The Grasshopper Issue #29: The Numbers
Writers didn’t used to have stats
First, to be clear, I’m not going to share mine except those that are public, like Followers on Medium, which are currently hovering around 4900. But the use and understanding of stats when you have them can be very useful, and a form of motivation.
The stats I look at daily include Views, Reads, Read Ratio (reads to views), Read Time, and Followers, along with earnings. This set of statistics is unique to Medium but substack offers its own set too. I pay no attention whatsoever to Claps which tell me nothing.
Read Time is the number that determines earnings- more time equals more dough. I had my best month so far in October, in almost all those categories and gained quite a few subscribers to The Grasshopper. The newsletter is small potatoes right now but growing faster than expected. I figured out how to leverage my followers and volume on Medium to drive new subs here.
It was absurdly simple. Many Medium members are aspiring writers and the Grasshopper is about writing so I flexed my copywriting skills and put a brief pitch at the end of each article there, which works well for me.
When I was doing books in the nineties, my only indicator of how sales were going was the quarterly royalty checks or watching my non-recoupable advance go down. For those who don’t know, an advance is cash up front that you don’t have to pay back if the book doesn’t sell. And if it does sell the total you would theoretically owe shrinks with each sale.
When it hits zero you have earned out your advance and now start earning more money with each sale. Most books don’t earn out even small advances but it is a great feeling when you get those royalty checks if they do. By that point it is true passive income because you’ve already done the work.
So, why are the numbers important?
Real time feedback
This is a double edge sword. If things are going well it motivates you while giving you insights into what resonates and what doesn’t: length, topic, voice, etc. My first year on Medium saw me writing about a lot of different topics because I didn’t have enough data to zero in on my sweet spot.
I’m a pragmatist and once I began to see what worked I focused on those topics and things began to change. But I still wanted to write about creativity and have the ability to go off topic when I felt like it, which is why you’re reading this.
I have figured out how to monetize the newsletter but I’m in no hurry to do so because it needs to grow more. If it doesn’t I may never start charging and even if it does, the new stuff will be free.
Developing a Follower count was a slow process, which can be frustrating to new writers who regularly see writers with tens of thousands of followers in their feed. The irony is that until you reach a certain amount, you don’t see faster growth, so you have to hang in there.
And you have to write and publish frequently. For me it’s daily, seven days a week unless I have a rare dry day and don’t feel like it. But my material is based on current events so I have plenty to work with.
A pet peeve is writers who have success with a topic once and then keep writing the same article over and over again, hoping lightning will strike twice or more. And for some this works, but most begin by imitating what they think will work. So, it’s derivative from the get go.
This kind of thing dilutes the value of Medium and other platforms for readers. With Medium it is usually articles about making money or writers who pick a topic like addiction and keep hammering compulsively at the topic.
On substack, the newsletters that irritate me are those that simply consist of collections of links the author found on the internet. I want insights from newsletters, not curated random lists. That’s my rant this morning!
The other source of useful information is what the top writers are writing about. Not Medium’s Top Writer status, which they were handing out to writers who had published a handful of articles on a topic. The writers I’m referring to are those with 5 to 6 figure followings.
Inevitably these writers have a niche, a voice, write well, and write frequently. They often are opinionated and passionate about their topics and get a lot of comments, another visible stat about other writers.
To me stats are a gift to writers that should be used to improve your writing and your understanding of your readers. Learn to use them.
My writing is a business and I treat it like one
I spent twenty years in marketing, mostly doing digital marketing of software to businesses (B2B). In that business you live with a bewildering number of stats on a daily basis. Those numbers tell you how you are doing. They’re critical.
I am no longer employed by others, by choice. I have a pretty minimal lifestyle which is by design and intent, so my needs are simple. But I still have a routine of reading the news, following various topics, and writing and publishing daily. It never feels like a job, which is nothing short of miraculous.
I love it.
So, that’s issue #29. It’s quite amazing how they add up. And that number does not include my Sunday editions which are a bit more random. Lots of writing! And fortunately, a growing list of readers. Thank you all. M
959 words
If you like this you can buy me a coffee and I’ll pay it forward.