How This Travel Blogger Hit 180,000 Medium Followers & Is Catching Up on Ryan Holiday!
How This Travel Blogger Hit 180,000 Medium Followers & Is Catching Up on Ryan Holiday!
She's sharing secrets about how Medium helps stories get noticed – things about Medium's recommendation engine you've probably never heard before.
I’m absolutely thrilled to share an inspiring journey with you today.
A fellow Medium writer friend recently celebrated a HUGE milestone of reaching 180,000 followers on Medium in just about three years (not an overnight success)! 🎉
You read that right!
The travel blogger Anne Bonfert transformed her social blog on Medium from zero to a following that’s catching up on
.Yes, the New York Times bestselling author, Ryan Holiday.
It's an incredible achievement for her as a (non-native) part-time creator.
Anne Bonfert is not a professional writer. She's a travel blogger, adventure enthusiast, nature lover, photographer, and get this, a skydiving instructor.
As the most followed non-native Medium writer, she's living proof that if you connect with your audience on a real level and write from the heart, the sky is the limit, quite literally in Anne's case.
She got Boosted 15 times so far and recently Medium even mentioned her in their newsletter “The Edition”.
Want to build an engaged audience from the ground up and rockin’ it on Medium?
In this week’s YouTube video, I share an exclusive interview with Anne Bonfert:
Get ready for a super cool interview this week – it's a bit different and exciting!
So, picture this: Anne, who just moved to beautiful New Zealand with her hubby, was chilling under a tree on a wooden stool in a stunning vineyard while chatting with me. Imagine the scene: the sun playing hide and seek with the leaves, a fly buzzing around, and her dog hanging out nearby.
Pretty cool, right?
And then there's me, sitting at home, on the west coast of Germany, with the night sky outside my window. Just got my little toddler all cozy in bed, and my baby? Snuggled up in daddy's arms.
That's how we roll!
Guess what? This is how awesome female part-time creators like us are rocking the world with our creative businesses. We're doing it all, and we're doing it our way!
Now, let's talk about our interview. It's super special because Anne gets really honest with us. She's sharing secrets about how Medium helps stories get noticed – stuff you've probably never heard before! And guess what? A lot of writers are zooming ahead super fast right now, and Anne's story might just show you how they're doing it.
Remember, being you is the best! Write about what you're passionate about, and, well, try not to (just) write about writing (haha, guilty as charged!). But now, let's dive in and get inspired by the amazing Anne!
🎉👀 Psst! Got some exciting news tucked away in the show notes of my latest YouTube video. Ready for it? Drumroll, please... 🥁 I'm launching the "Medium for Beginners Course 2024"! Yep, you heard it right, and guess what? It's all because you amazing folks asked for it. Now, here's the scoop: With my wonderfully wild family life (you know how it is!), running a live cohort next year as in 2021 & 2022 is a bit of a juggle. So, I'm crafting an on-demand course that you can dive into anytime, anywhere. Curious? Got questions? You can ask me anything (AMA) right here or zip over to YouTube and drop your questions there. I'm all ears and super excited to chat with you! 👀🎉
✅ VIDEO CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro: Anne Bonfert and Ryan Holiday
00:00:41 Who is Anne Bonfert?
00:01:15 How Anne Grew Rapidly on Medium
00:01:50 Regretting Getting 10,000 Followers in 1 Month
00:02:46 Asking Medium to Delete Fake Followers
00:04:13 Anne's Article in Medium's Newsletter
00:06:55 Anne Having 15 Boosted Publications
00:09:46 Anne's 1-Year Follower Prediction
00:10:42 Anne Reaching 100,000 Followers
00:11:30 How Much Anne Makes on Medium
00:12:32 Writing for Big Medium Publications
00:15:44 What Stories Anne Is Looking For as Editor
00:17:56 World Traveler's Blog
00:19:08 Anne's Top Writing Tips
00:21:38 How Anne Grows Her Mailing List
00:23:07 How Anne Creates Her Stories
00:24:07 Struggles as a Travel Writer
00:26:34 Anne's Opinion on AI and Writing
00:27:08 Future of Travel Blogging on Medium
00:27:44 Anne's Blue Author Badge
00:29:12 Anne Writing in a Different Language
00:31:11 Anne Traveling the World
00:32:34 Anne's Favorite Travel Writers
Feel free to share your questions, learnings, feelings & thoughts in the comments here on Substack and/or on YouTube.
Anne & I are looking forward to interacting with you! Thanks so much!
Please click the ❤️ or 🔄 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 😍
P.S. “I love Kristina’s Newsletter” 👈 If that sounds like you, please consider referring my newsletter to other creative souls. This helps me support more people — just like you. Oh, and you get a shout-out, recommendation, and promotion for doing so!
Here's my profile link (below). Mostly I write about funny topics, mystical new age topics, science and science fiction, politics-philosophy. Just general interest weirdness. So never expected it to guarantee me any income but haven't yet zeroed in fully on what does bring in money here.. So your advice would be appreciated Kristina.
Also, a link to one of my stories here from October of 22. Someone asked me if I wanted that in a particular publication on Medium, offered that. But they didn't explain the process of how to go about it so I never followed up. I doubt it would have made a huge difference, but I know getting into publications has some value?
https://medium.com/@rayjhawk
https://medium.com/@rayjhawk/george-jetson-finally-gets-his-day-in-the-sun-the-flying-car-a81a82f8daed
Thanks for the encouragement and advice Kristina.
I am trying to transition to writing more about topics that practically help people and, as you said, what Medium wants and incentivizes. I have saved your previous emails and will look back at them and see what I am missing.
I've been on Medium a little over a year now, and have just written stories based on personal interests (about 300+ now). I've taken some down over time too because I thought they were outdated. But its time to transition to something more practical. Making $3 a month on the platform is not a viable use of my time any more... The most I ever made in a month was around $11. That's ridiculous...
I wish the platform would give more attention to the writers with just a few hundred followers. But they don't seem to care much about us, though we are probably the vast majority, and prop up the whole system through our monthly fee.