What I Learned from My Only Viral Medium Article with Over 25k Views

Some lessons may be surprising; others may sound familiar.

Last year, I hit the jackpot on Medium.

I wrote this article because at the time, it was weighing on my mind. I wanted to throw in my two cents about the situation between Beatle Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.

Here’s what I wrote:

I thought the article would do fairly well. It was published in The Riff, a musical publication here on Medium. I had written for them in the past with great success, but not as much success as this article.

Just look at my results:

The articles scored over 27K views and 8.7K reads! I’m not Tim Denning or Shannon Ashley by any means, I felt like I was on top of the world. But with great success comes some downfalls along the way.

Here’s what I mean:

Downfall: This Only Happens Once in a Blue Moon

Success like this on Medium doesn’t happen for everyone.

It certainly hasn’t happened for me before or after this article’s publication. And it probably won't happen again in the near future. But that’s quite okay.

I enjoyed this success while I could, and I wanted to share my thoughts about it. Maybe this has happened to you in the past. Maybe it hasn’t. But I am here to tell you it could happen to you.

All you have to do is this.

Lesson: Keep Writing Until You Can’t Write Anymore

Success like this on Medium comes along every great once in a while. It’s difficult to understand at first, but you have to accept it eventually. But here’s a lesson for you in this.

Just Keep Writing.

Seriously, it’s all you have to do.

I’m not sure what your main goals on Medium are. I’m sure they vary between all of you, but success like my article had doesn’t happen unless you just keep writing.

Write when you’re inspired. Write when you don’t feel like it. Write in the early hours of the morning. Write before you fall asleep. But my gosh, just keep writing, publishing, interacting with other writers and so much more.

The more you do this, the more likely success like my article had will happen for you to. You just have to put in the work now and never lose faith in your work or yourself.

Have You Had Success Like This on Medium Before?

Noah Nelson is a graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in political science and history. He served as a senior columnist for The Daily Illini, serves as a writer on Medium and the host of his blog called Nothing But Noah. His books “Life: A Collection of Short Stories” and “Dana and Me: A Memoir” are both available now on Amazon. Like what you read? You can write for Medium too!