Be Still My Beating Heart! The Thrill of Getting Boosted

I clicked open my latest email from Medium, expecting the usual writer newsletter or comment notifications. But this subject line stopped me cold:

“Congratulations! Your story has been Boosted on Medium.”

What fresh witchcraft was this?

I clicked frantically and scanned the email.

It was real.

My story, Bouncing Back from the Great Bread Baking Flop, had somehow been chosen for the coveted boost.

Bouncing Back from the Great Bread Baking Flop

I leaned back in my chair, stunned. This rambling tale of my abysmal baking fail was hardly my best work. Yet here it was, plucked from obscurity by the story gods.

Boosted story earnings and views. Image via author.

Boosted story engagement and reads. Image via author.

In just two days of boosting, I’d earned $32 and received over 100 member reads. I gawked at the stats, wondering if I was hallucinating. Without the boost, my stories normally…