New Bloggers Forget About ‘Read For A Read’ Groups
They don’t work. Here’s why not, and here’s what does …
Hey folks, let’s talk about reciprocity aka you read my work and I’ll read yours.
FYI articles from Medium staff and bosses, are easily found and there’s a definite party line: let your work speak for itself, don’t rely on social media groups with their own rules and read for read culture.
But surely, other than the added benefits of expressing ourselves, becoming better writers and of course earning a few quid, there’s two main reasons we’re all here right, to write and to read?
Okay person in picture,you can stop looking so confused. I can explain how you get engagement on your writing, without getting yourself banned from our wonderful platform.
Indulge me for a paragraph or two if you would and it will all become crystal clear.
One of Medium’s selling points, possibly its USP and a major reason a lot of us chose to come here, over say WordPress or Substack, is the built in audience.
Put simply, no other platform has this, so when we’re being told we can’t take advantage of it, or at least that’s how it comes across, I can see why there’s frustration and confusion.
It’s akin to flipping through the holiday brochures all winter, excitedly deciding where to spend your summer vacation, finally you choose a 5 star resort because of its on-site water park — for the kids of course — and its amazing restaurants for your meals and down time, only to travel 2000 miles to arrive and be told you’re not allowed to use them.
So here it is:
Of course Medium doesn’t mind us reading one another’s work, if we all suddenly stopped they’d have no platform.
They would however prefer it to be organic, ie you take a look at a story because its on a subject you’re interested in, or because the headline grabbed you.
The author of the article is checking their notifications and sees an unfamiliar name has clapped for their story, naturally they’re pleased, and in return or maybe just out of curiosity, whatever the reason, they have a shufty over to your page to see what your work’s all about.
They like what they see and a beautiful — organic — reciprocal relationship is born.
All is good in the world
What they don’t want is the plotting and scheming of online groups. Who are basically encouraging false engagement. I have personal experience of this.
There were 15 writers in the group, and when you wanted the other members to read your work, you’d post a link to a story, new or old it didn’t matter, and everyone who posted a link that day would read all the other stories via the links posted, you had to highlight, comment and clap, and of course make sure you read for at least 30 seconds.
You can find similar groups all over Facebook in particular. The group I tried was ‘invite only’ and was a complete shambles. People posting links but not reading other people’s work, lol cheeky monkeys.
So if that’s what goes down on a supposedly VIP group, God only knows what the others are like.
So, in finishing, forget about groups promising untold riches and hundreds of daily reads, it doesn’t happen.
I even penned a short rhyme on the subject.
Read what you enjoy
Write what you know
Engage with those that interest you
And watch you garden grow
Believe me it’s worth it. Until next time, thank you very much for stopping by, believe me I’ll be repaying the compliment. And of course, happy writing x
