Unsolicited Links to Your Stories in Comments

Are a BIG NO! It is off-putting.

Dear New Writers,

I welcome you with open arms like the writers here have done for me. I hope your journey on Medium is fruitful and wholesome.

I’ve been on Medium for some time now, and I’ve found a trusting, open, engaged audience here. What makes this audience so, is that they read your article/story and do one of the following things:
1. They applaud your writing and leave — which is completely alright. These readers found something they liked and acknowledged that by way of applause.
2. They write a comment about how your story has affected them — good or bad. It may have brought forth a memory of something wonderful they had forgotten about or reminded them of something horrible they would rather forget. Genuine engagement.
3. They applaud and leave a generic comment like ‘nice read’, ‘thanks for sharing’ or something similar. They’re commenting to let you know they read the whole piece.
4. They write an innocuous comment and then add a link to their story on a similar topic or experience.

Numbers 1 to 3 are acceptable.
Number 4 is the written equivalent of being the annoying person whose story is always more of everything someone else is saying — grander, more horrible, more exciting, scarier. More in every way.

I’ve seen it in a few comments sections and wondered what the writer felt like at that point? And then it happened to me. I read the other piece and sat down to write this one.

The other piece was nice, and I would not have come across it if the person hadn’t left it in my comments, but was it necessary? No.

Have I ever shared my writing in the comments? No. Not yet.

Would I ever do it? Probably not. But if someone asked me to share something I’ve written, I would do it then. Because they’ve asked.

On Medium, we are ALL writers hustling to get written about, spoken about, distributed, featured etc. Leaving your stories in the comments section is not the way to go about promoting yourself.

Let me know what you think? Also, please leave a link to a story/article you’d like to share with me. I’m asking for it. I promise to read it.

Subscribe to get my writing delivered to your inbox or connect with me via email. It may take some time, but I will definitely respond.

Write to me at eyesha.bee@gmail.com

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