How the splodge did you get so many followers?

A subscriber emailed me today about how I grew so much on Medium.

I have over 235,000 followers on there.

She asked me how I did it, aside from commenting on other people’s stories. I’ve barely commented on other people’s stories there. I don’t even read others’ articles that much (though I probably should).

I thought I’d make my reply to her something you can listen in on for those interested.

I published my first article on there in 2014.

That doesn’t mean monumental amounts of time and consistency are the only way to grow a large following, but it certainly helped.

Here are some things to note:

1. I’ve shared an article on Medium every single day for over five years (most of my growth happened in this period).

2. I found a way to enjoy the hell out of writing. No dull articles for me, thank you very much. A breakthrough for me came when I wrote like I was trying to entertain myself, and it was one of my most successful articles.

3. I learned that a tasty, intriguing hook does about 80% of the work.

4. I learned that certain topics, like ‘how to be respected’, are disproportionately popular. So I focused a lot of effort on topics or solutions that usually go wild.

5. I took advantage of the ability to share multiple articles on Medium each day (now capped at 2). Many of these were repurposed old articles and expanded posts that I’d already shared on other platforms like Twitter.

6. Basically, I’ve been more consistent and more relentless than most people, but here’s the most important part: I’ve done it with as much awareness as possible. I see what works, I’m curious, and I do more of what clearly works.

Most writers guess at what works. That’s why it took me so long to figure this stuff out.

I spent years collecting insights about what actually moves people to read and share. These are the patterns behind viral hooks, topics that spread, and ideas people can’t ignore.

Consistent writing + understanding what makes readers want more = a rapidly growing audience.

I show you the secrets of the second part in Online Writing Alchemy. 

Learn more about that here.

Peace out,

Alexander