How I Finally Got My First 2k Views Story
I had my lesson, and it’s not about socials or hacks.
For 30 posts on Medium, since May 2017, I heard a single sound: crickets, as they say. Incredibly bored crickets. If crickets could commit suicide, mine would be all dead by now.
I read tons of articles about successful stories, by authors recommending writing 1000 words per day and publishing every day. I also read stories from successful authors with less frequent writing but, in my tiny stats, I still could see that frequency is important.
I began to be ashamed of the lack of results on Medium. I blamed my not being a native English speaker and other deficiencies (like not using socials), starting feeling some discouragement. My articles usually get from 0 to 10 fans, despite the fact that about ten stories have been accepted by publications. Half of my articles have less than 10 views, including the embarrassing record of 2 views (one of which is mine).
Writing the story
One day, early September, I wrote a story, that was in my mind since weeks, as usually happens with my stories. I dedicated several hours to it. Then I started heavily edit. Then I left it there, as usual, with the feeling that it required too much editing. The day after I did some brief editing again, but I was not convinced. Then I went on a trip for five days, with no time for writing. When back at home I got back on the story. In some way, it was finished, but it didn’t convince me. Loud voices told me that I had edited enough. Time to publish.
Luckily, a shy voice in my mind took courage and finally spoke. “Hey! That’s my writing. I’m going to tell when it’s ready and when it’s not.”
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
― Ernest Hemingway
Massive editing again. Then a day of pause. Then light editing. Then two hours spent searching for the best image for it (thanks to Jochen Bongaerts for the awesome photo, which perfectly matches the story, in my opinion). Then published. No title analysis, as the title was already what I wanted it to be. Maybe two (or more) full days were gone on the whole thing. It was Thursday, and the latest story was of 12 days before. The longest break so far, with crickets starting to read listicles about how an insect can commit suicide. I had 40 followers, slowly gained in four months. One was my wife.
What happened?
If you’re a veteran of xK views, you can skip directly to “My lesson,” else, better to stay.
In the early hours, I saw a timid response, despite the fact of being on the home page of the publication (the Writing Cooperative, which I thank). In the evening, some appreciation, but nothing more. The day after, the story got some traction. It seemed that some readers appreciated. The day after, Saturday… oh, oh… comments flowed, clapping resounded, highlights appeared and also one other story mentioned mine. With that, followers. I checked the publication but my story was no more on their home page, and it’s normal. But, wait, the article gets feedback now that is no more on their home page? Well, it seems that newsletters and customized homepages work.
The trend continued on Sunday and Monday morning, then started to lessen. Monday afternoon, four days after and no other stories published, the story had 1.6K views with 52% of reading ratio and 130 fans (521 claps).
On Wednesday morning I got from Medium the Top Writer award in Writing, due to that story. The feedback on the story had cooled down but stood at 2K views and 153 fans. Followers had more than doubled to 90. Tiny numbers, but something for me, compared to my average.
In the meanwhile, I just responded to each comment and followed the most interesting of the new followers.
Unfortunately, previously published stories remained quite untouched by the new readers.
Crickets were back again, waiting for something new to read.
My lesson
I finally got my first story with decent feedback the only time I focused entirely and only on the story (and a photo which could value and represent it), without letting time dictate my writing. Twelve days of pause, lame English, no title analysis, no social activity outside Medium, a handful of followers.
If you want to gather a significant audience, maybe such long pauses should not be a habit, and you have to fill your gaps in the marketing. But sacrificing the quality of your writing, and the rest of your life, won’t help you anyway. People, life, ideas… they all feed your writing and come first.
Maybe this single case won’t repeat soon, and I was lucky. It’s a laughable thing compared to the results of successful writers. But I’m satisfied with my work, and I’ve seen for myself that being read from more than one reader is possible. It’s a start.
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