My Five Most Popular Medium Posts of 2019
What Their Success Has Taught Me About Writing on Medium
Inspired by a recent post by Jon Scott, I decided to take a look back at my five top stories of 2019.
The metric I decided to use was Reads. Here’s why:
What, if anything, do my Top Five have in common? And what might I learn from their success?
Here they are in chronological order, starting with the most recent and working backwards.
This humor piece about cats, published in The Partnered Pen last October and curated in PETS and HUMOR, got 1.4K reads. Why do I think it did so well? It was about cats. Plus? I found the perfect photo to illustrate it.
In July, this library humor piece was published in The Haven. Even though it wasn’t curated, it got 2.6K reads. Why do I think an un-curated post did that well? I shared it to a handful of Facebook groups for librarians (including one that I curate, Library Laughs.) Sharing your work on social media works.
Also in July? This library humor piece, published in The Startup and curated in WORK, earned 1.4K reads. The secret to its success? Again, librarians.
Clearly, library humor is my niche and librarians my target audience.
This next essay, published in In PS I Love You last June, wasn’t curated. But it was read by 1.6K people. Why? It has the word sex in the title.
Finally? My most popular post of all time is this humor piece about library work. Even though it was neither curated nor published in a magazine, it received 2.7 reads. Why?
Librarians loved it and shared it widely.
Conclusions?
Find your writing niche and your target audience. Although I write about everything from loving Doctor Who to humming giraffes, library humor is clearly my sweet spot. And people who work in libraries are my target audience.
Being curated and/or published in a Medium magazine definitely helps — but isn’t necessary. (My most popular post was neither.)
Cats sell. Sex sells. When in doubt? Write about a popular topic.
Share your work on social media. (Being an active member of a Facebook group that contains your target audience is golden.)
So What About 2020?
In 2019, I found my niche as a Medium writer: making librarians (and other brilliant, bookish readers like yourself) laugh. In 2020, I hope to continue to make librarians laugh.
I’m also hoping that one of my 2020 posts will beat my personal best of 2.7 readers and be read by 3,000 people.
Wish me luck! (And THANK YOU if you are one of the folks who read one — or all — of my 2019 Top Five.)
( Roz Warren, FBTA, is the author of two collections of library and book-related humor, Our Bodies, Our Shelves: A Collection of Library Humor, and Just Another Day At Your Local Public Library, both of which would make great gifts for your favorite librarian or other bookish friend. If you enjoyed this post by Roz Warren, you might enjoy this one too.)
