“Viral” is perhaps a misnomer. I don’t think I’m anywhere close to the top Medium writers. Maybe I’m breathing the dust from the middle writers. But this article is going to compare Dave to Dave. What are my top performers?
My average revenue per article is about $1.25. So I set viral threshold by multipying that by three, then rounding to $5.00. For every article you see here, there were about 10 that got less than $1.00. So here are my winners--and with a little commentary:
Revenue $8.53, February
A Kinder, Wiser Democracy
You know that articles on Medium get most of their traction in the first five days after publishing. After that, not much happens. When this article reached its stale date, its revenue was $0.29.
Because I consider this my second most important message on Medium, I use it for click bait. I have put this URL in my comments and in other articles I published. Usually, my click baiting does not go very far on Medium. But this time, my second efforts gave it viral status.
Revenue: $5.47, March
A Solution for Umair Fans and Umair Critics
What can I say? A title with a celebrity’s name often goes “above average.”
Revenue $21.04, April
Chasing Noam Chomsky is Futile
Whoo, Hoo. I hit the big time.
Another article with a celebrity’s name — and a little controversy. This celebrity has more pull than Umair.
I can summarize this article in 17 words:
“Why has a popular let’s-fix-the-world book written 35 years ago not had any impact?”
Can anyone answer that question?
Revenue: $6.24, May
Dialoguing with Trump Detractors
I’m not sure why this article did so well. It surely hints that it is going to insult your average Medium reader. And it does. Why so many people clicked, I do not understand.
Revenue: $5.92, May
Top Writers, Lurkers, and the Algorithms
Medium contributors like insights in how the algorithms work. So this result is not surprising.
Just so you don’t have to read this article, it hypothesizes that Medium has many “mostly readers” who pay their subscription fee to mostly read articles. You know mostly readers, who are not writers, paying $50 a year to give some of their fees to writers while not taking any back. This makes sense from the business matrix point of view. But I’m not seeing many of these “mostly readers.”
Revenue: $24.60, August
Four Medium Writers Find Unity About Russia
I’m here, I’m here. Let the bells ring out and the banners fly. Don’t feast your eyes on me. I’m too good to be true. But I’m here!
The first person to identify the speaker of the above quote will get my read and 50 claps on their next 10 articles. That’ll pay the rent!
Actually, I had no idea where this article was going to go. Below average was on my radar: the title seems bland to me. No controversy.
I did tag the four writers, and three acknowledged me. Was that the mechanism to tickle the Medium algorithms to give it more exposure on the feeds?
Or maybe the many writers on Russia vs. Ukraine clicked to find out if they made this list. If so, I think I made more enemies than friends.
Whatever magic happened, I missed it. I guess that’s why I’m still a bottom writer.
Revenue: $5.44, August
My Unpopular Opinion on Affirmative Action
This article was inspired by my years of invigilating SAT exams at my local college. I thought maybe I knew something about SAT exams. It seems not. There were a few comments that adjusted my perspective.
Revenue: $6.00, September
Politics vs. Governance: A Compilation
This is one of the few articles that I did not copy from Medium to the blog. I thought it was just clickbait. I forgot it was one of my better performers. So no link, sorry.
The viral nature of this article is really weird. This article is clickbait on an eight-part series called “Politics vs Governance: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8.” Seven of these articles stayed “below average.” Only Part 1 squeaked into “average.”
Why did this eight-part series fail, yet the click-baity compilation did so well? With such similar titles? I don’t know.
BTW, the clickbait didn’t work this time. The seven articles are still “below average.”
Revenue: $7.04, November
The Day American Democracy Died
Nice allusion to a popular folk song. The boomers had no choice but to click.
BTW, the date is November 2, 2021. Now you have to read this article to find out why. The USA is hooped. You might as well add to my $7.04 now because it might not be possible later.
Revenue: $7.18, December
Bringing Democracy to the Palestinians
A popular topic on Medium. I got my share. But its seems most readers did not like my solution.
Those are my better performers for 2023.
Published on Medium 2024
The TDG Gets its First Podcast
Please Put me in an American Prison
