Writing Binge-Worthy Content

Examining strategies that build readership

Today I did something that I had previously considered unthinkable, I went back to an article that’s trending right now and edited it.

The article had been curated a while ago but has recently been enjoying a lot of traffic. I never know how or why these things happen, but my strongest instinct is to leave trending articles the hell alone. I’m terrified that if I meddle with it, I’m going to end up muddying the magic that’s carrying the story wherever it’s attracting all those eyes.

But I just couldn’t just leave it be; I couldn’t stand idly by and watch as this magical article kept pushing outdated and irrelevant recommendations.

The Recommendations

Each of my stories on Medium finish with links to two recommended stories at the end.

At the time of writing an article, the recommendations may not always be perfect. I may not have written anything else that’s relevant to the subject matter, or I may not be in an inspired mood.

Even worse, I’ve been known to recommend stories at the end of articles completely at random, if you can believe it.

In any case, this particular article was carrying two terribly unrelated and dated stories at the bottom, and it killed me to know that I’ve written much better content since that story was published. After days of suffering I couldn’t stand by anymore, I had to go in.

Because of this, I’ve committed the act I’d always seen as a crime against good fortune. I entered the article and added a recommended story mid-article, and changed out both story links at the bottom.

I committed the crime hours ago, and my hands are still shaking violently. Honestly though, the three coffees I drank throughout the process may be contributing factors to the shakes.

It feels awful, but I know it’s necessary. Taking advantage of the one-story where all the eyes are focused right now is important to my future success.

Because of the curation desert, I’ve been wandering through lo these many months, I only have one article that’s on fire right now. This one article is carrying the burden of keeping my lights on entirely on its own. This being the only story that’s gaining any real attention means that the stories it recommends are critical to my future success.

Creating Ongoing Content

Right now I’m writing a workshop series for people who want to replace their income with an online hustle; I’m calling it the ‘Quarantined Income’ series.

A lot of people are stuck inside and are unfortunately cut-off from their primary incomes. I figured that a little bit of advice and encouragement could be all some people need to cut down on Netflix and start working on something that could lead to a real source of income.

This is the series I deemed worthy of committing my sin for. I had to push this series in front of the eyes of the world.

For readers, the benefit of this series is potentially career-altering knowledge (hopefully). But for me, the benefit is loyalty.

The biggest problem I have in my ‘Medium career’ is a problem that many of us share. I’m able to pull in the views once or twice, but I have a lot of trouble coercing people to switch from casual to regular readers.

When someone has the charm of a Roz or a Kristi, they have little to no trouble pulling people back. But for the rest of us, we need to get creative.

For me, what that looks like is a short series of articles that are best enjoyed in their entirety. “Binge-worthy content” if you will.

I’m hoping that each one will add another square to the online income tapestry that’ll hook people until the end.

The story I wrote that kicked off the series promised dates for each entry in the series. This keeps me accountable to writing everything on time and hopefully keeps interested readers coming back.

If someone knows exactly when to expect the content they suspect they’ll like; they may return with vigor. Then hopefully, when the series ends, they may stick around to experience whatever’s next.

Basically, the series is an experiment in gaining the most coveted asset of all time; a real readership.

If the experiment works, it’ll mean that a short series of connected articles are a viable way of attracting loyal readers. But what would that mean for the future of content creation? I’m not really sure.

The Sweet Spot

For creators on any platform, the sweet spot is right between creating what you’re interested in and feeding the appetite of the readership.

After all my financial articles, I’m fairly sure that the people who are currently actively following me are doing so because they expect more financial articles in the future.

I’m possibly at risk of alienating them if I schedule a 10 part series on the science behind lip balm.

However, viewership goes much deeper than just the subject matter. Readers can get their financial information from anywhere, so they aren’t just following mine because it’s financial in nature. They’re doing so because of the way I say it, the angle I come from, and the voice I’ve developed over time.

This suggests that I could theoretically write a lip balm series and post it to my platform and it may work; but only if my voice and style carry across from the regular financial content. Although writing it in 10 parts may stretch the limits of even the most loyal readers.

Every article a content creator writes needs to attract the attention of new readers while also satiating the expectations of the existing ones. It also needs to straddle reader interest with writer passion, and have a balance of new ideas and built-up wisdom that’s carried across from previous articles.

Having a consistent voice is difficult, so the balancing act gets all the more tricky when stretched across a series. Publishing any boring entries into an otherwise interesting series that don’t meet the above criteria would turn a binge-worthy series into a slush pile.

So perhaps writing a connected series of articles isn’t what’s going to make your content binge-worthy, it’s the ability to carry your unique voice from one article to the next regardless of the content.

Regardless, if this experiment works, I’ll ensure that another is in the works before the end of the year. Paying the bills means beating that cash cow until it stops crapping money, then journeying the land in search of a new cow.

*Please don’t beat any real cows, t’was only a clumsy metaphor.