Everything You Need to Know About Medium’s Boost Program

Why Medium continues to be the best place for writers to start building an audience

Hello Kind People!

I’m looking out my window at another 39 degree morning. It’s dreary, but the rain is holding off and things are getting greener every day.

This weekend my daughter played her first two soccer games, winning one of two. The weather wasn’t in our favor (again 39 degrees and raining), but she persevered. This is another one of those situations where it’s convenient to have a dad who does an annual 50km ski race right through the heart of a brutal Wisconsin winter. I know how to dress for 39 degrees and raining. What I don’t know how to do is convince other people that I know what I’m talking about. Fortunately, I stuffed all the gear I thought my daughter would need in my pockets, and she put most of it on when she arrived at the field, took off her coat and said, “Whoa, it’s cold!”

But enough chit-chat, let’s get down to business. You came here to be BOOSTED!

Today is May 1^st, and that means it’s my second month in the Boost program.

In this article, I want to talk about how to maximize your chances of getting Boosted.

Getting Boosted!

One of the big advantages of Medium is that the platform has a distribution mechanism that helps your work get seen. I’ve had a variety of web pages throughout the years, and I was never able to get the same amount of views working on my own as I have through Medium.

On Medium, you are paid based on your number of internal reads. That means the views that come from Medium subscribers. This is part of the reason why I like to write about Medium on other platforms. The more new subscribers I can help to draw in, the more money there is available to pay out.

It’s important to understand that your stories can still get a lot of views (and make you a lot of money) even if you don’t get a boost. Here’s my most popular story from the last few months:

Are you noticing that your views are down?

It seems like every time I log into Medium, there are a bunch of stories about how people’s views (and earnings) are down. Naturally, people are most likely to blame any recent changes to the platform, and the introduction of Boost is the biggest recent change.

As for me, my views were lower in January and February, but they rebounded in March (again, thanks to the strength of that one article). My earnings for April exceeded March by a little.

I’m more inclined to think your earnings on Medium are related to your email subscribers, volume, and quality of content.

I still feel you can experience significant earnings on Medium whether or not your stories get Boosted. Also, keep in mind that the Boost is exactly what it sounds like. It can’t “make” your article. All it does is give it a little push. It’s still up to you to write something that’s capable of going viral on its own.

I’ve had 4 stories get Boosted, and they all showed a traffic spike for 3-4 days. It’s not like a Boost means you can retire. A Boost is just a bit of impulse. If you want to succeed as a writer you have to:

• Write regularly

• Produce quality content

• Engage with your readers

• Promote your work on social media

If any of these things isn’t working out for you on any given day, focus on the others. There’s always something productive you can be doing. Don’t waste energy assuming everything is “hopeless.”

How to get your stories Boosted

I’ve worked as a Boost curator for the last month. That means I can recommend stories for the Boost. Sometimes when I find a good story, I offer editorial suggestions to improve the story’s chances of being accepted.

Again, I can only nominate. Ultimately, somebody else decides if the story is worthy of a Boost or not.

One thing I’ve discovered that kind of surprised me is that some of the writers I contacted had never heard of the program. There are a lot of writers on Medium who only swing through when they have something to say, and they’re not entirely up to speed on the latest developments.

The other surprising thing is that some writers are reluctant to implement my suggestions. That doesn’t make me angry or anything. I support writers’ rights. If you like your story the way it is, then more power to you. However, I won’t use one of my limited nominations on a story if I feel there are a couple quick changes the writer could make to give it a better chance of getting accepted.

It’s editing. Nobody likes it but it has to be done.

First of all, just do this:

• Quality title in title case (big “T” format)

• Quality subtitle in sentence case (little “T” format)

• Quality featured image with a citation

• All images, graphics, tables, etc., have citations

• All quotes have citations

• Article is well-written and doesn’t contain many mistakes

Look, if you have a typo here and there, it doesn’t completely sink your chances. If I see one, I’ll mention it when I reach out to you. But please, change it.

Some writers run their stuff through digital writing assistants like Grammarly (this isn’t the same as writing your story with AI... not by a long shot). I don’t particularly enjoy using Grammarly, but if it works for you then go for it. It does seem to be a useful tool in some cases (there’s no law that says you have to accept every change it recommends).

More specific Boost advice

It seems to me that Medium is committed to further evolving into a primary source on the internet for intelligent discourse. I think they’ve done a wonderful job already and I appreciate their commitment to becoming even better.

To that end, the type of stories that get Boosted are the type of thing you’d expect to find in a respected journal or magazine. They are well-researched, well-written, articles written by professionals. Any relevant claims in the article will be supported by respected outside sources.

Does that formula apply to everything that will receive the Boost? No. But I think focusing on the rules rather than the exceptions is a more productive use of your energy.

Right now, Boosted stories sit at a midpoint between “stuff that tends to go viral on the internet” and “respected articles in academic journals.” There’s a lot of gray area between those two points.

In my experience, a really dry article isn’t going to go viral. For example, a technical outline on how to create cold fusion in a peanut butter jar isn’t going to go viral (actually, writing that sentence made me feel sad... but I think it’s true).

“Power your whole house with cold fusion in a peanut butter jar!”—Not going viral.

“Today’s top 5 swimwear trends!”—Viral.

You might doubt me, but as I mentioned, people often refuse to so much as fix a comma error for the opportunity to get their articles Boosted. I have experience with what trends on the internet.

*Also, if you have figured out an easy way to achieve cold fusion in a peanut butter jar, you don’t have to worry about going viral, or anything else for that matter. You’ve just turned our society into Star Trek, so thank you!

I like what Medium is doing

I think that Medium is making a deliberate effort to help worthwhile stories achieve a larger audience. The upside of this, for writers, is that we don’t have to disguise important topics with clickbait headings just so we have a prayer of getting any attention for the story.

The Boost program allows us to write with a little more dignity (and writers need as much dignity as we can get). Also, I think the idea of human curators is a way to help combat a potential flood of AI written articles. On Medium, you know that real human beings are going through and selecting quality work. I know this because I’m a real human being and I’m a Boost curator.

I expect this program is going to continue to evolve. I’ve seen a number of stories where writers are frustrated by what they perceive to be a drop in views and it’s always convenient to blame whatever is new. I feel that Boost is a great program that’s only going to get better.

Medium remains, in my opinion, the best place for writers to get their start earning an income from writing. You have to be willing to learn and to respect the expectations of the platform. If you’re interested in getting started with Medium, please sign up with my referral link. I’m always happy to answer questions!