How Writing Every Day Has Changed Everything
When you stick to being consistent, you can only win
Hi friends,
Welcome to my newsletter!
I know for many of you this will be the first time you’re receiving this, and I can’t tell you how happy I am you decided to tag along.
A Look Into Medium Stats
A lot has happened since my last email. Back then, I was solely publishing on Wednesdays, and averaging 5.5 views per day. My record was 16 views in one day, on October 13, and my total views in the past 30 days were 105 — you can read the whole analysis here.
Now, as I said, a lot has changed. I went from publishing once a week, to publish almost every day.
Even the best-laid plans can fall through
My plan for November was to publish every single day. However, I’ve been satisfied with writing an article every day. Why is that? Because I’ve always struggled to keep writing consistently.
Whenever I get an idea, I get super pumped about it. I usually spend the next 12 hours obsessively planning out everything around it. I keep working on it nonstop for about a month. And then… I stop.
I’ve started so many projects and ideas I’ve abandoned halfway. Not necessarily because I wasn’t being successful, but simply because I’d lose interest over time.
That’s why I’d rather focus on writing every day, rather than publishing. And the reason why that isn’t happening is that I don’t write in advance. I usually write what I want to publish on the same day.
When I decide to post it under my publication, that works just great, but if I decide to submit my article to a different publication, that’s when the delay happens. The trade-off is worth it, having in mind how many more subscribers these publications have compared to mine.
How do these changes translate to numbers
Two weeks have passed since my last email. In just 14 days, the following happened:
I published 9 articles
I was published in 2 publications
I had 3 articles curated by Medium — one of them got even double curated
My record jumped to 187 views in a day
Not bad, right? I’m now averaging 28 views per day! Slowly, but surely, I’m going places — and you can, too.
Medium Curation: We Love to Hate It
Every writer on Medium who’s trying to make a living wants to be curated, whether they want to admit it or not.
I know some writers spend hours reading guides and tips on how to be curated; they spend days crafting the most perfect article they can. In the end, after all those efforts, Medium decides to pass on their work.
It’s gotta hurt.
Despite popular belief, I don’t think you should ever write with curation in mind. Or, at least, not as your sole priority.
Write from your heart, not your head
In the 9 articles I published in the past 2 weeks, some of them I wrote with curation in mind, while others I wrote with Google in mind. As you can guess, I wasn’t successful in any of my attempts.
To my surprise, I have only been successful whenever I focused on the actual content. Whenever I forgot about guidelines and tricks and dedicated myself to writing the best I could, that’s when my work shined the brightest.
I wrote my first curated article, How to Keep Your Focus When You Become a Solopreneur, with the purpose to share my methods with others.
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve struggled to be consistent most of my life, but now I finally found something that works for me. I know there are so many people out there who struggle as I do, so I wanted to help them.
With that one goal in mind, I forgot about SEO rules or curation guidelines. I focused on providing value to others — and it paid off.
Being consistent can be rewarding
Yesterday I had absolutely no will to write. I looked at my topics, and all the ideas in my drafts, and I just couldn’t feel inspired to write any of it, so what did I do?
I embraced my struggle and realized others were feeling the exact same way. Once again, I decided to write about my experience and how to solve it.
I ended up writing What to Write About When You Don’t Feel Like It which was chosen by Medium curators and featured on the Writing category. I couldn’t have felt prouder of myself.
Am I telling you all this just to boast? No, I’m not. I’m trying to help you see anyone can do, as long as you have the right mindset.
Rejection is conditional to being an artist — we can only grow our skills through rejection, as painful as it can be. It’s through this pain we push ourselves to be better, and raise the quality of our work.
Whatever you’re doing don’t stop. If you want to succeed you must have blind faith in what you’re trying to achieve. Acknowledge every little success, celebrate every new follower you get.
The mission you’re on is important, and you must follow through with it. That’s why you’re on this planet — the world needs you.
In Case You Missed
I’ll be sharing with you the performance of my articles so you can learn from my experiences.
Articles focused on how to navigate and succeed on Medium are by far the most profitable on my list. Stories centered on productivity and motivation are also solid performers on the platform.
Truth be told, every topic has the potential to make money, as there’s an audience for everything. However, if you want to start making money today, you have two options — either you focus on high-performing topics, or you overload Medium with posts. (The more you have, the more you potentially earn.)
Is PrEP the Cure for HIV We Have Been Waiting For All This Time?
My first take on a health-related topic. I mostly wrote it because I was curious about how PrEP works.
Date: 30 Oct / Total Views: 10 / Read Ratio: 20% / Lifetime Earnings: $0.07How to Keep Your Focus When You Become a Solopreneur
Published in Live Your Life On Purpose, this article was curated in Productivity.
Date: 30 Oct / Total Views: 101 / Read Ratio: 40% / Lifetime Earnings: $2.88Should You Quit Your 9-5 Job and Become a Solopreneur? Let’s Ask Emma
I got the idea for this based on an article I found on FB regarding a possible future for the office worker. Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 31 Oct / Total Views: 24 / Read Ratio: 33% / Lifetime Earnings: $0.28I’m Going to Earn $100 in November and You Can, Too! Follow These 5 Steps
By far my most profitable article. Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 01 Nov / Total Views: 118 / Read Ratio: 44% / Lifetime Earnings: $5.26How to Setup a Dream Buddy System to Help You Succeed as a Solopreneur
Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 02 Nov / Total Views: 34 / Read Ratio: 44% / Lifetime Earnings: $0.87A Comprehensive Guide to Medium Publications
As Medium pay writers based on time read, I decided to experiment with a long guide that has to be read by default. It paid off. Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 04 Nov / Total Views: 74 / Read Ratio: 41% / Lifetime Earnings: $4.05How to Make Money on Medium
Another experiment targeting Google SEO. It didn’t work but it’s still being profitable. Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 06 Nov / Total Views: 84 / Read Ratio: 54% / Lifetime Earnings: $2.82How to Promote a Self-Published Book Using Social Media and Online Communities
Published in Better Marketing, this article was curated in Writing and Marketing.
Date: 08 Nov / Total Views: 97 / Read Ratio: 35% / Lifetime Earnings: $2.57What to Write About When You Don’t Feel Like It
Published in Solopreneuring Like a Boss.
Date: 08 Nov / Total Views: 59 / Read Ratio: 44% / Lifetime Earnings: $1.07
I hope you find this useful. Feel free to reply and let me know what else you’d like to see in this newsletter!
Have a great weekend, and I'll be back next week ✌️
— Mauro