August 20, 2024 • 34 mins
For the final episode of The Hidden Egg's 5th season, we interview Medium legend Robin Wilding!! Robin is a variety writer with a heavy emphasis on finding the funny. Many a Wilding piece has sent TAM and mort into giggles and guffaws.
We were happy to take a little tour down Robin's Medium journey and learn about her process and relationship with the platform. Come along, for this educationally hilarious Season Finale!! :D
Robin Wilding 💎’s Showcased Articles:
- How I Got Boosted…Repeatedly
- Am I Crazy, Or Is The World Nuts?
- Are There Tacos Over the Rainbow Bridge?
- Why I Never Birthed Freeloading Flesh Potatoes
- The Craptastically Easy Way to Pick a Niche
To watch the video version of this podcast, go to our Substack. For more about writing with vulnerability and information on articles discussed in the episodes, visit themonsteralley.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Tam.
(00:01):
And I'm Eternally Mortal.
And this is the Hidden Egg Podcast, where we talk about vulnerability.
And stuff and things.
And interviews.
And interviews.
Welcome in Robin Wilding.
Say hi.
Hi.
So we're still trying to get the hang of the whole interview flow.
(00:25):
Uh-huh.
I suck at this.
And we're going to do the shout-outs now.
Sorry, Robin.
Yeah, shout-outs.
As we do in all of our episodes, we shout out a few articles that we thought were interesting
through the week.
I don't even have them up.
So it's on you, Tam.
(00:45):
Sorry about that.
That's all right.
I got my screen shared.
So first one is Paying It Forward by Jez Kurzen.
This one was really sweet.
I don't even know if you read them.
Did you read them?
I didn't get a chance to read them.
I feel like an asshole.
So this one, it's a little bit more like a
(01:09):
woo-woo in its general theme.
But it was an author.
She wrote a book.
I don't remember what the name of the book is.
I'm sorry.
And she was at a convention.
And she was sort of just kind of following the universe's urges and everything and ended
up paying it forward, paying, you know, accidentally.
(01:31):
And I just thought it was a really sweet story.
And also gave me a lot of great ideas for if I ever write a book, what to do at a convention
selling said book.
So I just thought all around it was like just a really good article to expose here.
Awesome.
(01:51):
Love Paying It Forward.
That's a great concept.
The second one, we have The Art of Seeing Through Illusions,
Protecting Yourself from Manipulation by Politicians and Marketers.
And I am going to butcher his name.
Ivaras, a Grausinis, Grausinis.
(02:13):
I don't.
One of those two maybe.
Something.
I'm so sorry.
This article I felt needs to be shared.
If you remember nothing else from these shout outs, this is the article because it
it goes pretty in depth on like the psychological manipulation tactics that we're all susceptible
(02:35):
to.
But if you know about them, then you can kind of it kind of helps you protect yourself
against them.
Absolutely.
We need resources out there like that because it's not just like politicians trying to like
take away your free will.
It's advertising.
And regular people.
Yeah.
Like this this can help you against abuse, too.
(02:56):
It's really well rounded and well written, in my opinion.
Followed up with app games.
But you said abuse.
And that's really hard to follow up with app games.
So anyway, please continue.
So the third one is learning to accept your overdose, which is a personal story.
And I don't want to get really into it, but it's it's heavy and it's very vulnerable.
(03:21):
It's by Kara Hollow.
And as you can see by the screenshot that you got right now, it says content warning.
This post contains mentions of child abuse and suicide.
I don't want to say more than that.
Just go read it.
It's really good.
I don't know what else to say about it there.
Yeah, that's hard.
(03:43):
Yeah.
But check it out.
It's interesting.
And then I've got our lead into Robin, who wrote this article called How I Got Boosted
dot dot dot repeatedly.
And I literally just read it before we started this and was like, you know, I think a lot
(04:04):
of people could really do with just reading this article because it has a lot of information
that I I don't think people know.
I don't think people realize how important it is to find find the ways that help get
people boosted because a lot of people are all like, oh, there's so much nepotism.
(04:25):
Everybody's just helping their friends.
And while I can I can say that's probably a little bit true, it's not the whole truth.
And there are things that people can do to get out there more and get seen by nominators
more.
And Robin Wilding, in a very humorous way, brought that kind of into a five minute read.
(04:50):
And I mentioned Jim's publication in there as well.
Oh, yeah.
And a bunch of other ones where honestly, it's a it's a really good strategy to get
boosted to just look and look at the list of mediums whose nomination pubs and look
for the newest ones because they're not getting as many submissions as some of the ones that
are a bit more established.
(05:10):
So your odds of being boosted in a publication or being nominated in a publication or being
nominated in a publication that has, you know, 15 posts a month versus one that has 500.
Just so much higher.
And they keep adding new ones that haven't made it big yet.
(05:32):
So you don't have a lot of competition.
