Why Writers Must Check the Data Before They Go into Emergency Panic Mode

Maybe the reason your compensation is going down is because you're not writing as much?

Hello Friends,

I always tell my kids that you can swim on the last day of August, but on September 1^st it instantly becomes too cold. That's the way it is in Wisconsin anyway. School is about to begin, and that means I'll be getting back into my regular writing routine beginning this week.

There have been a lot of developments over the last few months. Starting mid July, something seemed to change with Medium's Boost program. I'm not saying it was good or bad, just that it's working differently now.

Writers tend to be a reactive bunch and there's been quite a bit of talk that the sky is falling. When things like that happen, it's always important to remember that change always creates panic that's not based on any actual evidence. People tend to presume the worst. That doesn't help you. You always have to take a step back and get some perspective based on whatever data is available to you.

Like most other people, I've seen a drop in Boosts both for the stories I've nominated and the stories I've written. Here’s my Medium output for August:

As you can see, I wrote 12 stories and had 6 selected for a Boost. Before I say anything else, let me note that my output was low this month. For the last year or so, I’ve been averaging closer to 20 stories per month.

Why was my output less in August?

Well, because it was summer for one thing. My kids are at home from school. We’re out at the river. I’m taking them to soccer practice. In short, there’s a lot going on right now.

I think there is too much of a tendency to blame Medium when a lot of the things that affect your earnings have nothing to do with that or any other platform. It’s August! You should be spending a little more time enjoying yourself!

As you can see, from August 7th to August 19th, I had 5 straight stories Boosted. For a while there, I thought I’d cracked the new code. But then my last four stories didn’t get accepted.

These days, everything I submit on Medium is written to conform to the Boost parameters as I understand them.

I was most surprised that these three were not Boosted:

• The Celebration of a Fifty Year Marriage Revealed the Strategy for Happiness

• A Free Country Requires a Free and Responsible Press

• How Your Innocence Can Become Your Armor When You’re Willing to Give People a Chance

I think the first and third ones were because of the titles. The first was too generic and the third was over-optimized.

I think the article about the free press tilted a little too political.

When it comes to titles, I still think writers should work with a Headline Analyzer tool to get a better idea what tends to grab an audience. DO NOT generate titles. Only use the tool to evaluate the titles you’ve come up with yourself.

When it comes to Substack, you can knock yourself out with titles. Use whatever you want to get every advantage that you want (but don’t irritate your subscribers). When it comes to Medium, lately, the name of the game seems to be POETRY.

How to Write Something Great Even When You’re Not a Great Writer

I was really confident about this one when I sent it off. The title is catchy and the featured image is really good. I always think it’s a good practice to include two quality images in every story. When you get to the midpoint of an article, the presence of an image keeps your readers scrolling.

So, I was 6/12 for Boosts in August. Who knows what would have happened if I’d finished off 20 articles? Maybe I’d have been 6/20, or maybe I’d have been 14/20. We’ll never know!

The other bit of data I have is the number of stories that I nominated that were accepted. In previous months, I’ve had as many as 30 nominated stories accepted for Boost. We are only compensated for the first 20 acceptances, but I always kept going because I know that there are a lot of writers out there who are struggling. I always felt it was a nice gesture if I could get as many people Boosted as possible.

Last month, I was 12/20 with 3 duplicates and 5 declines. It’s still a good number, but again, it was August, I just didn’t have the time to submit things like normal.

Actually, in going through the numbers, I’ve convinced myself that many of the concerns about Medium are overblown. Even if I go back to May/June, there are always 2 or 3 articles I write or nominate in any month that surprise me when they aren’t Boosted.

So, even though I started this article by saying it felt like the program had “changed,” it could just be that the only thing that’s happened is that writers are trying to write through the summer.

My earnings are down a little bit in August, but it’s not catastrophic. In fact, if I’d found another 8 articles to Boost, I’d have earned my average for the last 4-5 months.

For August, I plan on interviewing

Robin Wilding

,

Jason Provencio

, and

Ben Ulansey

. They are all Boost nominators and they all work here on Substack as well as on Medium.

The best way to succeed on Medium is to build relationships with editors for publications on topics you’re passionate about. I nominate stories on social justice, racism, and culture. Over this month, I want to help my readers get to know Robin, Jason, and Ben so you have a better idea where you can submit your own excellent stories.

Please read this one:

Also, read this one because you probably missed it the first time around:

Finally, here are some selections from friends:

• Allison Wiltz
  : Never Forget The Power of Black Women Abolitionists

• William Spivey
  : All The Times White People Got Reparations For No Longer Enslaving People

• Sarah3000
  : The workplace policy of "Don't tell Don't care."

• Jason Provencio
  : “Fuck Your Feelings” if You’re Racist or Bigoted

• Robin Wilding
  : No, You Can’t Move to Canada If Trump is Elected

• Untrickled by Michelle Teheux
  : Suddenly, Everyone Is Courting the Working Class

• Ben Ulansey
  : The Forgotten Lives of Forgotten Phones

• Alison Acheson
  : Read the Contract

Last thing, thank you all for your wonderful comments! They are helpful and insightful! Please take the time to hit “restack” whenever you take the time to write a comment, it’s a HUGE help! Also, you can restack the articles you like or you think are important more than once:

That’s it! Thanks!

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