avatarSmillew Rahcuef

Summary

An author reflects on their article performance metrics, sharing insights on viral content and monetization strategies on Medium, emphasizing the influence of current events and provocative topics like the Will Smith slap and the subject of "boobs."

Abstract

In a candid article aimed at fellow writers, the author discusses the viewership and financial outcomes of two recent pieces. The first article capitalized on the viral Will Smith slap incident, garnering 5,000 external views but failing to convert any new Medium subscribers. Despite the initial disappointment, the author expresses gratitude for the internal viewership and the resulting revenue, acknowledging the role of Medium's algorithm and social media sharing in this success. The second article, inspired by a marketing genius and fellow writer Kristine Laco, tackled the subject of "boobs" and achieved over 3,400 internal views, translating to a significant financial gain. The author admits to overcoming ethical hesitations to write on such a provocative topic, driven by the potential for financial reward. The piece concludes with takeaways for writers, suggesting that addressing the interests of other creators and leveraging meta angles can lead to success, regardless of the platform. The author teases the prospect of launching a writing course once a follower milestone is reached.

Opinions

  • The author is critical of the external viewership's lack of engagement in terms of Medium subscriptions, despite high traffic for the Will Smith article.
  • There is a notable frustration with the platform's reliance on referrals for revenue from external views.
  • The author acknowledges the effectiveness of writing about current events to capture reader interest.
  • The success of the "boobs" article is attributed to the boldness of tackling a provocative subject, influenced by another writer's success with a similar theme.
  • Ethical considerations are presented as a hurdle that the author eventually overcame in pursuit of viewership and earnings.
  • The author endorses following successful writers and engaging with the writing community for tips and strategies to increase visibility and earnings.
  • The author suggests that with a sufficient following, creating and monetizing a writing course is a viable option for established writers.

This Is an Article for the Writers, Not the Readers (Stats Inside)

I chose this picture by Emmanuel Akinte to make you click. Did it help?

Dear Writer Friend,

Thank you for clicking and reading this far. Yesterday I got lazy and decided to write about my stats instead of one of the life-changing articles I usually produce.

In this piece, you will find:

  1. Will — the slap — Smith numbers
  2. Boobs (are beautiful) numbers
  3. Some random takeaways

Without further reading time extension, here we go.

Will Smith Numbers

Screenshot by Author. Design by someone working at Medium. See the blue wave?

My meta article about Will Smith and the slappity slap got 5,000 external views. (I’m proud of the picture’s choice by the way.)

Sounds good, but it’s useless. Out of these 5,000 people who clicked on the article, exactly 0 subscribed to Medium using my referral link. And, as you know, the only way for external views to make some dough is through referrals …

I was so pissed I wrote an open letter to all these 5,000 people. Come to think of it, I might write another one.

I did get 500 internal views and $10+ out of it, so thanks, Algo. (And thanks to Reuben for sharing a link on Twitter.)

Takeaway

Write about a current event.

(Yeah, it’s not a revelation.)

Boobs numbers

Screenshot by Author. Design by someone working at Medium. The question is, did I use Photoshop?

My article about boobs got 3,400+ INTERNAL views. That’s nice; $111 nice, to be precise. Sweet.Funn

(Fun fact, I got 1,700 views in ONE DAY, and then it died. Thanks, Algo.)

How did I come up with such a brilliant idea, you ask?

The answer is called Kristine Laco. She’s a marketing genius (and a better writer than me, but that’s not relevant if you want to make money on Medium). Kristine wrote an article about boobs AND wordle. COMBO.

At first, I didn’t read it because I’m not interested in these topics. (I hate Wordle.)

But then, I learned she had garnered more than 1,000 views (at the time) with her “article.”

So, I thought, why not me? Why would Kristine make dough and not Smillew? Why should I limit myself for fuzzy ethical reasons?

Tortured by these questions, I couldn’t sleep that night and decided to call it a day, get up, and write in my journal about it. The rest is history.

Takeaway(s)

  1. Listen to WackoLaco and follow DoctorFunny on Twitter. That’s where they give all the good tips.
  2. Write about sex or boobs, or both.

Takeaway of takeaways

No matter the platform, there’s always some meta angle you can use to write and address the curiosity of other creators.

If you get enough followers and are low on scruples, you can even launch your own “writing-based community cohort course” to make some dough.

I plan on launching my course once I reach 17k followers. Stay tuned!

With thanks to Christina and her stats article for the inspiration :)

Smillew has a bio somewhere but he’s too lazy to copy-paste it here. Just do what you usually do after reading one of his articles.

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