So, I Just Hit 10,000 Followers. Here’s a Few Ways I Did it.
Also: Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
10,000 is a big number to aim for.
If you’re trying to become an expert in something, Malcolm Gladwell posits it takes 10,000 hours to truly reach the Olympian level.
If someone were to give you 10,000 dollars, you’d probably sleep a bit more comfortable that night.
Climbing 10,000 miles high and joining a club would leave you with a story you might not want to tell your grandkids.
But for me, ever since I stepped e-foot on this platform, I’ve had 10,000 followers as my big goal.
Vain? Absolutely. Irrelevant? Probably. Oh-so-juicy-to-see-it? You can bet your grandma’s cookie recipe it is.
Just in case you’re also pursuing that big number yourself, here’s a few of the ways I was able to do it. Hopefully, it can help you get there too!
My Journey on Medium So Far
While 10,000 is far from being at the top of Medium, it's definitely up there. And I still have a long way to go if I want to turn all of this into a long-term endeavor.
Here’s a few factoids to get you started:
- I wrote my first piece in June of 2019 about my adventures in Bali, just a few months after quitting my job without any plan other than dropping the stress and dropping the weight. You can tell my writing voice wasn’t exactly, uh, me, yet. (Read: cringe factor)
- I dabbled and I stopped. But I kept reading work on the platform, I enjoyed it. Then around October, I decided I was going to make a serious attempt at writing on here. I made it a challenge and I committed.
- My first articles received dismal views — usually in the range of 10–50. If you also write on here, you’d know that equates to a few coffees a month at best. But I kept at it.
- I started a publication called Feedium where I shared all the ins and outs of Medium I found while exploring the platform. There’s now hundreds of articles and 600 other writers who help rant/share/teach. It’s an amazing little community and I enjoy maintaining it. But it does take work, a little every day.
- I’ve published 366 articles, 2,850 comments, and had 1,300,000 views in total. That’s over a period of about 20 months, with about 4–5 of those months being mostly inactive. ‘Cuz life gets in the way sometimes.
- I also almost got banned 4 months into my adventure for a daily series of humor pieces and a misunderstanding on my part, so technically, I published over 420 articles. I also removed a few that were just way too, well, shitty.
- These days I regularly earn over $1,000 on the platform every month and I’ve received the recent bonuses. While it’s not enough to live off of back home, over here in Taiwan it covers most of my bills. And it's slowly increasing — as the blogging game goes.
Am I the top performer on Medium? Far from it. A very select few here make $5,000, $10,000, or even one month where it was $48,000 back when Medium used to report it.
I’d be ecstatic to get there someday, but I’m still learning, trying to improve, and trying to increase my output.
Who’s Reading My Work?
Since starting Feedium, I’ve noticed how incredibly diverse the community is here.
First, there’s the awesome writer/reader combo — like me — people who are active here, learn the ins and outs, read countless stories and also dabble in the writing side themselves. They probably number around 300,000 these days.
Then there’s the 700,000 reading members, who consume content daily and occasionally leave a nice comment. Even less occasionally I get to see the nasty ones too. (Thanks for helping out the algorithm you lovely negative people!)
And then there’s the Googlers. The random ocean of strangers around the world who find Medium stories thanks to its incredibly high domain authority. I never really know where you’re from, why you found my work, or how much you enjoy peanut butter tuna sandwiches — but I appreciate you nonetheless.
How to Get More Followers on Medium
I’ve always looked at Medium as a bit of a game. It’s a complex system thriving in the midst of a complex “series of tubes” that run around the world, to quote an ancient senator.
And since we don’t have too many metrics to measure our success, I focused on the two that most of us do — views and followers. And I’ve had some luck and some success.
If you want more views — by far the easiest way is to spend some time to learn SEO, match it to your niche, then fluff out your articles with keywords and other actions. But these don’t pay much on Medium itself. I’ve had articles get 20,000 views and make just a few dollars. Oh, and of course, write amazing well-crafted pieces as often as possible.
If you want more followers — then you need to breach the barrier of contact between Mediumites as eloquently, politely, and frequently as possible. Medium isn’t the best at connecting people. It’s like you’re standing on a street corner yelling into a microphone. If you’re standing on a country road (or forced to move out there), no one is going to hear you. But get into a great publication, have something intelligent/stimulating/heartfelt to say, and a crowd will start forming. Just don’t yell.
Medium runs on visibility. If no one knows you exist, there’s a good chance they can’t read what you wrote.
There’s a few generic things you can try to get around this if you’re willing to put in the time and effort:
- Try to get into at least one or two major publications that revolve around your niche
- Write consistently, at a minimum once a week, but if you can find the time and effort — top writers here usually write 5–7 pieces per week (for years)
- Improve your writing. Read books by famous authors who share their insights. Practice makes perfect, but a guided hand will make it perfect-er.
- Reach out and touch other authors in any way you can. Some people are comfortable with following the daily max of authors in their own niche (150). Others are sure to comment on 5–10 articles every day with well-thought-out comments. Some people regularly tweet articles they’re reading if they enjoy it (there’s a little function built into Medium). Facebook and slack groups. Emails. Newsletters. Reach out and connect with other Mediumites. You won’t regret it.
- Write in one or two niches maximum. I don’t abide by this, and my results have suffered from it. I’m a generalist and I’ll be damned if I can write about the same subject 400 times in a row without going nuts. But if you can stomach it — the algorithms love niches.
Takeaway
That’s it! I just wanted to share my journey, a few thoughts, and some tips for how you can get to 10,000 yourself. I’ve put in countless hours here and sure, the money I get pales in comparison to my former career. But you know what?
I’m learning new things every day. I’m getting better as a writer (I hope). And I don’t have an angry-wannabe-Patrick Bateman of a boss leaning over my shoulder every day now. AKA, my stress has melted away and I’m in some of the best shape of my adult life.
So, thank you, dear reader, for putting up with my not-always-great humor. My ramblings. My thoughts. My apprentice wordsmithing.
Without you, I’d be stuck in an office, miserable, and wondering what time happy hour is. (Hint: It’s all the time if you’re trying to drink the stress away.)
I hope to see you hitting the 10,000 club yourself. And when you do, please let me know, I’d love to send a congratulatory high-five your way.
Cheers!
