WRITING

What Should Be The Length Of My Article?

Short and crisp is the answer

This article is drawn from questions asked by new writers to me on Medium.

We must understand that Medium is a blog and not an academic research study. Even if we do research we still have to write an article and it has to be of interest to our audience.

Research writing is very different. To write a thesis you have to be technical and meticulous and it is usually long. It has to define a problem, collect data, analyze it, and prepare a report.

Let us look at Medium

The one question that I am constantly faced with my new writers is:

What length should my article be on Medium?

Write a length that does not bore me. 😃This is the answer I want to give. Make it short and crisp. Something that holds my attention till the end.

You all know that it is an era of an attention-deficient audience. Short attention spans, too much to do and so many alternatives of social media to keep me busy.

Not my fault. I just need to keep doing different things. So spare me long boring articles.

The next question that comes is what length do you recommend?

Let me say first of all it depends on the article subject.

1️⃣Short forms for one-minute stories.

There is something that can be said in one minute. Use the short form. They are one-minute stories. If your story is complete in all respects and boxed and tight and you have expressed your idea then of course this one-minute story works very well.👍🏽

2️⃣Two-minute stories

Then there are two-minute specific photo stories or humor-filled stories.

Some publications especially ask that the photo story and humor stories should be brief enough to capture the mind of the reader and leave it there.

Based on the requirement of these publications or on your own you could limit it to the extent that you have made it clear and enjoyable for the reader and you are not meandering here and there.

3️⃣Three to 5 minutes stories

Three to Five minutes are really enjoyable stories where you capture the reader’s interest and you are able to express what you want to say. You can write a whole story in 5 minutes which is about 1000 words.

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide quoted:

“if you had only three minutes to tell your audience what they need to know, what would you say? This is a great way to ensure you are clear on and can articulate the story you want to tell.”

In three minutes you should be able to present your unique viewpoint. You must be able to carry the reader's interest and the story should be complete.

In one of the popular TV shows “The Office,” the character Kevin Malone said,

“Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?”

This quote gives the significance of simplicity and brevity. Kevin had said this humorously but in this fast-paced world, it is a very important and valuable lesson for anyone that is in the world of communication whether orally or by the written word.

When we use too many words we are at the risk of including unnecessary details, we lose our audience’s attention and sometimes confuse them with irrelevant information.

All stories can however not be written in three minutes so we have to extend some stories to 5 minutes. Personal narratives and essays can extend to make them interesting up to 5 minutes.

As a rule, 3–5 minutes are ideal to hold the reader’s interest.

You must remember it is very difficult to write a short well-phrased article

Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote, “If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now,”

Today this modern world is even more tired. People shift in their seats while listening. What will their state be to read a long article?

Some narratives can be extended to 6 or 7 minutes to clarify things. If an article is any longer than that the reader will skip your article altogether or read parts of it.

Some people feel that longer articles will offer them more value. I have seen in most cases they can actually have the opposite effect, resulting in lower engagement and decreased reach.

There are several reasons why writing too long of an article can be detrimental to its performance.

In conclusion, I would like to say that we are tempted to write long articles because we think we are sharing our knowledge and insights. However, this is not an academic research study.

On Medium and other blogs, we are sharing our ideas and personal stories with each other.

We want others to read. We do not want to be negatively impacted. what ticks with our audience?

My recommendation is

• To write concise well-structured articles
• To Keep it short and sweet (KISS)
• To increase engagement by reading and interacting with other writers. Yana Bostongirl mentioned in her article that Medium is not a one-way street and I completely endorse her views.
• To deliver value to our readers.
• To share our ideas and personal narratives to help other readers.
• Finally to be short and crisp and value each follower and reader.

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2023.

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