Life Lessons
What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories on Medium in 2020
Intangible benefits exceeded tangible ones.
Writing 1,010 stories brought me 6,078 followers in 14 months. As an average, each story brought six followers.
2022 Update: Since then, my followers and subscribers significantly increased with consistent publishing and meaningful engagement with readers.
What Did I Learn
Well, earning a million dollars was not too bad in a year... Just kidding!
But every joke has a truth behind it. Honestly, even though my charity fund got an abysmal amount, I had the satisfaction of a million dollars from the intangible benefits of giving voice to 16,000 writers and bringing thousands of readers to my publications. What else could be better?
Here is my current publishing schedule:
I published 1,010 stories and wrote 5,240 responses to articles by other writers. As you know, responses do not generate any income on Medium, but they bring intangible benefits.
Some may consider my outcome as prolific, but I met some inspiring writers who are at least three times more prolific than I am. I allocated only 10% of my time to writing and 90% to reading. I reviewed over 100.000 articles. As you may have guessed, I have speed reading skills gained over five decades of active reading.
During this period, I created 283 drafts that waited for opportune times to be published. Some of the drafts are for special occasions. A writing plan is important to achieve my goals. I also have a plan on a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, and Trello board. I never run out of ideas and don’t experience writer’s block.
Medium de-listed one of my stories about online behavior. Even though the story performed well and received valuable feedback from readers, it was thought unsuitable for the Medium audience. That was fine by me. I respect the platform rules.
What type of stories performed better
Interestingly, anything I wrote about Medium gained excellent visibility. I posted them to the ILLUMINATION Blog. I have a strong affinity for writers. I write a lot about writing. I recently created a publication called SYNERGY, allowing writers to collaborate.
After Medium-related stories, my leadership articles gained the next best visibility. Any article in my leadership collection gained good visibility.
I also penned several technology-related articles. They did not do as well as the leadership articles, but they still received reasonably good reading times. The majority of views on my technology articles came from external sources, especially from Google.
I established Technology Hits on Medium. I wrote about important and scientific topics reflecting my personal experience. They performed reasonably well. I compiled them in a personal blog called Transhumanism. The publication has started gaining some traction recently. I don’t promote it as I do my other prominent publications.
I became a top writer for over 20 topics. But as you know, if you don’t write about a topic for a while, you lose your top writer status for the topic. I used to care about being a top writer on some topics in the past, but not anymore. It does not bring any value.
Even Medium removed the top writers’ list from the tags. It was a great feature to find and engage with top writers. I don’t understand the rationale for removing it.
Since November, Medium has turned into something of a mystery for me. I lost 80% of my readers. But good things started happening, such as a dramatic increase of at least 80% curation in my publications. Some believe that the quality of content increased, and some believe that Medium curators started recognizing experienced writers in my publications. I believe in both.
If I restart Medium today, what would I do differently?
For the first three months, I was in discovery mode. Like any new writer on Medium, I experienced the shiny object syndrome.
Admittedly I got lost in the noise. Due to its size and diversity, there was a tremendous amount of noise on this vast platform. Initially, I did not know how to handle noise effectively.
Finding golden nuggets requires effort. Understanding the platform's intricacies sets an interesting learning curve.
I used to read the curated articles religiously. It was like a single source for me. But later, I learned that the topics page is not necessarily the only place to find the nuggets.
Publications are much better sources than the curated list. Editorial features are the best sources. Therefore I encourage our volunteer editors to choose the best stories from their reviews and share them with readers. Many readers appreciate this service from my publications.
I started writing for a publication called IoT Magazine. I shared content from my published book in the field. Even though the IoT book got good readers externally, the stories on Medium did not perform well in this publication. My stories got only a few readers, and I gained only around ten followers.
However, when an editor of a publication called Authors & Peeps (Kabir (ko-bir) interviewed me in February 2020, I gained over 500 followers in a month. It was eye-opening. I learned the importance of visibility on Medium. Then I interviewed many writers for my publications.
With inspiration from this outcome, I felt more motivated to connect with readers and writers.
After the first three months, I established ILLUMINATION. It was an excellent decision and a valuable investment. After six months, I established ILLUMINATION-Curated, which was an even better decision. These two publications together gained 120,000 followers on Medium.
In my earlier days, several stories were curated. Disappointingly I lost my curation chance after establishing ILLUMINATION as most of my content was mentioned Medium.
