You Can’t Follow a Writer You Can’t See.
Let’s do the math.
Published in
WRITER’S STUDIO | Real-life writer
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Hi! This is an invisible man experiment.
I am so grateful for those of you who follow me, and I thank you so much. I believe, at this time, there are showing to be five thousand or more of you.
I understand that I am probably not a very good writer. And lets say that of my group of followers, half of you realized that fact by the time you read my second story.
And let’s further say that half of my remaining readers realized that following me was a dreadful accident, maybe some kind of clerical error, and they didn’t really respond by reading something new when I write it.
That still leaves over a thousand readers who labeled themselves as followers of my writing. Let’s also say only half of them like my stories when I’m writing about cattle-spit, one of my specialties.
What confuses me is that when I publish a new story, instead of the remaining five hundred folks who follow me, I may get two or seven reads.
These people are not subscribed to my writing, they only follow, so they are supposed to get exposed to them, but not emailed to them, so I can’t help but wonder if they are all truly getting the chance to see the story. Algorithms, and everything.
Am I on some terrorist watchlist, or something?
Always find the REST of this story and others at the Back Pages Journal.
There are two solutions to this problem.
Goodguys, White Hat solution
Envelope icon me. Envelope the stew out of me. The icon will change color, and supposedly, you will receive word in your e-mail each time I publish a story. unless I really am on that watchlist.
In which case, there is a watchlist-proof choice for you.
Black Hat tactics.
I do run my own ranch. If my stories were lobsters, then Medium is like the coast of Maine. But at my restaurant, we have our (your) own lobster tank where these plump little darlin’s are just waiting to become your bud.
You can not only subscribe there, but you can also pretend it’s the lobster tank, where you can visit when it’s convenient for you, to chat with all the buds.
Final Word.
For all the new writers out there, there are two red herrings on medium, two false flags. Your stats page and your followers total are Siren songs. There is sometimes the temptation to follow those two measurements with undue respect.
I know I did it too.
It is undue because even though we initially think they will be the measure of our income, but it is not.
I do recommend you put your faith in improving your writing and having fun. You’ll come out farther ahead, and become a better writer at the same time.
I am Don Martin. I write books and stories. Check out my new microbook about writing microbooks. Join my reader family for my writing news and rumors.
Also, this post may contain sales or affiliate links, so I might get a little money if you purchase anything. Thank you in advance!
I hope to be adding to this story this afternoon… thanks!