Hey, You Don’t Know Me, But Will You Read My Stories?

The way to build your audience that isn’t this

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Now and then I get someone leaving a comment on one of my stories asking me to read and comment on theirs. For the most part, I just ignore them. It’s a wildly inappropriate ask and if you don’t already know that, me pointing it out probably isn’t going to matter. I’m not going to waste my time.

Medium is essentially a social media platform built around writing and reading other people’s writing. If you want to build your audience and engagement, you have to be reciprocal. Showing up on one of my stories, when you seem to have never read me before, and asking me to take time away from my day to support your work — when I don’t know the first thing about you — is not a good idea. I’m not going to do it, and neither is anyone else, I’m going to guess.

Now, if you’ve been a frequent reader and we’ve talked several times in the comments and you have something you want to run by me — that’s another story. I will probably make time for that because — well, we have a relationship. You aren’t just trying to use me to bolster your own needs in a way that isn’t even transactional — it’s just grasping.

The very best way to build an audience on Medium is to read a lot of stories, offer a lot of interesting or…