However, every bad thing comes with a good as well. My not-curated stories performed ten times better than curated ones from the perspective of views and reading times. I still want to be removed from the curation jail as some of my important messages for society can reach out to a broader audience.
Interestingly, now Medium has started curating stories related to Medium. I hope the algorithm one day removes me from the so-called “curation jail”.
Overall, the best investment was creating a virtual collaboration space using Slack. Now, my Slack group has over 16,500 members consisting of Medium writers. I also created an inquiry form on my website to connect writers and readers. I am also active on social media. For example, I have tweeted 103,200 Medium articles since last February.
So if I restarted Medium today, I’d do the following five things differently.
Firstly, I would focus on building relationships with collaborative writers more intensely.
Secondly, I would create a more targeted writing portfolio.
Thirdly, I would create a personal publication and promote my content using this publication.
Fourthly, I wouldn’t spend too much time on the Medium curated stories and read more from other sources.
And finally, I would create a comprehensive writer bio, pin it to my profile and share it in a publication such as About Me, owned by Quy Ma. I submitted my bio to About Me after my first 12 months.
Ironically, I recommend writers who contribute to my publications to submit a bio, but I submitted my own one very late. It was better than nothing.
Top lessons learned
I learned many lessons after establishing ILLUMINATION, now contributed by 22,500 writers and followed by 70,000 members on Medium.
Before, I never got any criticism. But as soon as ILLUMINATION started gaining traction, out of nowhere, several critics appeared.
Some people started allegations and speculations on social media. Some even blocked me on Medium from seeing their content as they kept creating speculations about my publications. The motive was very obvious. It was pure jealousy.
Some jealous publication editors threatened to contribute writers of my publications by creating allegations about my publications.
An editor even wrote an idiotic poem calling my publication “Illuminati” and mocking volunteer editors and great writers. I never dealt with those editors personally and did not make a single comment about them or their publications, but they attacked my publications and made defaming remarks.
Worst of all, some writers, whom I had never associated with, started investigating my personal background and made false accusations about my credentials. Like many respondents in this article, I am curious and flabbergasted why some people are so obsessed with my personal life and credentials.
Ironically, despite my grace and kindness to this person, I was blocked from seeing their content. I never read and criticized this person’s content and have no intention to do so. More importantly, I have never left a single negative comment out of my 5240 comments on articles that I read and responded to on Medium.
And I will never do it. I respect every writer, even if they don’t respect me. I have no fear of criticism and embrace it for my growth. I learned to use negative criticism creatively.
However, I block fake accounts to protect myself. Some fake accounts tried to defame me by writing extremely offensive content about me and on my stories.
Some of these accounts just emerged in a night, and they disappeared and reappeared under different names. More interestingly, some of them personified my account name. I had to report them to Medium, and I am grateful Medium removed the offensive content.
Despite these challenges, interestingly, some writers debunked the allegations and created remarkable stories about my publications. In addition to many testimonials, I am most inspired by Marcus’s J’Accuse…!, which was published in another publication.
My suggestions to new writers
I usually don’t give advice as a mentor but I love receiving advice as a protege. In this instance, I highlight three critical points for new writers so that they don’t make the mistakes that I made:
The most crucial point is focusing on your interest areas. Your own content reflecting your experience can be invaluable to share.
The second important thing is creating visibility meaningfully. Reading stories of other writers and engaging with their content with kindness and empathy can help you raise your profile and bring more readers to your content.
Thirdly, recognizing noise and staying away from politics on this platform. It does not do any good.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
Practical Guides for New Writers on Medium
I provided guidance on saving time for writing and increasing views and reading times on Medium.
Second, I highlight the importance of passive income for writers.
I Interview writers to create visibility.
I created “Writing Prompts and Challenges”. Our prolific writers might consider joining these writing challenges to find new readers and increase their reading times.
100 Day Challenge For New Writers
Invitation To A Writing Challenge
If writers participate in these challenges, they might increase their chance of becoming top writers in three months.
How to Become a Top Writer in Three Months on Medium
In addition, if one of our stories goes viral, we can earn a significant income. So it is a good idea to increase the chance of viral stories by following key rules.
What I Learned by Reviewing 100+ Viral Articles in 2021
Affiliate Marketing to Earn Passive Income
You might also consider affiliate marketing to increase your income. I provided valuable guidance based on my experience.
You might review the chapters of the book about affiliate marketing.
How Authors Can Write More And Earn Passive Income
I wish you a productive, successful, and joyful writing career.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on cellular, mitochondrial, metabolic, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 22K writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