You can get into the ground floor and you can also get to know the editing team and
get involved with the publication.
So it's a really good time to join, join that specific crew and your odds are just so much
high.
And there are quite a few boost nominating publications that only have a few posts a month.
(05:55):
So Sturge wants everybody to know that they should also post in Monster Alley.
It's not officially on that list, but he is technically an editor there.
So welcome in Sturge.
Good to see you.
But yeah, it's interesting that you brought up like nepotism, people just supporting their
(06:16):
friends because I don't think that's what's happening.
I think what's happening is that people get together in these publications, form connections
with each other and then through the writing, like each other's writing and then boost those
because that's what they see.
That's the algorithm and just regular social interaction coming into play.
Well, Robin said it's perfect if you get involved in these things.
(06:37):
It's not that your friends are going to get you into side doors that you don't normally
get into, but having that sense of community will make you stronger for the algorithm and
for boosting.
Am I right in what you're saying there, Robin?
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Could there be some nepotism at some point somewhere?
Yeah, of course there could be.
It's a human system.
(06:59):
But I think you're spot on in saying that it's just the people who are regularly submitting
to these.
The editors are getting to know their work and they're getting to know people.
And another thing about getting to know one pub in particular is that the editors know
how much critique you can take.
(07:20):
A lot of people on Medium, it's a very supportive atmosphere, but we're definitely not hard enough
on each other from an editorial standpoint.
So when you work with an editor a bit more, they know that they can be rougher on you
and give you more critique, like for example, Ben and I edit each other's stuff all the time
and we have a really open relationship where we can tell each other the hard things and
(07:45):
say like, love this, hate that, move that up because that's your best line.
We can do that kind of thing, but that's hard to do if you're bouncing around at pubs and
not really getting to know people as much.
There's a lot of things that can come out of really getting involved in a public
publication.
(08:07):
Our chat's going wild.
I know.
But yeah, absolutely.
I agree with what you're saying, Robin.
I haven't really experienced it, but just what I've seen from the little bit I've heard
about through Medium Publications and what I know about social contact in general,
it checks out.
Ben and I are in a real open relationship.
All right, so we're going to move on to officially introducing Robin Wilding.
(08:35):
You've been a member since October of 2022.
You have 17.1 thousand followers.
17.2.
It's changed.
You're editor of New Writers Welcome.
You're a very unique type of nominator for first time boosts, an all-around likable person
with oddly questionable gender, but not really.
(09:00):
I think anybody wanting to kind of know what kind of writer you are, what kind of person you are,
would do with reading the Am I Crazy or Is the World Nuts story that you published
about a week ago, because that story seemed very uniquely you to me.
Or really in your bio with the amateur Twatapotamus shit disturber, knobhead of the year,
(09:28):
possibly a dude.
Hell yeah.
All of these things.
Very, very you.
I love subscriptors like that.
That's fantastic.
So very first question.
I just want to get it out of the way.
What's the deal with the mustache?
That was a placeholder I put up just to make myself giggle.
(09:48):
I didn't have a good headshot and I was going to take one.
So I just posted a pic of me in a mustache that I had been wearing at a party or something.
And I got so many comments on it that it just kind of stuck and I became the mustache lady.
And I was like, I'm going to go get a mustache.
(10:10):
And I became the mustache lady and a few people started referring to me as a dude.
And I'm like, well, I'm keeping this now.
This is just fantastic.
Hell yeah.
That is hilarious.
I love it when just a snap decision for a placeholder turns into a big thing that becomes
(10:32):
recognizable.
I think that's really interesting when that happens.
I agree.
So for anybody who doesn't already know, can you explain what the situation is for your
nominator arrangement?
So I've got kind of a unique role in that I only nominate new and unboosted writers.
(10:57):
So if they've been boosted before, that's not my ballpark.
I'm the only one who does that.
So it's a little confusing for people sometimes.
But I really like the role, even though it's challenging because finding unboosted writers
who have writing at the caliber of boost quality is hard, but it really goes to show that the
(11:20):
entire program, it's not built around the people who have been on the platform the longest
or the people with the biggest follower accounts.
It's truly on the writing.
And that's what they're looking at.
And I think my role, I think they really wanted to show people that none of that other stuff
(11:40):
matters.
They're looking at pieces on a piece by piece basis.
So it doesn't matter if you've been boosted before.
The boost only matters about your latest piece.
Is it good enough?
Which I think is really, really cool because sort of a great, you know,
(12:01):
sort of a great, a great unifier that new people can come on the platform and be boosted.
And it happens all the time.
So yeah.
Yeah.
So I didn't have this question on the notes, but you said that this arrangement, you're
like the only one that does this.
Are they looking for more people to do that?
(12:25):
I don't believe so.
So I don't want to say that my position is just for show, but I do see new people being
nominated by other nominators all the time.
