Why Do Stories with Lots of External Views Get Very Few Medium Views?
I’ve been noticing two different extremes when it comes to external views!
Whoever it was that coined the phrase feast or famine, must have had Medium stories that gain lots of external views in mind.
The extreme difference in responses to certain stories is mind blowing to me! It reminds me of the Morning Glories that used to grow near where I live (before they dug them up recently).
The highly populated bush used to be full of blooming flowers at one part of the day, yet in a few short hours, it would be totally bare!
I’ve noticed something similar about my stories that have managed to gain a good amount of external views.
No, I’m not about to complain about discovering a story that went semi-viral, but it doesn’t count because the readers were non Medium members.
I do, however, have something to say about my stories with the most amount of views. To-date, 3 of my top 10 most viewed stories are stories with a majority of external views.
They are:
I guess only 1% of people on Medium give a damn about the new Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, with potato chips inside.
Apparently 3% of people on Medium want to hear about smoothies, based on the 97% of external views received.
And a mere 10% of the writers on Medium apparently cared to learn more or get help with National Novel Writing Month, while 90% of other online writers did.
Why the different extremes when it comes to external views?
Now that I’ve mentioned three of my most viewed stories so far, I want to make it clear that I get how external views work.
This story is not about a new realization that: “Hey, these stories pay absolutely nothing.”
Okay, sure, I wrote a story about the various ways you can benefit from stories with lots of external views.
But that doesn’t change the fact that they positively earn you no money when it comes to reading time.
So what else could I possibly have that’s worthwhile to say on this subject? Nothing really, just an observation that I noticed, but can’t seem to explain.
In fact, I wish I knew the answer, and if anyone out there does, feel free to let everyone know.
What I’ve realized is that, as popular as the stories with external views seem to be outside of Medium, they appear to have that same degree of interest on Medium, just in the reverse!
While the people outside of Medium extremely enjoy the stories, by contrast, practically no one on Medium seems to care about the stories in the least.
Personally, I find that really strange, and perplexing as hell!
You would think that if so many external readers found the stories of interest, at least a decent amount of readers on Medium would find them worth reading as well.
But apparently, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Why that is, I have no idea. Like I said, I really wish I knew. But one things for sure, if I find out, I’ll be certain to share the information with you all.
Final Thoughts
Many of us writers on Medium tend to read, examine and pore over our stats occasionally, as a way to help understand what’s working and what is not.
When it comes to determining the vast differences in stats related to external views, I’m totally clueless.
If anyone knows why stories that are most appealing outside the website, find so few interested readers on Medium, by all means, let me know.
I believe that if I can understand why this is, it might help me to create stories that manage to appeal to both audiences at the same time.
Hmmm. Now there’s a novel idea…
Not a Medium Member yet? Join now with my referral link. I’ll earn a few bucks when you do, https://justissgoode.medium.com/membership plus I can HELP YOU START EARNING MONEY TOO! 😄
