Why I stopped Writing (Reading) How-To Articles
What we should start writing instead
In the past few days, I encountered a few authors and readers on Medium and FB groups who are fed up, including me reading How-to articles. Also, how futile and boring it becomes to read an article after an article explaining how-to-do something which many forget immediately after reading it. At least, I do.
In western societies, people are so obsessed with productivity and being busy all-the-time; this one of the reasons how-to articles are so popular. Those articles are about doing something. Why don’t we write more about just being, feeling, or thinking?
Yesterday on FB Medium Womxn group, Melinda Brinkman asked questions about:
What would you like to read less on Medium?
And most of the responses were similar. Many Medium Readers are fed-up or annoyed like me with How-to articles.
Even conny manero writes in her article:
Am I the only one who feels frustrated by this nonsense? Far from it. Judging by recent feedback other Medium members are just as fed up that these kinds of stories earn clicks and subsequent dollars, and that these are the stories that get curated.
A Few days ago Sean Kernan wrote a similar story:
I see listicles and go, “Oh great, another self-improvemen
article. Lemme guess ‘Five Ways to ___.”
How-to articles are repetitive
Many of them tell you the same superficial sh*t over and over again. I am sure many readers are rolling our eyeballs when we see a headline How To get 1000 followers on Medium et cetera.
Forgettable
I forget about them immediately after reading. Honestly, I do not remember any of the how-to articles anyway. Also, if anyone reads so many how-to articles every day. They start to sound all the same. Mundane.
Little of substance
The depth of those stories doesn’t really tell you anything new that you never heard before. No novelty. Sometimes I have a feeling the writer just rehearse, the same words like a summary of a self-help book, he/she just read before going to bed or sitting on the toilet.
We are all diverse
How-to articles don’t work because we aren’t the same and we all have different life experiences, priorities, habits, or values. For example, I can not stand an article about How to wake up at 5 AM to be creative, productive, or successful. I tried and the opposite happened, I became a sloth. Maybe I should write an article about “How Waking Up At 5 AM Made Me a Sloth For the Entire Week.”
Another example is my article:
It is a very fresh and great idea but only a few could accomplish it because not everyone can move to Southern Spain and live in caves like my neighbors do for less than a grand a month. Also, I am a European citizen; therefore for me it was easy to emigrate here from the US. Everyone is different; therefore, a how-to article applies to only a few.
I am not suggesting, we can not write How-to articles but if we do, please add something new or unique to the story with a great insight that makes us pause and think.
The next question asked on FB Womxn in Medium survey by Kristen Nadel:
What would YOU personally like to read more of on Medium?
The answers were obvious. Readers want more. Either to be entertained or inspired. Medium readers want to read about feel-good stories, authentic stories, painting instructions, art history, funny stories. The majority wants real stories from real life.
That is it. Easy.
Instead, I will read and write why articles that explore what motivates and inspires us because they make us think. Reflective, authentic stories and just things about everyday life.
My life in Spain is very different from the life of a writer in New York City, Russia, or Bangladesh. And that is what we should write about the real-life stories we live every day. We all live very diverse and different lives, leading different lifestyles.