avatarAugust Birch

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Abstract

ow would things sound if I stopped thinking?</li></ul><h2 id="9fa8">Somatic Field</h2><ul><li>Which part of my body is the least comfortable?</li><li>Which parts of my body are hardest to detect?</li><li>What happens when I concentrate on two body parts at once?</li><li>Do any bad emotions arise during the body scan?</li><li>How would my body change if I stopped thinking about it?</li></ul><h2 id="778a">Taste Field</h2><ul><li>Does the taste change as I roll it around my tongue?</li><li>How does the intensity compare with other things I have tasted?</li><li>How would it taste if I had never smelled it?</li><li>Does my feeling about the taste change between first contact and swallow?</li><li>How would it taste if I were asleep right now?</li></ul><h2 id="a87c">Olfactory Field</h2><ul><li>Would I recognize the smell if I had not seen it?</li><li>What adjectives are suitable? (Smooth? Bold? Sweet? Floral?)</li><li>How close must it come to me before my nose can detect it?</li><li>Does it improve my mood or worsen it?</li><li>What memories does it bring to mind?</li></ul><h2 id="5631">Cognitive Field</h2><ul><li>If my thoughts were rabbits in a yard, how crowded would the yard be?</li><li>If my attention was a dog, which rabbits would it chase?</li><li>How much of my focus three seconds ago was on the past?</li><li>How does a little circle make me feel?</li><li>What would I be dreaming now if I were not awake?</

Options

li></ul><h2 id="9690">Emotional Field</h2><ul><li>How easy or hard is it to turn each feeling on and off?</li><li>What changes will happen when I start to pray?</li><li>If I were the prow of a ship would my sea be bright under the sun?</li><li>Who have I shared this suffering with?</li><li>How deeply do I love you?</li></ul><figure id="ef74"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*31vXTbzWPAdDxN72iuu31w.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by Author | Dancing with the Goddess</figcaption></figure><h2 id="1f17">Questions After the Scans are All Finished</h2><ul><li>Did I close my eyes for most of the scans?</li><li>In what ways are mental fields like maps?</li><li>If I were only allowed to keep one field, which one would I choose?</li></ul><h1 id="010c">Note</h1><p id="4022">To the best of my recollection, all the questions are in my own words. If I copied anybody from unconscious memory it was probably my first remote meditation teacher, <a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/mark-w-muesse/">Mark Muesse</a>, a Therevada practitioner from Texas.</p><h1 id="d3c3">About the Author</h1><p id="f104">Tom spends his workdays asking people in a big store if they would like any information about heating and cooling. He often wears an Indiana Jones hat. A grapevine in his front yard convinced him to let her live and to even provide her with a little support. That’s all. :)</p></article></body>

What Happened When I Baked More Read-Time into My Medium Stories

5 strategies keep them reading longer

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

Under the new Medium payment program we get paid only for reads. We get a percentage of a paid reader’s monthly attention. The longer we hold that attention across all our writing — the more read-earning we’ll collect.

(Before we go further, you’ll want to bookmark this story for later reference)

Nothing you’ll learn below will force you to write longer stories. I’ve found my highest-earners hover around 6 minutes long.

We don’t have time for the long stuff.

Sure, these huge stories are a great way to build legacy-level writing that lasts over time, but the read rates are much-higher with the shorter stories.

Also, these aren’t black-hat, sneaky tactics to outwit the algorithm. Everything I’ll share with you in a minute, is designed to make the reader’s experience a little more-immersive, while establishing a better relationship with you — the writer.

This is a win-win, all-around.

I’ve found 5 few key strategies that help boost my read times.

Most readers will skim your stories. We all do it. There’s no way to blow through all the new content on Medium without skimming.

But we can slow the skimming down a bit.

Remember, it doesn’t matter if your reader is focused on a particular story. We just want her engaged with our body of work, not some other writer down the road.

If the current story doesn’t light her candle there are things we can do to salvage the read-relationship before we lose her to someone else.

In addition, we’ll put a few fail-safes in place to help the reader return to our work. Just in case she gets distracted and clicks-away to (gasp) the stories of another writer.

Let’s get you some longer read-times, shall we?

