Stop begging for 100 followers
Find fulfillment in writing and build a community instead
Medium has updated its partner program, now requiring at least 100 followers for eligibility. This has led to countless earnest Medium creators to publish articles like this, and this and this… the list goes on.
Some of these articles do really well — and good for the authors! I’m not here to criticise, and it’s not like I don’t understand: I myself was quite tempted to write such an article out of greed at first. More recently, though, for survival, since I only just learned that the 100 follower eligibility applies to current partners too… so could everyone follow me please? I’ll Follow You Even If Your Writing Sucks.
I’m just kidding, of course.
I want to remind people that they shouldn’t let the $$$ make them forget why they write in the first place. I also want to share my experiences as a small writer on the partner program. Finally, I share my thoughts on the importance of building an online community to make it a successful blogger.
Why do you write?
If you write on Medium, then you are a creative person that wants to genuinely share their thoughts with others who are equally curious to learn.
If you kill that creativity by letting money drive your writing, then you will never become a successful blogger because successful articles always satisfy at least one of these conditions:
- They have an inherent value that speaks to people (lessons, personal experiences, or bite-sized content)
- They are written by someone already famous (e.g., Barack Obama’s Medium)
- They offer a unique/interesting/funny outlook on something (a great example is this article which at the time of publishing has singlehandedly made the author over 50 followers)
None of the above can be achieved if you are driven by making money. To connect with people, your content must be original and self-aware. And, in order to achieve that, you must genuinely believe the core message that your article is trying to send. Finally, in order to produce good content regularly, you need to write with purpose, and the desire to make money isn’t robust enough to enable that. A for-profit model will always lead to your content being subpar or plagiarism. You need to derive fulfillment from writing, at least until you grow to a size where your audience can sustain you — although even that won’t last forever if you don’t produce content that your followers want.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t aspire to make money. In fact, I encourage you to because it is a great motivator that gives you some material freedom and a confidence boost to continue writing. But it cannot, in and of itself, generate good content. You must first generate genuine content.
100 followers won’t magically make you money
I’ve been writing for Medium for over a year now. I’ve used this time to experiment with different techniques to learn about a) what kind of content I want to write about, and b) what kind of content gets views, and c) how much money that brings.
As such, I’ve written articles on my personal experiences, articles on popular Machine Learning topics, articles on specific Machine Learning topics that interest me, and — unfortunately — some egregiously click bait articles.
Through that process, my success has improved tremendously.
I’ve seen more rapid growth on Medium, but it’s never been about competition. I’m happy with my personal growth because I’m content with the quality of the articles I write. They’ve been getting better, and I’ve started getting a better idea of where I want to take my writing. And it’s great. The rush to make a quick buck is tempting, but I want to create a lasting empire.
Unfortunately, that takes time. Good articles take time to write, good ideas require time before you can explain them well, and it takes time to build a community of people who are thirsty for your content.
In my time as a writer, I’ve learned that the Medium algorithm already tremendously favours larger writers, so having 100 followers vs. 10 followers will not make an immense impact if your content isn’t being read. So don’t blindly dilute your content for 100 followers that won’t read your best work later. Instead, focus on creating a reliable community.
Building a community is the way forward
I find it shameful that advice to new readers never focuses on building a community, which is the most robust and fulfilling way to make it in the online space.
I hope if you’ve read thus far that you care about the content you produce. You write because you find it liberating, useful for others, or creative. Having 1, 100, or 10000 followers should never change that.
If you are a new writer, I know how tempting it is to dilute the quality of your content to see how well it can do. I’ve done it myself, and it does not work. Focus on your writing, what it means to you, and the kind of audience that you want to cultivate.
As a creator, you own the source of your income. It’s not like a 9–5 where you work under a hierarchical organisation. To some degree, you have no boss. You can choose what to work on, what to write about, and when to take a break.
However, when you build a large following of people who are following you on no basis, you directly expose yourself to a writing style that is motivated by making money. Because your audience comprises many different kinds of people, you’ll be writing to please the masses and not to produce value. In chasing the algorithm, you put yourself in a situation where you have a virtual boss that, more than the 9–5 boss, is extremely fickle and can completely destroy your online presence.
Having a community of people who support you, care for your work and give you feedback to improve is essential if you want to grow as a writer.
Key Takeaways
- Remember why you write, and let that guide your writing
- Don’t become a slave to the algorithm
- Create a community that thirsts for the content you produce
Where I want to take my writing
I wanted to end this article with a personal note about my own blog and how I want to shape it in the coming year.
In my first year of experimentation, I wrote 14 articles. These could be broadly classified as follows:
- Deep dives in Machine Learning topics
- Introductory Machine Learning
- Random/Interesting facts
- Re-thinking concepts we’re used to
- Personal experiences
- Projects
Moving forward, I want to focus on the key areas:
- Deep Dives: Machine Learning topics are explored patiently and in great detail, typically covering things that are often missed by mainstream articles.
- Understanding Our World: I want to explore things that we take for granted, explain them in understandable English, and imagine how they could be improved. For example: How do voting systems work, and how can they be improved? Why are our cities designed for cars and not humans?
- Fun Projects: I want to focus this on projects I’ve found particularly interesting. I won’t make this purely data-related, and I’ll include things like Maths problems and riddles.
- Not so self-help: I don’t believe in self-help beyond ‘general’ advice. I want to dedicate this to valuable context-specific personal experiences that might teach you more about yourself.
I’ve been working on these very hard (I currently have 44 drafts on Medium!), but finalising them takes time. So stay tuned, and as always, continue to learn.