But often that is within their publication.
Whereas I'm out there searching for people and curators can also nominate new writers
(12:49):
as well.
So there actually is decent coverage for new writers, but they wanted to make sure
that I think that people knew that this was happening and not just take it a fate that
other nominators do nominate new writers as well.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
I'm out there scouring for diamonds in the rough.
(13:13):
It's fantastic.
Just you putting in the effort to do that.
You know, like you're really like kind of one of the people that is building Medium
as a platform.
You're the one out there like placing bricks into it because I mean, Tamsaw, an enormous
number of people leave this platform over the beginning of her tenure here.
(13:38):
And so keeping people in could be as simple as, you know, getting a boost early and getting
that bit of dopamine that says this is something that I want to do.
So that's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's really how I look at it.
I find the writers who are screaming into the void and hopefully by giving them a boost,
(13:59):
they're going to see that there is an audience of readers and they're going to
want to try harder to find the right publications and to get the exposure after that.
And hopefully keep them from abandoning the platform before they've even seen any success,
which is a reality.
(14:22):
Yeah.
I've seen that firsthand.
So most, if not all of your articles are humorous, even when they're pretty like hardcore deep.
There's the like, are there tacos over the Rainbow Bridge, which is actually you kind
(14:47):
of grieving from the loss of your pet.
Laura!
Chila?
I'm going to butcher that name.
It's her name, Chila?
Chila?
Chela.
It's Mexican slang for beer.
But even that piece has a trademark levity that is just so you.
(15:12):
Is that a skill that you've developed or a trait you've always had,
but decided to capitalize on now?
I've always thought I'm funny and not a lot of people agree.
But I'd never written humor before coming to Medium because I write mainly
(15:34):
corporate marketing type of content.
So I don't want to say I never get to use humor.
I do get some jokes in sometimes, and especially if I'm writing a speech for a CEO to give
or something, I can get little jokes in, but I've never written very specifically humor.
And that's something that I've kind of been developing on Medium itself since I've been
(15:58):
here, and that's been really cool.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I was going to say, as somebody in the corporate world, any joke, any jokes put into any of that
stuff is just like, it's like rain in the desert.
Like anything, please.
It's so dry and horrible.
A lot of the times all the corporate crap I have to do.
(16:21):
So any jokes.
Thank you.
I appreciate your efforts greatly.
Yeah.
Another one that I really liked was why I never birthed freeloading flesh potatoes,
which at first sounds really horrible, but when you think about it, like,
obviously you don't have to have babies to have a fulfilling life.
(16:43):
And this is just one of the perspectives that like those women that that choose not to have
children are really looking for.
They're looking for that kind of brazen humor about it.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I love a little, little anti-child humor.
(17:04):
That's pretty funny to me, honestly.
And I really like kids.
Like, you know, I'm a fan of the kids and the kid mentality and trying to uplift them
and everything, but some anti-child humor just makes me laugh every time.
Yeah, I feel like both part and both perspectives are valid.
I really like kids, but I also really like giving them back and your own children have
(17:26):
a real shitty return policy.
Yeah, that is true.
So I hear you have a secret professional life.
I hear you have a secret professional account, one with less humor and spice.
Does adding the humor to these articles attract more readers or is it just different?
(17:51):
Adding the humor builds an audience better, in my opinion, because it gives people something
to expect when they come back and if people don't know what they're going to get when
they come back, they don't have as much reason to come back, right?
So if they know that they're going to get a giggle, hopefully from reading one of my
(18:16):
articles, they can go into it.
They're going to click on it.
They're like, oh, yeah, I could use a giggle.
So I think it brings people back more than some of the other types of content out there.
That's an interesting perspective.
I think it works with other things too.
(18:38):
Like a lot of my articles, I think people come back looking for the inspiration, motivation
kind of thing.
Maybe not as often as people come for a laugh, but I can see how that would play into each
article being just, I don't know, a little more elevated with the infusion.
(19:01):
So in 2024, your lowest performing story was the crap-tastically easy way to pick a niche.
Yeah, that one did crap-classically bad.
It was really, I really liked it.
I read through it and it was really well done.
I think people just maybe didn't like the niche idea.
(19:24):
I'm not really sure.
But what would you say helped the most out of all of your articles from this one to your
best performing to kind of to get the reads, to get the views?
I wish I could say I had a magic bullet formula.
If I did, then crap-tastically performing articles like this one would have done better.
(19:50):
Some things are just hit or miss.
Sometimes you get a headline that just brings people in and sometimes you don't.
Sometimes the algorithm gods smile on you and sometimes they give you the finger.
It's hard to say.
The chaos of the internet, eh?
I understand that.
Internet is chaotic?
Well, I'm out.
(20:12):
Who knew?
Who knew?
I had the question here of how can others learn from your success?
