The #1 Mistake I Made on Medium this Month
By: Michelle Loucadoux
Tags: Writing, Writing Tips, Advice, Inspiration, Blogging

The #1 Mistake I Made on Medium this Month

It may have lost me $92 in earnings

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

If I plan a beach day and my plans get thwarted, I get pretty grumpy. The same thing happens when I Uber Eats (yes, I’m using that as a verb) Taco Bell and open my Nachos Bell Grande to discover that they forgot to add my jalapenos and shredded cheese. The fact is:

Unmet expectations produce negative reactions.

Whether you’re ordering food, your vacation plans have been altered, or . . . you are looking forward to reading a new article from your favorite author, we all get a little sad when we don’t get what we expect.

I believe that even if you have only 40 followers on Medium, there is at least one person out there who will miss your writing if that little number doesn’t pop up next to your head on their Medium homepage. I know I miss my favorite authors when I log in and I don’t see a new article when I expect it. It’s like turning on your DVR to watch your favorite show and then realizing the new episode hasn’t aired yet.

Consistency is key

If you publish two articles per day, one article per day, or one article per month, people inevitably (either consciously or subconsciously) take notice. I know that, as a reader, I definitely do. Jon Simpson says in an article in Forbes that, “When your content quality, quantity or schedule isn’t consistent, it can confuse your customers.”

Mega-popular content creator extraordinaire Gary Vaynerchuk says, “The biggest miss for people trying to grow their account is frequency. If you aren’t giving viewers a reason to think about you each day then you are going to lose.” Consistency is important for content creators, but what makes things difficult for Medium writers is that consistency AND quality are key. If I post a crappy article, not only does it hurt my reputation, but it also probably loses me a few readers.

If you are posting and engaging constantly, you will grow your readership. As long as you stay consistent, you’re golden. If you suddenly stop delivering on your unspoken promise of regularly scheduled content, you might lose the interest of your happy followers.

Oh, and if you are thinking, “I just publish whenever I want. Nobody expects regularity from me,” you’re wrong. Everyone inherently expects regularity when it comes to content.

What happened to Michelle?

I made a goal of writing 50 articles in the month of December. I will get to that goal (I always keep my promises), however, because of some pretty significant time-consuming personal matters, I did not deliver the articles I published this month with the consistency that I have achieved since I began writing on this platform.

Because I had a tough month, I haven’t been publishing at the rate or quality at which I published last month. Do you know what happened? In the past 7 days, my earnings have plummeted. Why? I did not live up to the expectation of my readers.

This is not the end of the world, but it is a missed opportunity.

This lack of consistency cost me views for sure. According to my calculations, by the end of the month, it will have cost me about $92 in earnings. (I really love spreadsheets, so I’m pretty accurate with my engagement, word count, and quality calculations in relation to views and earnings). So, what could I have done to head this issue off at the pass? Well, I’ll tell you.

How to ensure consistency

Much like putting away money in your savings account for a rainy day, the mistake I made was not having any completed articles in my queue. If I had been more patient and not published every single thing I wrote right when I wrote it, I would have had a veritable savings account of prewritten articles. And I could have released them over the period of time while I was dealing with my personal life.

See, when I write something and I like it, I get SUPER excited to share it with everyone and I want to share it immediately. (Like, I have been able to wait for The Ascent to publish one of my pieces exactly two times.) There is a strategy to publishing consistently and this month, I did not employ that strategy.

I’m beginning to research and learn about this whole timing thing when it comes to publishing, but I have learned enough to know that I did it incorrectly this month. I encourage you all to if you want to optimize your readership, do a little research, and make a plan.

You don’t have to publish or submit every story immediately after you finish it. If you’re a writer on Medium, you probably have people who are looking forward to reading your content and if you don’t publish on a consistent basis, they might be disappointed. If you keep a few pieces in your pocket for a rainy day, you will not only keep your readers happy when life happens, but you’ll also likely relieve a little bit of stress when it comes to keeping the content coming out of your computer.

Best of luck, Medium writers. I’ll continue to share lessons I’ve learned, good and bad, and I encourage you to share any insights you have with me as well. Throw me a clap or 50 if this was helpful and leave any other tips you might have in the comments. Here’s to a fantastic 2021 of exceptional content and a growing and thriving community.