How she got 82K views and $2500

P.S. Want to write together?

Happy Friday,

Let me tell you the craziest story. Craziest part? It’s true.

A new writer on Medium decided to create her own publication. She only had about 200 readers herself. The new publication had none, of course. But she wanted a place to publish her own work instead of always playing the submit and wait game.

Then she wrote a story and it went viral. It had 82,000 views at last count and has earned her over $2500 so far.

Know what the kicker is?

She didn’t publish that viral piece to a big publication. She’d published it to the new one. The one that only had 3 followers when she hit publish on the article.

Three. lol. Three followers. The publication didn’t make her post go viral.
Medium distribution did.

I had a similar experience, but with less money.

I started a new publication a while ago, called History of Women. Then I published a couple of stories to it. Every publication has to start somewhere.

Then this happened.

It hasn’t made $2500, but even the 3 figures it’s pushing towards is not bad considering the publication is new and has 5 followers.

Distribution can make a big difference

It can take you farther than most people realize. What writer doesn’t know the power of good distribution vs. weak distribution?

So many people chase big publications. It’s a common “tip” Medium advice givers say. Get into the big pubs. They have the audience.

But let’s be honest. Big publications have a lot of writers and get a lot of submissions. Which means new stories scroll into oblivion pretty quickly.

Distribution and tags can make a real difference.

A while ago, I wrote about some of the top posts on Medium. Over half of them were published in small publications or no publication at all. Interesting, no?

My hiccups on Medium post is going a bit wild…

Last week I wrote about some of the hiccups on Medium. It’s my #1 story right now. And while that feels great, I’m getting a lot of comments from new writers who are frustrated beyond belief and don’t know what to do.

I’m working on a follow up with tips that work for me. Because we need to take the focus off old advice that doesn’t work and look at what’s working now.

Platforms grow and change. As Medium grows, hope isn’t enough. Writers need strategy. Knock on wood, that piece will go up over the weekend.

If you have tips that work for you and you’re willing to share, feel welcome to add them in comments. If I include your tip, I’ll credit you.

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P.S. Want to write together?

I’m opening History of Women for submissions. It’s a place for women’s stories, but not the “my boyfriend is a narcissist” kind.

I wanted something more uplifting. It’s a place for stories about fascinating women, whether that’s a past-era diva or a brilliant scientist or a story about some woman in your family history.

If it happened more than 50 years ago and a woman is at the center of the story, it’s welcome. And no, you don’t have to be a woman to write for the publication. You just need to be able to tell a story well.

If you’d like to join me in writing for the History of Women pub, just do this.

1) Create a draft you’d like to submit. (Don’t publish yet)
2) Hit reply on this email and send me the draft link.

Nice and simple.

:)

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“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.”

Emily Dickenson

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If you liked this, please click the heart. It helps me know what you enjoy so I can tailor my writing accordingly. Thanks!

Have a great weekend.

xo,
Linda