10 Comments
User's avatar
Kristi's avatar

I think the majority of my top ones aren't negative. Many are humor, some are just curious. Like "Undeniable Evidence of Angels" and "No One Knew I was Married for 13 Years."

My top read story of all time is "Never Write Wash Me on a Dusty Vehicle."

I think with all those titles people were just curious.

Expand full comment
Linda Caroll's avatar

So the top one starts with "never" which pushes that hot button. The rest are curiosity for sure. You do curiosity well, for sure. :)

Expand full comment
Kristi's avatar

I did scroll through my Medium list of heavy hitters and about 50% of them could be considered negative leaning titles.

Expand full comment
Linda Caroll's avatar

lol. I clearly need to do more of that. Too many duds lately. Though I've only posted 3 times in May and it's the 20th, so that doesn't help.

Expand full comment
Kristi's avatar

You're not alone!!! I've also only posted 3 times in May.

Expand full comment
Sara K.'s avatar

Well, I've had four Medium posts published in the past week-and-a-half (a record for me) and one post is getting more views & member read time than the other three combined, lol.

Here are the headlines. I wonder if you can figure out which one is dominating the views and the member reading time:

"Publishers (Including Self-Published Authors) Need This Book’s Message"

"Even This Book’s Mistakes Show You How to Write Better Blurbs"

"This Book Flopped. Seize Its Bestseller Insights Anyway."

"The Reader Is the Main Character"

(In retrospect, one of these headlines feels weak... but that one has only the 2nd worst stats, not ~the~ worst, lol)

Expand full comment
Jenine Baines's avatar

Before retiring, I was a publicist for the arts...and I was always pitching editors stories about my clients. The key was the email subject line. If the subject line lost them - they'd hit the delete key in less than a heartbeat! Ditto, titles on Medium.

Expand full comment
Don't Call Me Granny's avatar

I read somewhere that pessimists survive captivity better than optimists do.

Expand full comment
Linda Caroll's avatar

Have you ever read Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search For Meaning? He talks in depth about the one trait that told him who was most likely to survive Auschwitz. It was fascinating. :)

Expand full comment
Don't Call Me Granny's avatar

That book is likely the source of my information. I’ll check it out. 🙏🏻

Expand full comment