My Four Most Popular Medium Stories of 2020

And What Their Success Has Taught Me About Writing on Medium

Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash

As 2020 draws to a close, I decided to take a look back at my most popular stories this year. The metric I decided to use was Reads. Here’s why:

From Now On? It’s All About The Reads

I quickly realized that four of my stories did far better than anything else I’d written on the platform in 2020. While my best Medium stories can reach hundreds of readers, these four were read by thousands!

What, if anything, did these stories have in common? And what could I learn from their success?

He Said He Was Single

This five minute essay about what I learned by internet-researching a would-be suitor and what I did with that knowledge was published in P S I Love You. It was read by 7.2K people and brought in a whopping (for me) $393. (My stories usually make $5–15)

He Said He Was Single

Why do I think it did so well? It’s about relationships — a topic everyone can relate to. The title and subtitle promised that it would be a fun read. And the piece delivered on that promise — readers enjoyed seeing a scoundrel get his comeuppance. I found just the right photo to illustrate it. And? It was curated.

How I Found Out About The Affair

This essay about learning that the man I’d loved and trusted for 20 years had a secret girlfriend for over a decade, was also published in P S I Love You. It was my most-read story of 2020, with 9.1K reads, and also my biggest earner for the year, at $833.