What I Learned from Publishing 200 Articles on Medium
By: Fahri Karakas
Tags: Self Improvement, Learning, Self, Personal Development, Writing

I started writing regularly on Medium during the start of the pandemic at the end of March. Since then, I have written around 190 articles.

This is my 200th article and I would like to take a stock of my Medium journey until now.

Four months ago, I shared my reflections with you on having published 100 articles on Medium. At that time (July 2020), I had 399 followers. My monthly total views were around 1000 views. I lamented on not attracting enough traction, views, and money on this platform. My earnings on this platform were still negligible — around 7–8 dollars a month. However, I also celebrated my journey of writing, learning and asset creation, underlining how this is a marathon and I am here for the long haul.

I am sharing that article again below as a reminder:

Two months ago, I published another article sharing my reflections on having published 150 articles on Medium. During that time (September 2020), I had 525 followers. My monthly views reached around 5000 views — which represented quite a significant improvement. My earnings have also increased to about 20 dollars around this time.

I started writing about different topics that I was curious about during this period: GPT-3, neural laces, artificial intelligence, 2030, and futurist visions. I loved researching these topics and learning more deeply about them. I acted like a relentless learning machine and I continued to follow topics that would purely excite me.

Sharing my curiosity adventures and new discoveries that excite me became a turning point for me. My GPT-3 article, for example, has got around 2800 views and it has made $46.83. I would have never guessed such engagement and interest — you can almost never guess which of your articles will gain traction.

In this article, I would like to share my reflections with you on having published 200 articles. Before I start analysing, let me start with some basics. Right now, I have 663 followers. My monthly views have jumped to more than 15,000 views for the first time. My earnings have also increased to about $30 a month. This is not impressive, but it still represents a trajectory of consistent growth.

Today, I will reflect on how my Medium journey is currently unfolding and continuing to evolve. I will take stock on what happened since September 2020 and what I learned from adding a portfolio of 50 articles to my Medium shelves. Here are the lessons I have learned:

1 Do not ever give your Medium writing journey. I still remember how I have felt like a big and fat failure even after writing 100 articles. I felt overworked, depleted, unappreciated, and stressed out. In some tougher moments, I thought of quitting Medium. However, I decided to continue my journey, and it has got much better since then. My page views increased 15 fold after 4 months, and I almost doubled my followers. My articles have started getting more traction and curation. So, the overall lesson here is that you need to hang in there and give it a bit of time. It is a long and difficult journey to establish yourself on any platform — and Medium is no different. Moreover, judging yourself just by numbers or comparing yourself to others is a formula for misery. Consider how much you will learn and progress in your Medium journey, and treat it as a long term venture. Writing is a very valuable skill you will use throughout your life, and consider your Medium journey as an investment in yourself.

Let me reiterate my message: Do not expect quick returns, virality, or victories on Medium. Your growth as a writer takes time. Provide yourself a lot of opportunities for failure and experimentation. When you are at the start of your journey, everything is hard. You need to work hard for a long time before expecting any success. Most people never finish the marathon. You will need to hang in there, be persistent, and continue loving what you do.

You will get better eventually, but this is a numbers game. In order to be original, you need to write and produce a lot. Give yourself a lot of opportunities and chances to thrive. Some of this is purely probability theory: You are increasing your chances with each post.

If you really want to get lucky in the long term, you need to provide yourself more opportunities for failure. This is a marathon — play the long game.

You need to master a steep learning curve and hang in there. This often means you will pass through a long valley of disappointment before making any progress.