What I Learned Writing 400 Articles on Medium

Celebration?

Photo by Remy_Loz on Unsplash

This is my 400th article on Medium.

Here are a few things I learned doing it.

1. Writing Is Fun But It’ll Hardly Make Any Money

I spent thousands of hours writing, researching, and editing my content and while it has been a lot of fun, I barely earned $30k from it.

Had I dedicated that amount of effort to building a company, I’d be much richer by now.

2. Virality Remains Random

I plan for all of my articles to go viral but about 1/10th ever get to this point and I never quite figure out why.

Ironically, what I consider my best work is barely read while my worst writing often spreads. Frustrating.

3. Don’t Write Just Anything on the Internet

You never know who will read you or how viral it can go. You’re not writing in a vacuum. Good stuff always comes to the surface.

4. Creativity Is a Virtuous Cycle

The more you write, the more you write.

The less you write, the less you write.