Do You Know What "Writing For Boost" Even Means? I Think Maybe Not.
Plus, what Tony said about the internet, how it applies and a couple of suggestions
I wasn’t going to write about Medium again today but I want to talk about a thing that keeps happening, because it happened again yesterday. I belong to several writers’ groups on Slack and Discord. I could talk books and words all day if someone would pay me for it. But also? I like to watch for pain points. So I can talk about them.
So, this guy posted and said trying to “write for the boost” is making him hate writing. Said he’s so frustrated he just can’t anymore. Because he gets the odd piece boosted, but wishes someone would tell him “what” the curators want. Because he’s tired of guessing. So he doesn’t want to “write for boost” anymore. He’s done with that.
Let me tell you what I’m done with. The “I’m not gonna write for boost no more.”
People who say that? I don’t think they know what that means. Because if they did, they wouldn’t say it. So let me tell you what “write for boost” means.
It means writing at a quality level that stands out.
Like a farm kid proudly taking his cow to the 4-H and winning best in class. Like when Cindy and I took her horse to contests, and I’d be jumping up and down watching her win, knowing all the hours we groomed and exercised that little filly, running, cantering, combing, caring for her. To win the blue ribbon she’s crying over.
You don’t want to do that? Don’t want to write a stand-out piece? Because that’s what “writing for boost” means. It means writing top quality pieces. Nothing more, nothing less. Doesn’t matter what they’re about.
And to be fair, there are plenty of quality posts that don’t get boosted. But that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about whether you should strive for quality. Here’s my question. If you’re not striving for quality, then why are you writing?
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Except? I don’t think that’s the real problem.
I think if I asked that guy, do you want to write quality? I think he’d say yes, absolutely. I think his real struggle is knowing what that means. What constitutes quality?
I’m going to segue briefly to a post Tony wrote called “Be Part of A Better Internet.” He talks about how Medium is trying to do opposite of what most of the internet is doing. Here’s how it starts…
The internet is broken and getting worse. It’s flooded with ads, spam, misinformation, disinformation, division, and hate. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a healthy way to talk to each other that inspires, informs, empowers… (source)
Let me tell you how I think that’s deeply, deeply relevant.
No, I do not think *you* are writing misinformation, disinformation, division, and hate as Tony puts it. But I do think a lot of writers are deeply affected by the internet as a whole. By what has typically and historically floated to the top.
I think the internet has got into our bones so deeply and truly that it’s affected our eyes. Our ability to see what constitutes standout writing.
One guy who said he’s tired of writing for boost? A lot of his posts are clickbaity. The kind of posts that maybe kick butt on LinkedIn. Or somewhere. I don’t know where. On the internet as a whole. Hell, the kind of posts that used to kick butt on Medium before the Boost Nomination Program started. But I wouldn’t nominate them.
Clickbait and the “actual” secret of weight loss, that’s not quality writing. Or maybe the writing is, if a person can get past the clickbaity title.
A woman who said she’s tired of writing for boost? A lot of her posts are steeped in first person industrial complex. The kind of posts that made xo Jane rise to the top a few years ago. Until voyeurism got old and the site died a fast and ugly death.
Many people who are “tired of writing for boost” have weak titles or slow openings or both. I know, because I go look. Every time I see someone say that.
When my kid was little we hired a hockey coach. To help with skills. And people see the merit of that with stuff like sports. But writers? Suggest that their words could be stronger and it’s like you attacked their baby.
Here’s the thing.
You know what the first step in writing is? Seeing a story. Because most people don’t. The actual words? Those are the skill part. Those are having a hammer instead of using a high heel. Those are having a screwdriver instead of a butter knife.
I see this every day. Because I nominate from four publications. And every day, I see posts that make me shake my head. Say wow, you had a good story idea here. But the words? They’re kind of weak. And the title? No one is going to click that.
But tell the writer that? They get offended. So I don’t. Move along to the next one.
I wish there was a way I could help more writers who are so close I can taste it. Can see how close they are to standout. But that’s highly individual. I can’t write that in a generic post going to thousands of people. It demands that I look at your story. One by one. Don’t know how to do that in a workable way. If you have ideas, I’m all ears.
But for now? I have two suggestions.
First suggestion is this. Find a writer whose work you admire. Read them every day. Not even kidding. Every. Single. Day. It seeps in by osmosis. Affects how you string words together. I promise you it does.
Second suggestion is this. Go to the publications you write for. Put /latest at the end of the publication url. Look for the stories with thousands of claps. Read a couple of those every day. Same concept. It seeps in by osmosis.
But writing to get boosted? Just means striving to write words that stand out. Not in the eyes of a robot or algorithm. Not in the eyes of the internet as a whole. But to real people who read thousands of stories every week.
And regardless the result, I think it’s worth striving for. Because if you’re going to do a thing, why not strive to do it well?
Your turn. Love to know what you think.
You shouldn't really be writing so you can keep pace with the metrics of a platform. I have gotten very sick and tired of all the "writers" who think they need to publish a piece of meaningless crap once a day- or MORE than once a day- to meet self-imposed deadlines created by their need.
Nobody can produce material like that regularly and still have an audience, because you will alienate the one you have disrespecting them. This is why I only publish anywhere when I'm good and ready...and time permits.
Is that true, though? I mean writing high quality content and writing easily consumable content are two different things. You could write for quality, but only have a TAM of 20 people, and that stuff is less likely to be exposed to more people. It sure would be nice to live in a world where the only metric is quality, but in your post you clearly state that certain things must be true for something to get boosted. That woman who wrote first person...won't get boosted. So if she wants to keep writing that stuff, it won't be boosted. You seem to contradict yourself in this article several times, stating that originality and quality are what matters, and then naming several things that will prevent you from getting boosted that have nothing to do with quality. What am I missing here?