But after reading the article, I'm going to switch back here to the how I got boosted
repeatedly.
You almost answered that question in the article a little bit.
Is there anything more you wanted to expand upon with that or does this article kind of-
(20:35):
Should we just tell people to go check out the article?
Yeah, that one.
Go check it out, folks.
Yes, I mean, the boost is only part of Medium, right?
There's all sorts of other kinds of distribution.
Even in that article, I talk about how my most successful article this year wasn't
(20:58):
boosted.
It's just one tool, one way to succeed on Medium, but it's not the only way.
I'd say the majority of my success is building a readership and having people return
because not only does that provide traffic for unboosted pieces, and I got a lot of those,
(21:23):
but it also increases the multiplier on the boosted pieces because engagement plays into
how well a piece does.
So, yeah, I think building readership is just as important as getting boosted, and they
work very hand in hand.
Now, on that note, I know you, Ben, and Gerald are like us.
(21:48):
You have a Medium-focused Discord server.
How much has this helped with building that audience and creating your popularity with
readers?
I don't think it has at all.
I think a lot of people who found it were reading me already, and there's so much great
(22:14):
content from people in the Discord that it hasn't gotten me any type of status or extra
reads or anything.
It's just a really great community because Medium really lacks that.
We have comments, which are great, but you can't really talk to people, so there's no
(22:38):
chat.
There's no DM.
I think it's just kind of given some people a little bit more community and place to ask
questions and learn new strategies and post dick jokes and whatever they want to do, but
just get to know some of the more people on Medium, and people find each other's pubs,
and that's really interesting and a fun way to do it.
(23:02):
I don't think it's actually helped me at all as opposed to other than kind of more cementing
some of the friendships that I had.
Now that I get to actually chat with people and closer friends with people in the Discord
than I am with general public.
That's true.
Then I have to ask, what did help you build the audience on Medium?
(23:26):
Because I was under the assumption it was at least in part due to the Discord server.
No.
The mustache?
Honestly, I think I had something to do with it, which is funny.
I don't know.
It's a whimsical picture that seems to help draw people in, and then the humor,
(23:50):
I think, keeps people coming back.
Yeah.
Whenever I figure out a strategy that's working well for me, I post about it, like how I got
boosted repeatedly.
I don't do as much meta writing anymore because I've really more leaned into the humor writing,
(24:11):
but when I do get a good strategy, I spread it around.
And you discover a great way to do things.
And instead of keeping it to yourself, you share it with people.
People pay attention to those things and they remember it.
So I think that has probably helped me a little bit as well, that I have been out there actively
(24:33):
supporting the community alongside tons of other people.
Of course, even people writing here like Sterj who were out there spreading it around.
Right.
The more active you are in the community and the more people know that you care,
(24:58):
people just gravitate towards that, I think.
Very true.
I love that.
I'm going to make that a sound bite with your permission.
So how do you get new Discord members to...
Because you said that the Discord at least did help you kind of deepen your relationship
(25:20):
with some of the writers.
So how do you get them to join in to create that deeper relationship?
Or has it been the same crew for a long time for you?
So the most active people, it's largely the same crew, but we have had some additions.
(25:42):
But it has grown to I think over 500 people now.
I haven't done a lot of that.
I put it in my about page, but I don't know if anybody even reads those.
I've mentioned it a couple of times in articles.
Jason Provencio has mentioned it.
Other people have mentioned it as well.
So it's just people mentioning it from time to time that will get some new
(26:03):
stragglers coming in and we'll welcome them and hopefully they'll stay.
But not everybody likes our particular brand of what the fuck.
So I'm going to jump in if you don't mind.
It sounds like you don't super like go out of your way to like, let's say, advertise yourself.
You've come on and you've unleashed your humor onto Medium
(26:28):
and just people have just been gravitated towards it in like a pretty natural fashion.
There's a pretty strong idea of the internet that like, if you don't get the advertising going,
if you don't brand yourself, if you don't take all these things into account,
then there's no success possible.
But for you, it just sort of all happened.
Is that correct or am I misinterpreting?
(26:51):
Yeah, no, I'm not really advertising myself that well, I suppose.
Yeah, it just kind of happens. People just.
They're following me, but I mean, I've been around for almost two years now
for just about two years now. So, I mean, it's been slow over time.
That's awesome. Heck yeah.
(27:13):
People just are interested enough to pop into your Discord server and hang out.
And that's just fantastic. I think that's awesome.
Sorry, I'm probably saying too many words, but Tam, on you. You're not saying too many words.
You usually don't say very many during interviews, so I'm loving it.
Hell yeah, I'm trying.
(27:34):
So do you like create any incentives for people to interact and engage in your Discord server
or is it just kind of free for all people can do what they want and they just, you know,
talk all the time? Yeah, I don't have any incentive.
I mean, the incentive is to learn how to navigate medium better and grow on there.
