This Is The Way I Think About Writing Success In Medium.
I will focus on the business aspect of writing in Medium in this story.
It is important to begin this story with the right footing. A right bat gives us the highest possibility of a home run. Every individual has a unique definition of success, and for this story, I will make the following assumptions before getting into the details.
For one, I am willing to assume that as fellow contributors on this platform: -
- You want to share stories from the different facets of your life.
- You believe that it is of value to others and that they will benefit from your stories.
- You want to make a decent living from your writing.
These assumptions are extracted from my inner thoughts as they represent how I think about my work here coupled with the intentions behind my involvement in the first place.
We love to share. We can share without any expected results in return for a defined time horizon. And then we stop contributing because we are not getting any traction and/or earnings.
This story is framed within the context of writing success, breaking it down to the anchors of traction and earnings.
Traction — All About The People.
Unless you are an extreme sociopath, you cannot be talking to parcels of air for long. Yet, we cannot avoid this when we first start off writing in Medium.
Many of us are fascinated by prolific writers who experienced phenomenal success on this platform in a matter of weeks. We believe that if we have comparable writing quality, we will experience an equivalent level of readership.
I used to think this way, and I discovered that I am dead wrong.
Writing for 2 months in Medium does not mean that they have only been writing for 2 months. This is the difference. Many of the successful writers on this platform have been WRITING FOR AGES.
How do I know? I read stories that come along my way. Many of them are Quora cross-overs. Some of them are bloggers. And then there are journalists.
Their first 2 months of writing in Medium is different from a newbie’s first 2 months. They start with a much higher base of writing quality and fan-base.
That is why they gain traction right off the bat. In short, they have paid their dues.
Earnings — All About The Dollars.
The easier way to get deflated here is to check the Medium Partnership Program section on this platform. Maybe you belong to the top 6% — 7% who make $100 or more a month.
For a vast majority and folks like me … well.
We do not earn materially from our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th stories. I know this because I walk the talk. I have been writing 1 story a day since August 2020. It has been a humbling experience.
However, things started to change when there is a threshold level of quantity. When we write more, we gain incremental viewership and readership.
As our stories get published and circulated within the platform, they will find their way to other like-minded individuals, curious minds, followers of publications.
That means the Law of Omnipresence will work in our favor over time. For purposes of clarity, I will use YouTube as an example.
It is not easy to be an established YouTuber. Those first few videos are not getting viewed by the masses. We go on a video shooting frenzy day after day, only to be disappointed by single-digit views.
Then, just so suddenly, the metrics start to turn for the better. It went from single-digit views to double and then triple.
Then we wonder, what happened?
Quantity matters.
When someone views one of our YouTube videos, the platform will pull out other videos we created and display them on the right panel for their subsequent consumption.
That means one thing. When we have more content, more gets viewed. This is a quantity game.
It applies to Medium as well. While the bulk of readership earnings are contributed by the stories published in the current month, stories published in September, October 2020 continue to provide that tail-wind effect.
It is that cumulative tail-wind effect that will prove critical to our earnings in the future.
My Takeaway.
We aim to be successful in whatever we do. However, success has a nasty attribute that bamboo has. It does not show any visible progress during the incubation years. And then, it explodes.
The incubation period is a test of our resolve and patience. This is especially magnified when we do not experience any pinch of success (our interpretation) as we write one story after another.
It does require patience, and the rewards will be worth our time. Like the bamboo, the explosive growth in the 5th year will compensate for our initial lows and more.
The point is … we have to keep writing and stop looking around. If we want to experience any form of success in the long-term, we need to think about longevity and daily consistency.
This is my humble takeaway.
Keep Our Heads Down And Keep Writing!
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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