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Abstract

rs have to mean something. I have to know the purpose of looking at the data.</p><p id="26a6">I set what I think are attainable goals to give me a reason to celebrate. Those little wins will help keep me motivated. For example, over the last week, I reached 100 fans and one of my articles broke 100 views. Meaningless numbers except that they give me a target I can say I reached.</p><h2 id="f2be">Followers</h2><p id="8771">I don’t know if there’s a magical number associated with the number of followers. I currently use it only to see if I’m making steady progress. And, in order to establish a data point, I’m following the advice of Kevin Kelly. I’m shooting for a thousand true fans. That’s not the same as having followers.</p><figure id="7b37"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*HPb9X75B_dHoiaOZhN1zkw.jpeg"><figcaption>This graph shows that 68 of the 82 fans came after writing for Illumination and Dog Tales.</figcaption></figure><p id="06ac">How will I know if they are true fans? By their actions. Fans like and clap for your articles. It may look nice that I picked up 11 fans from leaving a comment on a popular story but it won’t earn me an income.</p><h2 id="ff9a">I’m Here to Make Money</h2><p id="eda3">The only milestone that really matters is money. The Golden Egg. The <i>“you know you made it”</i> numbers. <b>The Top 10%</b>.</p><p id="43fa">As I understand it, fewer than 10% of Medium writers make over $100/month. I plan on being there by September. That’s about six months from the time I decided to publish more on this platform.</p><p id="4f08">Let’s see if writing almost daily is moving me towards my goal.</p><h2 id="7ed9">Earnings</h2><p id="353f">My first four months prior to April resulte

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d in a total of twenty-six cents U.S. for the nine articles I released. My April earning are $3.75. That’s from 14 articles. Eleven of them went into publications. Two of those were curated. One in Fiction, the other in Pets.</p><h2 id="bb85">Only one of my articles has had over 100 views.</h2><p id="4f37">Up until I began to publish in Illumination and Dog Tales, none of my articles had even ten views. Now, each article, whether a poem, a personal rant, or a dog story, will get better results. Not because the articles are better. They’re not. I like to think it’s because of the exposure from being faithful to a small number of publications.</p><figure id="ccde"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*l8BJLCQ0oqGZU-jtpCH1oA.png"><figcaption>The greatest number of views comes from a comment I left.</figcaption></figure><p id="71e5">The number of reads, though very small, has gone from one or two per story to 10 or 20. This correlates with the tenfold increase in earnings.</p><figure id="4732"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*6kQxeK_JFwRPCmSA_OUqdA.png"><figcaption>Notice how the numbers dropped off when I didn’t publish anything.</figcaption></figure><h1 id="73b6">The Verdict</h1><p id="2f9d">The lesson is simple. Submit your articles to publications. Stick with the good ones. One that’s growing and has a true fan base. And that publishes your articles quickly. They stepped up for you so return the favor daily if you can.</p><p id="d48b">There is value in writing every day. You can’t get Fans, Followers, or Reads if you don’t get the views. And, as these chart show, for the last four days of the period, you’re not getting views if you aren’t writing.</p></article></body>

Stats Tell You Why to Write Daily

As a new writer on Medium, I’m always thinking about what kind of numbers I should be seeing to gauge my success.

How Often Should I Write?

It’s taken me a while to realize that comparing what others have done is irrelevant to my needs. I’m the only one who can decide what success is for me and whether I really want to achieve it.

To do that I have to assess how much I can write and how often. Is it really possible to keep up with publishing daily? Not for me. I need to have a guaranteed income.

I’m happy to say I have clients that pay me to write product reviews. I also write articles for a couple of magazines that pay me a reasonable amount for a beginning writer. That means there are going to be days when I’d rather go fishing than worry about writing something that might not be read.

The next question is if I’ll always want to write almost every day.

Right now, I do. But I don’t want to continue to have to write daily. Why the difference? Simple. I know I need to vastly improve. Writing on a regular basis will help speed my rate of improvement. It will also help me to achieve my financial goal of producing enough income to support my lifestyle.

Measure and Celebrate

I’m a firm believer you need to measure anything you want to achieve. That’s why I like to regularly assess my current results of writing almost daily. And the numbers have to mean something. I have to know the purpose of looking at the data.

I set what I think are attainable goals to give me a reason to celebrate. Those little wins will help keep me motivated. For example, over the last week, I reached 100 fans and one of my articles broke 100 views. Meaningless numbers except that they give me a target I can say I reached.

Followers

I don’t know if there’s a magical number associated with the number of followers. I currently use it only to see if I’m making steady progress. And, in order to establish a data point, I’m following the advice of Kevin Kelly. I’m shooting for a thousand true fans. That’s not the same as having followers.

This graph shows that 68 of the 82 fans came after writing for Illumination and Dog Tales.

How will I know if they are true fans? By their actions. Fans like and clap for your articles. It may look nice that I picked up 11 fans from leaving a comment on a popular story but it won’t earn me an income.

I’m Here to Make Money

The only milestone that really matters is money. The Golden Egg. The “you know you made it” numbers. The Top 10%.

As I understand it, fewer than 10% of Medium writers make over $100/month. I plan on being there by September. That’s about six months from the time I decided to publish more on this platform.

Let’s see if writing almost daily is moving me towards my goal.

Earnings

My first four months prior to April resulted in a total of twenty-six cents U.S. for the nine articles I released. My April earning are $3.75. That’s from 14 articles. Eleven of them went into publications. Two of those were curated. One in Fiction, the other in Pets.

Only one of my articles has had over 100 views.

Up until I began to publish in Illumination and Dog Tales, none of my articles had even ten views. Now, each article, whether a poem, a personal rant, or a dog story, will get better results. Not because the articles are better. They’re not. I like to think it’s because of the exposure from being faithful to a small number of publications.

The greatest number of views comes from a comment I left.

The number of reads, though very small, has gone from one or two per story to 10 or 20. This correlates with the tenfold increase in earnings.

Notice how the numbers dropped off when I didn’t publish anything.

The Verdict

The lesson is simple. Submit your articles to publications. Stick with the good ones. One that’s growing and has a true fan base. And that publishes your articles quickly. They stepped up for you so return the favor daily if you can.

There is value in writing every day. You can’t get Fans, Followers, or Reads if you don’t get the views. And, as these chart show, for the last four days of the period, you’re not getting views if you aren’t writing.