If You’re Just Writing For The Views, You’re Not A Real Writer
If You’re Just Writing For The Views, You’re Not A Real Writer
“Writers” can be so funny.
Getting angry at the fact their views are gone. Getting angry they can’t get any traction. Quitting after publishing just 5 blog posts.
I can’t believe this behavior.
Writing isn’t a popularity contest. Writing isn’t about views and read time and money. The real value of writing transcends something as fickle as currency — the real value of writing is personal.
Let me explain.
Whatever Happened To Journaling?
Yesterday my friend posted something on Facebook about her journaling habit. She said that while it may be “weird,” it helps her a lot with her mental health. First — why did she say it was weird? I guess because many people don’t journal. I’m not surprised.
Second, she said it improves her mental health. I couldn’t agree more.
Before I wrote a single word on the internet, I burned through two 100-page journals over the span of 2 years. I enjoyed the hell out of daily journaling, and got a lot of value from writing.
WRITING.
Not views. Not Partner Program payments. Not followers.
Writing.
And that’s something many “writers” on platforms like Medium forget about — especially the beginners who get pissed off when they don’t see 50,000 views on their fifth article.
When Will Enough Views Be Enough?
Before I explain further, let me ask a question.
What happens if you get 200 views on a blog post? Well, you should be happy. But I guarantee that happiness will not last. If you don’t top 200 views the next time, you’ll probably think you’re not getting any better.
Then what happens if you break your 30-day views record? Your previous record will look small in comparison. Then the next month you’ll want more, and the following month you’ll want even more.
And everything less than that will be a disappointment.
What kind of a fucking mindset is that?
I’ll let you in on a little secret..
If you’re in this for the views, “enough” will never be enough. You’ll always want more. You’ll always try to find ways to get more. It will poison you slowly but surely.
It’s sort of like drugs or alcohol. Enough will never be enough for you, because you’re doing it for the views — not for the most important reason..
Because writing can do incredible things for our mental health.
If You’re In This For Views, You’re In It For All The Wrong Reasons
There’s a difference between a meal cooked by a chef and a meal cooked by your average joe.
For one, you can taste the difference.
Why though?
Is it because the chef has more experience? Is it because the chef has more education? I mean, sure, but I’d argue the difference goes much deeper than that.
The average joe has a transactional mindset. They cook, and there’s a very real result: food.
The chef has a spiritual mindset. They cook, and they create something that excites them. Have you ever heard a chef talk about food before?
I recommend you go and watch “Chef’s Table” on Netflix. The way those Chefs talk about cooking will make you think you’ve missed something about food for your entire life. You have.
They don’t just derive value from the end product — they derive value from creativity, taste, helping others like local farmers, helping the environment — and even helping animals!
They see ten times more benefits from cooking than the average joe.
To me, not enough writers appreciate all the benefits they can get from writing.
The Benefits Of Writing
Let’s run through them.
The opportunity to help others.
Increased self-awareness from constant reflection.
The ability to make some money and support yourself/your family.
If you’re a journalist, the ability to make a real impact on government.
If you’re a blogger, an increased ability to connect with your friends and family when they read your posts.
The ability to record your life and remember past events more vividly.
The ability to look back on your life and see how you thought at certain times.
The outlet to talk freely about things that you’ve never been able to talk about.
Imagine the ONLY benefit you got from writing was more happiness. Let’s just imagine for a second that that was all writing could give us.
Would it be worth it?
Would you complain about that?
If You’re Complaining About Views, You’re Not A Writer
Real writers are in this for something far more valuable than money. We’re in this to discover ourselves. We’re in this for personal reflection and honesty.
And that’s enough.
Isn’t it?
Or does everything we do have to translate into dollars?
Thanks for articulating this. The lure of gaining readers is hard to shake off. We're here after all (I just wrote something about this so it's fresh in my mind) to connect but you're so right. Writing for the sake of writing, too, including in a journal, is this incredible thing we always have access to. Like therapy you give to yourself.
This is so true. Perhaps that's the difference between defining oneself as a writer (you write because you love it) and as a content creator (you write because of the financial benefit you expect from it).
In terms of writing for views, here's my experience: I first started writing on a platform called Elephant Journal in 2016 or so. Back then, it was pretty easy to get a lot of views there if you had the right topics, and so as a new writer, I pretty quickly had a few posts that got 30,000 views or so.
Let's just say that when I moved to Medium, my stats suddenly looked very different which took some readjusting. If I had started out on Medium, I probably would have celebrated having a few dozen people read an article on Medium. However, because I was so used to bigger numbers, I didn't feel much appreciation.
So while it may sound great to get many views early on in one's writing journey, I now think that it is a very mixed blessing.
Also, some topics are just prone to gathering more views than others (back on Elephant it was anything that had to do with empaths or soul mates while on Medium it's often productivity stuff). However, that doesn't mean that other topics are less valuable. In fact, perhaps the other topics touch people at a much deeper level.
So with my relatively new Substack, I make an effort to feel appreciation for every subscriber and every view, which is such a more life-affirming and joyful way of looking at the situation.