3 Things I Didn’t Do To Become a Top Writer
Half full, or half empty? If you want to focus on actions that will help you gain Top Writer status, you must be aware of the strategies not worth spending time on.
In my first two months writing on Medium, I’ve read all articles on How to achieve Top Writer Status. I had no idea I would be awarded Top Writer so early in my progress. I’m thankful for all those writers who helped me get up to speed.
I’m an economist by graduation, an investor by profession and a number cruncher by obsession. The minute I saw Medium’s congratulations email, I wondered what had led to this milestone. I realized I had saved energies by allocating efforts wisely. This article should help you focus on what matters to achieve your first Top Writer milestone.
Know where to spare energies and focus on what matters!
The Half-Empty Glass
The idea behind this post is to show the perspective of a half-empty glass. What have I not done to achieve my first Top Writer status?
Here are the three posts that helped me get this first Medium milestone. All were tagged in Venture Capital.
These were the only stories I had tagged Venture Capital on Medium. Getting the right tags is an essential part of your strategy, so choose wisely.
Recently, I have decided to change the tags on my old stories matching my new growth strategy. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to back-check my initial plan.
# 1 — I didn’t build a massive email distribution list
I have read several times that Medium rewards great content. When my article 7 Reasons Why Traditional Investors Don’t Understand Venture Capital was featured under the topic Economy, I realized someone at Medium Staff must read all this stuff. The image below says well, “Handpicked by Medium Staff “— thank you for your fantastic work!
How much is enough to catch Medium Staff’s attention?
If the quality of your article is right, you still need a strategy to make sure someone at Medium will read it. In the first three days after publishing, my article accumulated 214 views, 160 reads, and 21 fans.
This post was featured on day#4, so I will assume that Medium Staff got triggered to read it at the end of the second day. On a per-follower ratio, on the second day I had accumulated 100% of views, 75% of reads and 10% of fans. These aren’t significant numbers to beat! All I did was reach out to my close friends over a message and got them engaged. You can do it too!
Don’t overshoot! Medium’s algorithm identifies new writers. Don’t wait until you own an extensive email distribution list. Get your friends and family engaged to add views and reads on top of your followers. Ask for a “long-standing ovation” from them. Most importantly, make sure you’re articles have great quality.
# 2 — Neither have I syndicated, or reached out to others with large social media audiences
Syndicating articles is an integral part of successful growth stories on Medium. However, when you start you won’t have access to top publishers, such as StartupGrind, The Mission, Hacker Noon, Personal Growth — here is a list of top publishers on Medium. You need to build a history for yourself engaging post by post. Thus, you need to focus on quality!
Asking for others with large social media audiences to share is relevant to your growth. Yet, I focused on getting my articles shared by my friends. I asked them to ask for their friends to share. Everyone has about ten friends they can engage re-sharing. That’s already quite a robust growth strategy. If you’re a beginner, leverage on your credibility among your close friends.
Focus on getting your close friends and their close friends engaged!
# 3 — I didn’t ride my bicycle
Two months ago, I had a severe road cycling injury. I crashed at 30 mph on a regular training day due to oil spilled on the road. To my luck, I was close to the hospital, and I was diagnosed with a stable sacrum fracture — stable fractures don’t cause spinal deformity or nerve problems. Yet, I was advised to stay in bed for at least one week.
Being a part-time athlete, I am used to an intense routine — I spend on average twelve hours per week on a bicycle saddle. After my injury, I started working on occupying my agenda with activities that did not require much movement. Remote working, meditation, and WRITING. Finally, I could spare time to flush down all things I had been willing to write about.
I built a writing routine. Writing led to more writing. Now, I am working on balancing my personal life, work, sports, and writing.
Writing leads to more writing!
I hope this post helps you get inspired to focus on what matters to grow your audience on Medium:
Great Writing!
Thank you kevin wrytes, Ravi Shankar Rajan, Louis Chew, Anthony Vicino, Lou Kerner among many other great writers that have shared their Top Writer hacks!
Derek Bittar is the co-founder of IndicatorCapital, Kauffman Fellow and avid road cyclist. He often writes on Building Value Together to empower entrepreneurs in emerging ecosystems, he sometimes writes on Long Ride Vélo Club about his epic road cycling adventures.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s publication followed by over +256,410 people.
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