Thank you, Dheeraj Dhobley, for your very astute article. It is perhaps the best article/response I have read so far on the mystifying art of trying to getting someone at Medium to read one’s postings. While I now feel I understand the process a tiny bit more, I am still not sure how to get views.

I have read countless articles and stories on Medium and have been perplexed to find that so very many of them are followed by a statement from the author practically begging the reader to recommend the story. This is very off-putting. It seems so needy. That is why I never do that. Now I realize why authors do that. Without recommendations you’ll never get read. At the same time, without getting read you’ll never get recommendations. This is the ultimate conundrum that every new author to Medium faces.

I now realize that one of the main reasons I almost never get any recommendations to my original posts is that I don’t ask for them. The other reason is that those posts almost never get read.

But I can leave a short one-paragraph response to someone else’s post and have it read dozens of times with numerous recommendations. But it never leads back to my original posts on my publication. People don’t want to be diverted from topic. But I normally don’t advertise/implore/beg people to visit my publication and recommend me, either. So it’s really my own fault.

I’ve read countless posts on Medium about how to get read on Medium. Everything I’ve tried so far has not worked at all. (Maybe I should write an article about how to get read on Medium — but I’m not an expert at this so it wouldn’t be a worthwhile post, even if might get read.)

I have learned one thing for certain, though. The sure-fire way to get read on Medium is to have Ev Williams recommend your post. That is guaranteed. Of course, from what I’ve seen, Ev only recommends posts within a very narrow spectrum of subject matter that he personally prefers. (Unless, of course, you’re a celebrity at which point he will recommend you automatically.)

But over the course of my life I have learned that things are quite often the exact opposite of what they seem. A recommendation from Ev might very well be the kiss of death for me. I’m not sure whether to hope for or fear a recommendation from Mr. Williams.

And that distills things down to the expectations writers bring with them to Medium. The more you bring, the more exasperated you will become. My personal recommendation to all newbie Medium authors is that you leave all expectations at the door (as well as your ego). Right now, the way I see it, the expectations of authors and the expectations of Medium are not in sync. But I feel that those expectations are very, very slowly moving towards synchronization. It is when those expectations are released (from both ends) that common ground will finally be found and things at Medium will finally truly blossom.

Are we writing at Medium to gain as many reads as possible? As many followers as possible? As many responses as possible? As many click-throughs to our own sites as possible? Are we writing at Medium to bring as many readers to Medium as we can? To make Ev Williams as much money as we possibly can?

Why are we writing at Medium? Is it because of expectations or is it simply because it is a medium? When we focus on the medium does our focus get diverted from the message? I have been very discouraged with Medium lately and I am realizing that I am being very stupid. I will now try to divert my focus back to simply writing. That can only be good for both Medium and myself.