Writers vs Readers: Are You Sure You’re Chasing the Right Audience?

Don’t make the mistake of taking the elephant’s tail for the whole elephant.

“In 2021, over 534,000 writers published 2.3 million stories on Medium,” goes the opening of the article, which Medium Staff published on December, 16, 2021.

Holy crap! Half-a-million content creators. These are more writers than the population of Atlanta.

The figure might feel somewhat intimidating for a writer starting out on Medium (like myself) as it suggests one hell of competition. Though it also suggests that there are plenty of opportunities for us to exchange tips with our brothers- and sisters-in-arms and, with the amplified force of many, to attempt gaming the system.

Now, have you noticed how, from our beginner’s perspective, Medium is flooded with how-to posts for writers? You must have noticed too that writers seem to be the most active users. Which, when you think of it, makes sense. After all, we write for this platform. Moreover, the advice we hear over and over again can be summarized in two words: be active. So we comment, refer, share our stats, write about our journey on Medium, rant to other writers about other writers.

Thus, we represent the audience segment which I call loud readers. And there seem to be plenty of us on Medium.

“Sadly for books in the current times there are more writers than readers, so it seems.”―B.S. Murthy

We should keep in mind, though, that the more we consume the writers-for-writers content, the more we see it (courtesy of the algorithm.)

Often, inspired by the amount of claps we find under such posts, we too jump into writing for writers and even consider selling our souls for followers. However, the problem is that writing for writers (unless you are a writing coach or an editor) might be skewing our sense of what Medium is actually about.

Have We Accidentally Forgotten About Readers?

There are about 58 million of registered users on Medium, that is, people who have created a Medium account.

Where did I get this number? At the same place where you can get it.

When you signed up for your Medium membership, you automatically began following Medium Staff.

You can check out the link and see for yourself. Have you been following them without knowing that? Well, I discovered I did (and still do). Now if you look at the number of followers, you’ll see it right there: 58 million.

So let us do the math.

534,000 : 58,000,000 x 100 = 0,9 %

You get the picture. We writers make up less than 1% of Medium’s audience.

You might have heard of the parable about blind men and an elephant. If you haven’t, below is a quick summary.

Five blind men come to inspect an animal they have never heard of, namely, an elephant. As they can’t see it, they examine it by touching it. The first blind man approaches the elephant from the side of its trunk and soon concludes that the creature is like a snake. The second man’s hand finds the elephant’s ear and so he compares the animal to a fan. The third man touches the elephant’s leg and says the beast is like a trunk of a tree. The fourth man gets to touch the animal’s tail. For him, the elephant is a rope. The fifth man slides his hand down the elephant’s tusk, hard and smooth, just like a spear.

So are we, like those blind men, taking Medium for what it is not, because we assume that the tiny sliver in front of us represents the whole?

Wouldn’t it make sense to ask yourself, then: Whom am I trying to reach with my stories, the loud 1% or the quiet 99%?

“Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write.” — Neil Gaiman

Find Your Quiet Readers

As I gain followers, I sometimes check their profiles. I want to see whether another quiet reader has joined me.

She is an invisible reader who doesn’t write articles or care about clapping. The one who gives no thought to increasing her or my earning potential on Medium. The one who doesn’t look for the reciprocity of I-follow-you-you-follow-me type. The one who, after reading my post, cares only about whether her time has been well spent.

She is the silent content-seeker who strives for education, entertainment, information or inspiration.

And I don’t expect her to comment on my posts. Though I welcome her to do so if she wishes. I don’t expect her to follow me, but ask her to consider doing that if, and ONLY if, she finds value in my work.

So here is the thing.

It is worth taking some time and reflect on what you, as a writer, want to share with the world. And then start catering for your quiet readers.

No hacks. No shortcuts. No cheating the system. Instead, sweat and tears and a lot of patience.

We must earn the attention of our quiet readers by consistently producing quality content, improving our craft and finding our unique voices.

Author and poet C.D. Write once wrote, “Readers have to be sought out and won to the light of the page, poem by poem, one by one.”

I’d like to repurpose her quote for the Medium writers.

Readers have to be sought out and won to the light on the screen, post by post, line by line.

👉Did you enjoy the article? Then follow me or crickets. 🦗🦗🦗 (Psst, this is the best way to support my writing.)