My five-step process to keep readers engaged longer

Skimming won’t stop. Medium’s endless content stream appeals to our need for novelty. As long as we’ve got time to enjoy the platform, we’ll skim — looking for the next best story.

What we can do is enhance the reading experience and create an environment that makes it harder for readers to forget us.

Here are the five steps I use to keep readers engaged longer:

1. Set the table —

You need a title the poses a question in the reader’s mind. Without the curiosity-factor your story won’t get clicked and you’ll get no reads.

When we set the table, not only do we create curiosity, we also build momentum. I like to use a three-act format for my stories. This isn’t necessary, but the table-setting it, if you want longer read times.

In the beginning of the story we explain what the reader is about to learn, why this method is different, maybe how you came about the process, and a little backstory — painting the reader’s current situation.

We want to take the reader from where she is now to where she wants to be… but during the table-setting phase we don’t give the story away, because we want her to keep reading.

2. Don’t shoot your cannon in the first thirty seconds —

If you give away the punchline in the subtitle, or first paragraph there’s no reason for us to keep reading.

If the title of your 15 minute story is “Tea Causes Cancer… and Why We Should Never Drink it Again,” I’ll stop reading before I start. All I need to do is quit drinking tea. I don’t care about the rest of the details. I don’t need the details.

You shot your cannon before I had a chance to learn more.

Don’t give the story away in the first couple paragraphs. This is why we set the table. Not only is this a better, more in-depth experience for the reader, but you’ll also get longer engagement and more reading time.

3. Link to at least two other relevant stories —

Maybe I don’t like the story you wrote. But you also linked to a couple additional stories. Those titles were more up my alley, so I give you a couple extra clicks.

Sure, I left the first story, but my reading time remains inside your wheelhouse. As long as I’m reading your stuff, you get my read-bucks.

Linking to a couple stories is like an added insurance policy against reader boredom or click-away disease.

4. Encourage bookmarking —

I haven’t done this strategy as often as I should, but it works. When you write a legacy story (one that you spent a lot of time one, and one that will continue to help readers into the future) it’s a good idea to leave a hint.

Early in the story, suggest, “you might want to bookmark this one so it won’t get lost.”

Bookmarking alone won’t get you any more money, but all our bookmarks show-up permanently on the homepage every time we visit. The top four, most-recent bookmarks appear in our reading list as a reminder to return again later.

Next month, if the same reader returns to your story, you’ll earn more reading time from her. I never see writers doing this, yet it’s one of the only permanent story lists on the home page.

This bookmark-hint important. Oh, and don’t tell anyone. It’ll be our secret.

5. Don’t let her disappear into the tumbleweeds —

There’s one, final parting gift we must leave before our dear reader leaves us for another writer.

We’ve got to collect her email address.

When we’ve got a reader’s contact information we bring her into our tribe. This allows us to contact her directly, promoting additional products and services, recommending our Medium stories, and building a stronger relationship.

Email is an insurance policy against invisibility.

What happened when I used all this stuff?

Once I engaged all (or most) of these five strategies in my stories, my average reading time increased. I can count on a higher income per story than when I ignored these principles.

This gives me a more-predictable monthly income level at a time when there are a lot of unpredictable aspects of the platform.

In aggregate, I get longer read times for the same amount of writing effort.

You can two. Apply the five steps at your own risk. You may not make $1,000 per story, but your hourly writing rate should improve.

You need insurance for your writing income

Your Medium followers are fantastic, sure. But if you want to build a long-term source of legacy income from your writing, you need an email list. Period.

Extra read-time is great, but if you want to do even better, you need an automated marketing team working hard, while you sleep.

This is your list.

Your tribe.

The reason you do your work.

We serve our tribe and no one else. In return, the tribe shows their collective gratitude through continued attention and the occasional purchase of our stuff.

Email will help you sell your work automatically, while you sleep. It’s a fantastic added source of funds.

If you’d like to start your email list today (or tomorrow), I’ve got a hand-crafted email masterclass for you. I call it the Tribe 1K. Past students include New York Times bestselling authors.

I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 readers (or your next 1,000) without spending a hot nickel on ads.

Enrollment is free.

Guarantee your seat today before I change my mind.

Tap the link.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.

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