(28:00):
So I think that's the only incentive.
People can participate or not participate. Like sometimes we'll have people who will only show
up once every couple of months when they have a question that they can't find an answer to.
And that's perfectly fine. And we've got really active people who chat all the time.
Some mildly active people who pop in occasionally. And then we've got what I call the lurkers,
(28:22):
who just kind of watch things happen. And I've always kind of been partial to lurkers.
I don't know why. Mortal knows all about lurkers.
I totally know about lurkers. Less on Discord and more on like Twitch, but like, yeah, it's,
you know, it's either socially awkward or anxious people or people that have like agoraphobia,
(28:43):
but still like to watch people, you know, be social and stuff like that. And
sometimes it's just people that don't have anything to add. Sometimes it's,
there's all kinds of different things. And I think it's delightful.
Yeah, I've been a lurker myself sometimes where I just not feeling particularly peopley that day.
(29:05):
And I just want to go in and see what's happening. And yeah, I've lurked myself.
It's kind of fun when you're just staring into the digital window.
Yeah, I agree. I agree.
So you're also, aside from the medium stuff, you're also an accomplished freelancer
(29:27):
and you technically have more official roles on medium than most.
What advice can you give for those interested in following in your footsteps?
Oh, we don't follow exactly my footsteps. I really go head first in the medium,
just right in the deep end. And it usurps a lot of my time. But that's fine with me because I
(29:54):
absolutely love it. And I guess I don't really have that much of a real life. Like,
a lot of people do. So for me, it's really enjoyable, but it's a lot of work and it's a
lot of time. So I don't think it's advisable for most people to do what people like me and
Sturge and that kind of thing do because that's a lot.
(30:21):
Do you mind if I expand on that a little bit?
No, go ahead.
It sounds like you're saying if you really want to follow in the footsteps of Robyn Wilde,
it's get involved. You wouldn't personally recommend it because of the amount of hours
that goes into it, but you're also personally set up to really enjoy that experience. And maybe not
everybody's like that. But if you want to try it, get involved, get out there and write, go ask
(30:44):
pubs if you can join them, you know, put yourself out there and do it. And the more you do it,
the more likely it is you'll find it. Am I right?
Yeah. Yeah. And keep doing it until you find the right home on Medium. I went through a few pubs
before I found my people. So I'd say the first pub that I found that I really meshed well with was
(31:07):
Facebook, Fred Geo's Bouncing and Behaving Blogs. I'm like, yeah, this is it. This is my people
kind of renegade cursing sailors. That's what I really vibed and meshed well. But it took me
a few pubs to really get a hold of that. And now I've found some of these smaller, smaller
(31:29):
tighter knit ones that are absolutely fantastic as well. So keep trying until you find the right one
because the right one is definitely out there. Heck yeah. Love that. It's a great message.
And on that note, is there anything at all that you would like to promote?
Promote, thank, anything. The stage is yours.
(31:52):
I want to go read my shit.
Hell yeah.
That's really all I got.
Go read Rob's book.
Read my shit, isn't it?
Well, I'm definitely putting your link all over this one. So hopefully they will do that.
(32:18):
I think.
And I haven't really said a whole lot in direct regard to like how much I've experienced of Rob.
I'm so sparse on medium most of the time, but I've had the pleasure of reading,
let's say half a dozen or eight of Robyn's pieces and they always make me laugh.
Like there's just a way that Robyn speaks that's really relatable and easy to find the humor from
(32:42):
my perspective, from my memory at this point also. But that's what I remember from reading
your articles. That was the impression that mortals media enjoy or took during that time.
Just wanted to say that.
Well, thank you very much. And also how dare you for having a life outside of medium.
Yeah, I know.
(33:04):
I've got issues.
Well, I think that's it. So I guess we'll thank Ben and Sturge and Jim for being a part of the
live recording.
And you, dear listener, can be a part of the live action after our upcoming seasonal break
(33:28):
by joining our discord through themonsteralley.com, which also has links to our articles,
Spotify and Substack. And special bonus, the Substack is the only place you get the uncensored
version.
Still you.
And thank you. Hi, I'm still here. Hi, what's up? Thank you guys so much for coming along with
the listening to the podcast. We really have enjoyed the fact that people have been enjoying
(33:52):
listening to us talk about stuff for a while now. I think like 60, 60 plus episodes in and we're
we've had a really good time with it. We're taking a potentially extended seasonal break
after this episode. This is our season finale. So thank you so much. I'm eternally mortal.
And I hope you find smiles to stay.
(34:13):
You can still find us on medium.com even through our hiatus or through themonsteralley.com.
And I've been the accidental monster and remember to follow yourself always.
Hi, I'm Tam.
(00:01):
And I'm Eternally Mortal.
And this is the Hidden Egg Podcast, where we talk about vulnerability.
