The Great Medium Writing Challenge: Attracting REAL Readers
A Journey to Establishing a Strong and Engaged Community
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What is the problem I am trying to solve?
As a new writer in Medium, I have noticed there is a lot of “follow-for-follow” mentality with very few real readers. Although I understand the sentiment behind such initiative, this does not yield genuine readers in the long run who will contribute and engage with your writings in a meaningful manner.
What do I hope to achieve?
Medium is filled with AMAZING writers, many of whom are trying to make a living from their craft. I have immense admiration for all of them, and with this Writing Challenge, I aim to motivate and encourage all writers, particularly the new ones, to participate in a meaningful manner and support each other’s progress. Let’s prove those who believe that genuine readers no longer exist: WRONG.
Let’s roar louder than the empty “follow-for-follow” challenge.
What is the Writing Challenge?
The Writing Challenge is straightforward. I ask all of you to read other people’s articles, particularly those who have commented on this post, and choose one that inspires you. Then, continue the chain of creativity by writing your own article inspired by the one you just read. Make sure to include a link to the original article in your piece. This will create a chain of positive feedback. Additionally, provide genuine feedback on the original article. Inspiration can come from articles with differing perspectives, even if you don’t agree with them. Just make sure to maintain respect in all interactions.
Do let me know what you think of this challenge.
The Writing Challenge Steps:
- Read people’s articles. (Don’t forget to give mine a read too!! ❤ )
- Leave a meaningful comment in the article that inspires you.
- Write your piece based on that inspiration.
- Tag the article that inspired you in your piece.
- Embed/tag this article in your piece for reference to this challenge so that more people can participate with us.
- Clap and/or comment on this piece so that it can reach to more audience and we can echo this challenge together.
Rules and/or Constraints:
- Be respectful and genuine in your feedback.
- No deadline. Keep this cycle running.
[Note: Although there is no official deadline, I plan to actively participate in this challenge the entire month of February 2023. As a token of my commitment, I pledge to read at least one of your articles if you leave a comment during my active participation.]
Thank you for reading my article. If you enjoyed my content, please consider to follow and clap for me to show your support for my work.
Anika Neela is Software Engineer 2 at Microsoft and has 3+ years of experience in the industry. She is also pursuing Master’s in Machine Learning at Georgia Tech. She is passionate about technology, finance, fitness, fiction and poetry.
