Why the ‘I’ll Read Yours if You Read Mine’ Medium Marketing Technique Doesn’t Work

This is what you should do to market your work, find your tribe, and stand out from the crowd

If you’re on any Facebook groups for Medium, you have probably seen the posts where people share their latest story and ask others to read it. To return the favor, they announce that they will read and clap for the people who comment with a link.

The captions look something like this: “This is my latest article, read and clap, drop your links, and I’ll do the same for you, let’s support each other!”

Some writers may create these posts because they want to complete their daily reading of Medium articles all at once or they like to read content from new writers.

However, for the majority of “clap for clappers,” this is a way to attract more people to their Medium profile.

If you choose to showcase your work in this way, that’s your personal choice.

I have my own reasons for not participating in read-for-read circles, which I will explain today.

Working on Your Writing Skills Should Come Before Marketing

“If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that’s read by persons who move their lips when they’re reading to themselves.” — Don Marquis

I understand that you may be very freaked out by the new changes on our platform. You are worried that your work will be lost in the algorithm and upset about curation being cut back.

You know what? If your writing is good, it will be noticed. If you work hard, pay your dues, and are writing for the right reasons: your work will bring you something tangible.

Our platform will make changes, just like most workplaces do. Don’t allow these changes to push you into selling yourself short.

The small monetary gains you get from people reading and clapping out of obligation is so minuscule that this technique is a waste of time.

If you are doing read-for-read to make friends or find new content: This is a great technique and not a waste of time.

If you write because of money, people will smell your desperation and it’s a turn-off. The veteran writers on this platform don’t ask for claps or reads on social media because they know they will get them regardless.

This is a confidence thing. New writers can be unsure of their talents and it’s OK if you have asked for reads or claps.

However, if it’s not working, it’s time for a new approach.

If you stop pressuring people for reads and work on the craft of writing, positive changes will manifest because your writing has improved.

If you write with the passion that the writers of the past have, your body of work on Medium could bring you an actual writing job.

I know because it happened to me. Within a year, Medium has brought me some real blessings, but it came with determination, a lot of self-reflection, and working on my skills.

We are never going to be flawless writers, but the best advice I can give you is to work on your basic blogging tools:

• Sentence structure.
• Grammar.
• Spelling.
• Punctuation.
• Research skills.
• Get a solid grasp of what SEO is and how to use it.
• Learn to love editing your work.
• Learn to accept critique from other writers.
• Educate yourself on dealing with negative comments and “trolls.”
• Experiment with different tones of writing.
• Research what a passive voice is and stop using it (I have to work on this).
• Experiment with different genres, niches, and types of writing.
• Selection of images: research image credit laws, and abide by them strictly.
• Adopt Medium’s style guide (headers, italicizing for effect, etc), you can learn these tricks by looking at a top writer’s work. Tim Denning’s articles were my inspiration for great formatting. Keep in mind, many websites and clients do things differently than our platform, so be prepared to adapt when you get a writing job.

Working on these blogging skills will help you learn what kind of writing you like and what type of writing you’re good at. Learning the basics of writing like grammar and spelling will polish your work and your confidence as a writer will improve.

I have my faults and I know them well. I tend to write in a passive voice, my spelling is atrocious, and I use emoticons too much in my daily life.

I will continue to work on my shortcomings because this business is about improvement. Well, except for the emoticons, I love them.

Reality check: if you are choosing to write for a career, you are choosing to work on yourself and your craft every day, for the rest of your working life.

Coerced Support Is Not Real Support

When we clap and read because we feel we have to return the favor, we are not reading someone’s work because it caught our eye.

We are reading that writer’s work based on obligation and not on interest. I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of support I don’t want or need.

When I’m selecting stories to read, I go to my homepage or a Facebook group share thread and select stories based on the title and presentation. I am rarely disappointed with the content of what I choose to read.

This is because I am gravitating towards what I am interested in.

When someone reads my work, I want it to be because they like my past work or because the picture, title, or presentation of my article intrigues them.

Some of my favorite writers on the platform: Gillian Sisley, Stephen Dalton, Connie Song, Peter Ross, Jezabel F, Melissa Bee, Kristi Keller, Roz Warren, Tina Smith, and the Age of Empathy publication writers, are writing with the goal of making beautiful, engaging, and unique literature.

They have a strong writer’s voice with a story to tell and they want to share it. This is why you have never seen them ask for claps and reads. They garner that with their prolific, interesting, and beautiful content.

You can do this as well: if you work on your craft by researching the skills I listed above and write something every day to practice those skills.

Find Yourself a Tribe

Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” — Sylvia Plath

The larger Facebook communities for Medium are impressive. I don’t know how they manage to wrangle all of the “link droppers” and dramatics. It is commendable.

Personally, I prefer to share my work in a smaller environment now. Between working at my journalism job and caring for my child, I don’t really have time to market my work. If I’m being truthful, I don’t want to or need to anymore.

In the large Facebook groups, our links can get “lost in the shuffle.” The modulators are hard-working, but there are so many writers dropping links that it’s hard to get noticed.

I found my tribe and I love them to pieces. We have a private, secret, and wonderfully modulated Facebook group. It is actually thriving and has quite a few members.

We support each other, but we don’t read every single article posted. We simply read what piques our interest. There is no link-dropping, asking for claps, or obligation. We are a group of like-minded writers who came together to share our journey on Medium.

It gets pretty intimate in our group. Some of us discuss our personal lives and we know each other well. We are aware of each other’s life stories because we read them. We have differing opinions but there are never harsh words.

It’s like a virtual family.

If you are tired of the main groups on Facebook and are seeking something more intimate, I suggest making a Facebook Medium group of your own and building your own tribe.

I didn’t write this story to shame anyone or discourage the use of Medium Facebook groups. I think these groups are great for connecting with other writers who share your passion for the written word.

I wrote this article so people will realize that the “read-for-read” marketing technique is the worst way to present your work.

You probably poured your heart into that article, so why sell yourself and that story short?

If your passion for writing is on fire and you want to continuously learn and work on your craft, you have the ability to attract followers on your own.

Curation still exists on Medium, so refer to those guidelines but don’t obsess about being curated. Research the art of writing, polish your skills, and find your tribe.

“A ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” — Thomas Edison