And stuff and things.
And interviews.
And interviews.
Welcome in Robin Wilding.
Say hi.
Hi.
So we're still trying to get the hang of the whole interview flow.
(00:25):
Uh-huh.
I suck at this.
And we're going to do the shout-outs now.
Sorry, Robin.
Yeah, shout-outs.
As we do in all of our episodes, we shout out a few articles that we thought were interesting
through the week.
I don't even have them up.
So it's on you, Tam.
(00:45):
Sorry about that.
That's all right.
I got my screen shared.
So first one is Paying It Forward by Jez Kurzen.
This one was really sweet.
I don't even know if you read them.
Did you read them?
I didn't get a chance to read them.
I feel like an asshole.
So this one, it's a little bit more like a
(01:09):
woo-woo in its general theme.
But it was an author.
She wrote a book.
I don't remember what the name of the book is.
I'm sorry.
And she was at a convention.
And she was sort of just kind of following the universe's urges and everything and ended
up paying it forward, paying, you know, accidentally.
(01:31):
And I just thought it was a really sweet story.
And also gave me a lot of great ideas for if I ever write a book, what to do at a convention
selling said book.
So I just thought all around it was like just a really good article to expose here.
Awesome.
(01:51):
Love Paying It Forward.
That's a great concept.
The second one, we have The Art of Seeing Through Illusions,
Protecting Yourself from Manipulation by Politicians and Marketers.
And I am going to butcher his name.
Ivaras, a Grausinis, Grausinis.
(02:13):
I don't.
One of those two maybe.
Something.
I'm so sorry.
This article I felt needs to be shared.
If you remember nothing else from these shout outs, this is the article because it
it goes pretty in depth on like the psychological manipulation tactics that we're all susceptible
(02:35):
to.
But if you know about them, then you can kind of it kind of helps you protect yourself
against them.
Absolutely.
We need resources out there like that because it's not just like politicians trying to like
take away your free will.
It's advertising.
And regular people.
Yeah.
Like this this can help you against abuse, too.
(02:56):
It's really well rounded and well written, in my opinion.
Followed up with app games.
But you said abuse.
And that's really hard to follow up with app games.
So anyway, please continue.
So the third one is learning to accept your overdose, which is a personal story.
And I don't want to get really into it, but it's it's heavy and it's very vulnerable.
(03:21):
It's by Kara Hollow.
And as you can see by the screenshot that you got right now, it says content warning.
This post contains mentions of child abuse and suicide.
I don't want to say more than that.
Just go read it.
It's really good.
I don't know what else to say about it there.
Yeah, that's hard.
(03:43):
Yeah.
But check it out.
It's interesting.
And then I've got our lead into Robin, who wrote this article called How I Got Boosted
dot dot dot repeatedly.
And I literally just read it before we started this and was like, you know, I think a lot
(04:04):
of people could really do with just reading this article because it has a lot of information
that I I don't think people know.
I don't think people realize how important it is to find find the ways that help get
people boosted because a lot of people are all like, oh, there's so much nepotism.
(04:25):
Everybody's just helping their friends.
And while I can I can say that's probably a little bit true, it's not the whole truth.
And there are things that people can do to get out there more and get seen by nominators
more.
And Robin Wilding, in a very humorous way, brought that kind of into a five minute read.
(04:50):
And I mentioned Jim's publication in there as well.
Oh, yeah.
And a bunch of other ones where honestly, it's a it's a really good strategy to get
boosted to just look and look at the list of mediums whose nomination pubs and look
for the newest ones because they're not getting as many submissions as some of the ones that
are a bit more established.
(05:10):
So your odds of being boosted in a publication or being nominated in a publication or being
nominated in a publication that has, you know, 15 posts a month versus one that has 500.
Just so much higher.
And they keep adding new ones that haven't made it big yet.
(05:32):
So you don't have a lot of competition.
You can get into the ground floor and you can also get to know the editing team and
get involved with the publication.
So it's a really good time to join, join that specific crew and your odds are just so much
high.
And there are quite a few boost nominating publications that only have a few posts a month.
(05:55):
So Sturge wants everybody to know that they should also post in Monster Alley.
It's not officially on that list, but he is technically an editor there.
So welcome in Sturge.
Good to see you.
But yeah, it's interesting that you brought up like nepotism, people just supporting their
(06:16):
friends because I don't think that's what's happening.
I think what's happening is that people get together in these publications, form connections
with each other and then through the writing, like each other's writing and then boost those
because that's what they see.
That's the algorithm and just regular social interaction coming into play.
Well, Robin said it's perfect if you get involved in these things.
(06:37):
It's not that your friends are going to get you into side doors that you don't normally
get into, but having that sense of community will make you stronger for the algorithm and
for boosting.
Am I right in what you're saying there, Robin?
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Could there be some nepotism at some point somewhere?
