What I Learned From Publishing a Story Every Day

Summary

An author reflects on the experience and insights gained from publishing a story every day for two weeks, emphasizing the importance of consistency, self-improvement, and engagement with the audience over blindly accumulating followers.

Abstract

The author has been publishing at least one story daily for two weeks, adopting a routine that includes writing ahead of time for review and editing, and promoting the stories on social media. The results show a consistent view range between 22 and 35, with a few outliers. The most viewed story, with 78 views, was published in The Ascent and curated, indicating the value of submitting to prominent publications. The author notes the importance of focusing on what can be controlled, such as content quality and reader engagement, rather than the number of followers. The piece also questions the effectiveness of following many people to gain followers, suggesting that such followers do not necessarily translate to engaged readers. Instead, the author advocates for building genuine connections with other writers and readers, which has led to a small but growing following of engaged individuals.

Opinions

The author believes that writing ahead of time and reviewing after some distance improves one's craft.
Challenges faced during this publishing experiment are seen as opportunities for personal growth.
The author values the impact of promoting stories within relevant communities, as evidenced by the increased views for the Toastmasters story.
Being curated and published in a popular publication significantly boosts story visibility.
The author is not overly concerned about stories with very low views, as they have focused on elements within their control, such as content quality.
The current Medium Partner Program's emphasis on reading time rather than follower count is highlighted as a reason to prioritize engaged readers over a large but passive following.
The author suggests that the best way to build a readership is through genuine interaction with other writers and readers in one's niche.
The author invites readers to share their insights and experiences, fostering a sense of community and mutual learning.

Observations, analysis, and takeaways after two weeks. No, I am not a guru.

Today marks two weeks since I started the new tradition of publishing at least one story daily. So far, so good.

I experimented with writing ahead of time, so I can review and edit if needed after distancing myself from the content. It improves your craft. I learned from those who have done it; I have to agree with them.

I did find some challenges following this idea, but they are more particular to the way I am, and I see an opportunity to grow from it.

Here are the observations

I have, more or less, followed the same routine every day of getting the story up before 10 A.M. and then promoting it on various (but the same) social media outlets. The results have been pretty consistent with views ranging between 22 and 35. There have been a couple of lows and a couple of highs.

I had stories with 3 and 5 views, and I had stories with 58 and 78 views.

Analyzing the data, or What I learned

The story with 58 views is about Toastmasters, and I promoted it on my Toastmasters District’s Facebook Group. So I can see the impact there.

The story with 78 views was published in The Ascent, and it was also curated. That is three times the average views I received on the others, so I am sold on the value of submitting to popular/more prominent publications. It was the only one that was curated in the two weeks.

I am totally lost as to why the two stories had practically no views. (I do not directly control who views it.) The one with just three views had a 100% read rate, and 33% of the readers clapping. One with five reads had a 40% read rate, and 50% of the readers clapping. So I am not overly concerned because what this tells me is that I have taken care of what I can control.

My piece that was curated is about doing what you control 100%. I will embed that one at the end.

The takeaway

I feel that I am on the write track (pun intended). It is wise to write/publish every day and learn from it as you go.

It is imperative to build a following. When I first decided to publish on Medium, I researched how to do that. One “guru” recommended following as many people as you can because about 20 to 30% will follow you back. I found that to be true. I discovered that these followers mean nothing because they are blindly following you, not your writing.

The current MPP rewards according to reading time. If they’re not reading what you write, what is the use of having followers? It is just a vanity matrix. Obviously, Medium is not showing your work to every single one of your followers.

The best way I have found so far to build a readership is to read and interact with other writers whose work you enjoy, or those who write in the area that you write in. It will enable you to connect with like-minded people. I have built a small following of people whom I recognize as they consistently show up on the list of people who highlight and clap for my stories. This list is growing.

What I Learned From Publishing a Story Every Day

Observations, analysis, and takeaways after two weeks. No, I am not a guru.

Here are the observations

Analyzing the data, or What I learned

The takeaway

It’s your turn now

Focus On What You Can Control 100%

Trying to control anything else is stressful and not worth the effort.