Member-only story
The Secret Sauce Still Eludes Me
Predicting virality remains a mystery
If there’s one thing I’m sure of besides the inevitability of death and taxes, it’s that I am not a success on this platform. Four years and 1850 published stories in, I still have just a few steady readers.
Of my last 10 published stories, only 5 have earned more than $1. And getting boosted? It happened three times in 2024 out of hundreds of entries. I think it’s safe to say that I’m not setting the Medium world on fire.
Still, occasionally, mostly by dint of publishing prolifically, a story explodes in readership. It’s actually happened a few times this year (though lamentably not on any of the three boosted stories which if you didn’t know, carry exponentially higher earnings per read).
When I ponder what made those stories go viral, I come up with nothing. There doesn’t seem to be any common thread. Add to that I don’t know if the stories’ popularity is algorithmic or human (as in somebody in a position of power is feeding my story to other members’ front page) and I am even more lost.
There are times when I think something I just hit the publish tab on is my very best effort, and others when I whip off something in the cotton candy realm with just a few minutes effort, only to have the former flop miserably and the…
