I published 225 pieces of content on Medium in July.

34 were stories. 191 were comments.

I put everything I could into Medium during July. My results were better than I hoped in some ways but a bit disappointing in other ways.

So after a long tiring month, here's what happened — and here is what I’ve learned.

From 0 to 90 Followers in One Month

So close to 100 followers in the first month!

Oh well, as long as August continues near the same pace, I should reach 100 followers soon.

Don’t lose half your audience over something you can control.

The Washington Post reported, “50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.” Of the other 50 percent, how many would want to read something written at an eighth-grade level or higher?

Reading is not just about what you can read, but what you want to read.

Here are my four tips to avoid losing half of your audience over readability.

Put Yourself in Your Reader’s Shoes

Do you like to read articles where the writer is “showing off” how smart they are? I don’t.

The writer might be insanely smart…

“Success is hard. That’s a feature, not a bug.”

I found this quote today, and I might hang it on my wall.

The difficulty of success is not some bug that is to be fixed. No matter how many advances are made in technology, no one will ever “fix” the fact that success is hard.

A lot of people fail. They might have had a great idea — and still failed. Why?

Because success is hard.

So why should we even try? If success is so hard, what’s the point of trying?

Because if we don’t try, we are guaranteed…

What is the purpose of the church? Why does it exist?

Since Jesus is the head of the church, we will inspect what God’s Word has to say about why the church exists.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22–23)

First, let’s consider when the church came into existence.

We need to know which church we are talking about when we ask, “Why does the church exist?” Jesus said that He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).

The Lord’s church began…

I’m always on the lookout for tools that can make me a more productive writer. Growing as a writer is a constant struggle. Sometimes it feels like we take one step forward and two steps back.

For example, I struggle to keep my writing and editing separate. Do you have that problem too?

One of the tools I’ve found to be helpful is the Hemingway App. It has a free and a paid version.

Here is how the Hemingway App helps you become a more productive writer. It has certainly helped me grow as a writer.

Write in the Free Hemingway App

The “Write” feature in…

I’ve seen a few stories recently about how Medium should be compensating us when people read our comments on other writer’s stories. I’m not opposed to the idea — but I think it overlooks the fact that we already can earn money from our comments.

Now — I know we can’t earn money directly from our comments. We all know that.

But — we do earn money indirectly from the comments we make on other writer’s stories. I’ve seen this myself from my own comments.

Let me show you 3 ways your Medium comments can earn you money.

Comments Increase the Visibility of Your Profile

For example…