Yeah, of course there could be.
It's a human system.
(06:59):
But I think you're spot on in saying that it's just the people who are regularly submitting
to these.
The editors are getting to know their work and they're getting to know people.
And another thing about getting to know one pub in particular is that the editors know
how much critique you can take.
(07:20):
A lot of people on Medium, it's a very supportive atmosphere, but we're definitely not hard enough
on each other from an editorial standpoint.
So when you work with an editor a bit more, they know that they can be rougher on you
and give you more critique, like for example, Ben and I edit each other's stuff all the time
and we have a really open relationship where we can tell each other the hard things and
(07:45):
say like, love this, hate that, move that up because that's your best line.
We can do that kind of thing, but that's hard to do if you're bouncing around at pubs and
not really getting to know people as much.
There's a lot of things that can come out of really getting involved in a public
publication.
(08:07):
Our chat's going wild.
I know.
But yeah, absolutely.
I agree with what you're saying, Robin.
I haven't really experienced it, but just what I've seen from the little bit I've heard
about through Medium Publications and what I know about social contact in general,
it checks out.
Ben and I are in a real open relationship.
All right, so we're going to move on to officially introducing Robin Wilding.
(08:35):
You've been a member since October of 2022.
You have 17.1 thousand followers.
17.2.
It's changed.
You're editor of New Writers Welcome.
You're a very unique type of nominator for first time boosts, an all-around likable person
with oddly questionable gender, but not really.
(09:00):
I think anybody wanting to kind of know what kind of writer you are, what kind of person you are,
would do with reading the Am I Crazy or Is the World Nuts story that you published
about a week ago, because that story seemed very uniquely you to me.
Or really in your bio with the amateur Twatapotamus shit disturber, knobhead of the year,
(09:28):
possibly a dude.
Hell yeah.
All of these things.
Very, very you.
I love subscriptors like that.
That's fantastic.
So very first question.
I just want to get it out of the way.
What's the deal with the mustache?
That was a placeholder I put up just to make myself giggle.
(09:48):
I didn't have a good headshot and I was going to take one.
So I just posted a pic of me in a mustache that I had been wearing at a party or something.
And I got so many comments on it that it just kind of stuck and I became the mustache lady.
And I was like, I'm going to go get a mustache.
(10:10):
And I became the mustache lady and a few people started referring to me as a dude.
And I'm like, well, I'm keeping this now.
This is just fantastic.
Hell yeah.
That is hilarious.
I love it when just a snap decision for a placeholder turns into a big thing that becomes
(10:32):
recognizable.
I think that's really interesting when that happens.
I agree.
So for anybody who doesn't already know, can you explain what the situation is for your
nominator arrangement?
So I've got kind of a unique role in that I only nominate new and unboosted writers.
(10:57):
So if they've been boosted before, that's not my ballpark.
I'm the only one who does that.
So it's a little confusing for people sometimes.
But I really like the role, even though it's challenging because finding unboosted writers
who have writing at the caliber of boost quality is hard, but it really goes to show that the
(11:20):
entire program, it's not built around the people who have been on the platform the longest
or the people with the biggest follower accounts.
It's truly on the writing.
And that's what they're looking at.
And I think my role, I think they really wanted to show people that none of that other stuff
(11:40):
matters.
They're looking at pieces on a piece by piece basis.
So it doesn't matter if you've been boosted before.
The boost only matters about your latest piece.
Is it good enough?
Which I think is really, really cool because sort of a great, you know,
(12:01):
sort of a great, a great unifier that new people can come on the platform and be boosted.
And it happens all the time.
So yeah.
Yeah.
So I didn't have this question on the notes, but you said that this arrangement, you're
like the only one that does this.
Are they looking for more people to do that?
(12:25):
I don't believe so.
So I don't want to say that my position is just for show, but I do see new people being
nominated by other nominators all the time.
But often that is within their publication.
Whereas I'm out there searching for people and curators can also nominate new writers
(12:49):
as well.
So there actually is decent coverage for new writers, but they wanted to make sure
that I think that people knew that this was happening and not just take it a fate that
other nominators do nominate new writers as well.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
I'm out there scouring for diamonds in the rough.
(13:13):
It's fantastic.
Just you putting in the effort to do that.
You know, like you're really like kind of one of the people that is building Medium
as a platform.
You're the one out there like placing bricks into it because I mean, Tamsaw, an enormous
number of people leave this platform over the beginning of her tenure here.
(13:38):
And so keeping people in could be as simple as, you know, getting a boost early and getting
that bit of dopamine that says this is something that I want to do.
So that's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's really how I look at it.
I find the writers who are screaming into the void and hopefully by giving them a boost,
(13:59):
they're going to see that there is an audience of readers and they're going to
want to try harder to find the right publications and to get the exposure after that.
