Medium: the First Year
It’s been over a year since my first post in Medium. I think it’s time for a retrospective… and numbers!
A Look Back
Since then I’ve published 74 articles, bringing some content from my previous blog, talking about games and game ideas. I’ve seen over 4000 views and an average of over 50% reads per article, which is better than expected, especially considering I rarely share links other than friends and have mostly over 5 minute reads. 120+ people found me worth following. Granted, some of them are friends who had followed me beforehand but over one third have appeared after I started writing. I also started several publications to keep things more structured (more on that later.)
More importantly, I’ve been very happy. There will be a few people who actually find and read this, but my main reason for this blog was to hoard my ideas and that’s happening. The more I write, the more I feel like writing. Of course, I can also share them (whenever I want) and whether the reactions are positive or not, I feel more confident. If people like the ideas, awesome. If they don’t, then I have an idea about how (not) to think or express myself.
Next Steps
When I started the blog, my ideas were quite vague. But after having used medium for a while and seeing how it is to create the content, I have plans! It isn’t December yet, but it’s my anniversary, so this is also a blog-resolution list for until next year:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: I started a new series on building the next STALKER game with feedback from others… principally. This will go on. I wanted to wait a bit to let people see it, then other things came up. Expect more on this #soon
(Pen&Paper) Content: Recently I published two articles that provides some flexible content to use for Dungeons&Dragons. I plan to do more of that. In fact, I started looking at some web-based content creation sites (like map builders) as I’d like to content to be directly usable.
Restructuring Publications: During the last year I created several publications to better structure the content. Over time I added more, things got a bit messy and I ended up with several. So I’d like to structure them better. Currently I’m thinking of merging the Warcraft ones and D&D ones into a single publication each and possibly creating an index page for all of them (or learn to better use the publication main pages.) If you have any best practices or any ideas, I’d really love to hear them!
Reviews and Suggestions: I actually come from a gaming media background and I can’t shut my trap, I have to talk about things! I kinda wanted to have a different focus for this blog but I do like sharing my perspective on things or letting other people in on things I enjoy, especially if they aren’t too visible.
Regular Content: This is the most important one. I know I probably can’t maintain a super regular schedule, but I’d like to improve here.
Partner Program: If I manage to create pen&paper content regularly, I’m thinking of moving them into the partner program, just to see if and how it works. I can also share some productivity related content.
Communication&Interaction: So far, other than sharing an article on reddit and a couple on various Facebook pages, I really haven’t pushed for any communication. I really would like to have more interaction, which comes with more people and more interaction-based content. That’s something I’d like to improve as well.
Conclusion
All in all, I’m really glad that I’ve started this blog and those who have been following, applauding, talking me about the content, please know that I really appreciate it as this blog is an expression of myself: Messy outside, somewhat brilliant inside. But also messy inside. Soo… yeah.
Thanks for reading and I hope whatever’s your passion, you don’t stop yourself from taking any steps, however minor or seemingly meaningless they may seem!
