ON MEDIUM STATS, BOOSTS, AND DISTRIBUTION

Regular Articles Can Do Better Than Boosted Ones. Here’s the Proof

This might sound shocking, but it’s the truth backed by the statistics I will show you in due time

Ever since the introduction of the boosting system, many people have been either chasing a boost or wishfully dreaming about getting boosted one day. But just like with many things in life, the boost falls into the category of “Damned if you do; damned if you don’t.”

People who got boosted developed a taste for it and hoped that would become the norm. Sadly, for many of them, it did not. And that only made them feel bitter and disappointed. Instead of celebrating their former success and seeing it as a gain, they viewed the drop back to normality as a loss.

Let’s be honest here. To say we can’t relate to that would be a lie. Earnings on Medium fluctuate a lot, and most of us hope our “good days” will at some point become the norm. But let’s stay on topic.

Then, there are people who never get boosted despite trying to up their game and sacrificing more time to write better and escape the daily grind. That can be frustrating too, but not all hope is lost.

Some people on this platform make a decent amount of money without getting boosted. The strategy might differ from person to person, but it’s pretty doable.

Not to mention, once in a while, a few regular articles might blow off and get a higher rate of distribution than a boosted article. We have encountered such a case right here in our publication!

Up next, I will show, analyze, and compare the statistics of a viral, non-boosted article from our publication and a recently boosted article published in Read or Die.

Here are the stats for the non-boosted article:

The author of this article is not a famous person on Medium. They have only 1.2K followers and did not break the bank before this article went viral, based on what I know.

This was an unexpected gain following one simple pattern. The title of the article was something catchy that we all could relate to (like losing your job for writing on Medium).

That seems to be the key to success. Stimulating a neutral (not over positive or over negative) emotional response right from the title will make people interested in the subject and more likely to engage with the article.

And from there, as more and more people actually read the article, the distribution algorithm will do the rest.

It’s important to mention here that there are a few things that you can do to increase your distribution and earnings on your regular articles. It’s not something groundbreaking, but most keen people have caught on by now.

One of them is choosing a good title. And the above article has done just that.

Now let’s compare “our” viral article with a boosted article from our publication.

Here are the boosted article’s stats:

What is important to note about a boost is that, up to a certain point, the boost acts like a “king-sanctioned growth hack.” But after a while, even a boosted article can lose its mojo, and the boost itself can no longer carry you.

The official statement is that Medium will ensure that any boosted article will get at least 500 views in the first two weeks. How the article performs during this stage is crucial for further distribution.

Furthermore, boost nominators are instructed (in broad terms, because nothing is 100%) on how to increase the distribution of the boosts coming from their own publication.

I am aware of this inside information, although I don’t master the specifics, so the boosted story above was curated (if that’s the word) with that in mind.

However, as you can see, statistics-wise, it has performed far worse than the non-boosted viral story. That’s what I wanted to show.

While not many regular stories can go viral to such an extent (as a publication owner who can see the stats of every article posted in our publication), I have seen plenty of regular stories that match the stats of the boosted article from above.

So the next time you worry about not getting a boost, keep that in mind. You never know. Maybe your next regular article will go viral too, and you’ll strike gold. That’s a strong possibility if all the stars are aligned. And dare I say, more common than a boost in some cases.