What to do instead?
Play often, do what it takes to build audience, trust and engagement. That will contribute much more to your visibility and earnings than one-off boosting shine.
There are some great examples of how to build smart: Ryan Canady is the first example that comes to my mind.
For me, this was a big lesson. I hope I’ll be able to learn more and share it with you.
Join my community, to get regular updates what I’m learning.
