I’m new to Medium. I’ve read and paid for a membership off and on over the last year, but I really started taking it seriously as a writer in January.
I published 3 posts in January, two on The Ascent and one in Better Marketing. I wanted to take some time to talk about the statistics involved in publishing on Medium, and why they’re distracting from your true purpose.
My most popular story
I started a project this year to quit video games and create more. Writing was the path of least resistance to start creating. I didn’t need to learn a new skill, I could just sit down and write. I don’t consider myself a particularly good writer, but I’m showing up every day.
Since I started posting on Medium I get access to a lot of stats.
- Views
- Reads
- Claps
- Avg reading time
- Revenue earned
Here’s how my most popular article performed.
Views are simple; it’s the number of people who viewed any part of my story.
Reads count the number of people that read my story all the way, and the ratio is Reads / Views.
According to this post I found in 10 seconds, a read ratio above 30% is considered “good”. Staying between 20-40% is ideal.
Want to know how much I made from Medium in January? Read on to find out.
Statistics Lie
I quickly was enamored with my stats. My analytical side wanted to dive deep into the numbers and cross-reference my most read and clapped posts with varying topics.
Do my posts on happiness and self-development do better than my email marketing posts? Where do I need to dive in to maximize my earnings?
Those are great intentions, but a terrible way to start writing.
I’m writing across a range of different topics to experiment with what I enjoy writing about. It’s too early to let the audience dictate the message. Perhaps the audience will never dictate the message. I’ll dedicate an entire post to that later on.
Here’s the thing though, once I hit my stride and start publishing consistently, my best writing will lead to the best results. The posts I’m most passionate about will receive more attention.
I’ll devote more time to promoting them and trying to get them accepted to popular publications. The less I’m into a particular story, the less effort I’m going to put into it. I’m much more likely to just throw it on Medium without any publication or promotion.
That’s fine. It’s human nature to be really passionate about somethings and not others. I know not every story is going to be a winner. I’m going to write a lot of crap especially as I’m still very early on in my writing journey.
Write what you love
The easiest articles I’ve written happen to be what I’m most passionate about. The words flow freely when I’m fired up about a specific topic. Anytime I spin my wheels on an article for too long, I know I’m not passionate about it.
It’s important to push through the hard times because not every story will come easy. Sometimes you really have to grind it out.
I started this writing journey for me. Not for you, sorry.
I care about you though, dear reader. I really do. Every person who claps or comments brings a smile to my face. I take time to respond to every single comment, because if you took the time to comment on my story then I’m going to take time to reply.
I want to add value to your life.
But my reasons for starting come from my heart. I have things to say and I’m going to say them regardless of what you think.
And that’s why I’m disregarding the early stats from my articles for now. I’m still figuring out what I enjoy writing about and what I want my niche to be.
I’m happy to hear your opinions, but I’m going to write about what I want to. At least for now.