And hopefully keep them from abandoning the platform before they've even seen any success,
which is a reality.
(14:22):
Yeah.
I've seen that firsthand.
So most, if not all of your articles are humorous, even when they're pretty like hardcore deep.
There's the like, are there tacos over the Rainbow Bridge, which is actually you kind
(14:47):
of grieving from the loss of your pet.
Laura!
Chila?
I'm going to butcher that name.
It's her name, Chila?
Chila?
Chela.
It's Mexican slang for beer.
But even that piece has a trademark levity that is just so you.
(15:12):
Is that a skill that you've developed or a trait you've always had,
but decided to capitalize on now?
I've always thought I'm funny and not a lot of people agree.
But I'd never written humor before coming to Medium because I write mainly
(15:34):
corporate marketing type of content.
So I don't want to say I never get to use humor.
I do get some jokes in sometimes, and especially if I'm writing a speech for a CEO to give
or something, I can get little jokes in, but I've never written very specifically humor.
And that's something that I've kind of been developing on Medium itself since I've been
(15:58):
here, and that's been really cool.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I was going to say, as somebody in the corporate world, any joke, any jokes put into any of that
stuff is just like, it's like rain in the desert.
Like anything, please.
It's so dry and horrible.
A lot of the times all the corporate crap I have to do.
(16:21):
So any jokes.
Thank you.
I appreciate your efforts greatly.
Yeah.
Another one that I really liked was why I never birthed freeloading flesh potatoes,
which at first sounds really horrible, but when you think about it, like,
obviously you don't have to have babies to have a fulfilling life.
(16:43):
And this is just one of the perspectives that like those women that that choose not to have
children are really looking for.
They're looking for that kind of brazen humor about it.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I love a little, little anti-child humor.
(17:04):
That's pretty funny to me, honestly.
And I really like kids.
Like, you know, I'm a fan of the kids and the kid mentality and trying to uplift them
and everything, but some anti-child humor just makes me laugh every time.
Yeah, I feel like both part and both perspectives are valid.
I really like kids, but I also really like giving them back and your own children have
(17:26):
a real shitty return policy.
Yeah, that is true.
So I hear you have a secret professional life.
I hear you have a secret professional account, one with less humor and spice.
Does adding the humor to these articles attract more readers or is it just different?
(17:51):
Adding the humor builds an audience better, in my opinion, because it gives people something
to expect when they come back and if people don't know what they're going to get when
they come back, they don't have as much reason to come back, right?
So if they know that they're going to get a giggle, hopefully from reading one of my
(18:16):
articles, they can go into it.
They're going to click on it.
They're like, oh, yeah, I could use a giggle.
So I think it brings people back more than some of the other types of content out there.
That's an interesting perspective.
I think it works with other things too.
(18:38):
Like a lot of my articles, I think people come back looking for the inspiration, motivation
kind of thing.
Maybe not as often as people come for a laugh, but I can see how that would play into each
article being just, I don't know, a little more elevated with the infusion.
(19:01):
So in 2024, your lowest performing story was the crap-tastically easy way to pick a niche.
Yeah, that one did crap-classically bad.
It was really, I really liked it.
I read through it and it was really well done.
I think people just maybe didn't like the niche idea.
(19:24):
I'm not really sure.
But what would you say helped the most out of all of your articles from this one to your
best performing to kind of to get the reads, to get the views?
I wish I could say I had a magic bullet formula.
If I did, then crap-tastically performing articles like this one would have done better.
(19:50):
Some things are just hit or miss.
Sometimes you get a headline that just brings people in and sometimes you don't.
Sometimes the algorithm gods smile on you and sometimes they give you the finger.
It's hard to say.
The chaos of the internet, eh?
I understand that.
Internet is chaotic?
Well, I'm out.
(20:12):
Who knew?
Who knew?
I had the question here of how can others learn from your success?
But after reading the article, I'm going to switch back here to the how I got boosted
repeatedly.
You almost answered that question in the article a little bit.
Is there anything more you wanted to expand upon with that or does this article kind of-
(20:35):
Should we just tell people to go check out the article?
Yeah, that one.
Go check it out, folks.
Yes, I mean, the boost is only part of Medium, right?
There's all sorts of other kinds of distribution.
Even in that article, I talk about how my most successful article this year wasn't
(20:58):
boosted.
It's just one tool, one way to succeed on Medium, but it's not the only way.
I'd say the majority of my success is building a readership and having people return
because not only does that provide traffic for unboosted pieces, and I got a lot of those,
(21:23):
but it also increases the multiplier on the boosted pieces because engagement plays into
how well a piece does.
So, yeah, I think building readership is just as important as getting boosted, and they
work very hand in hand.
Now, on that note, I know you, Ben, and Gerald are like us.
(21:48):
You have a Medium-focused Discord server.
How much has this helped with building that audience and creating your popularity with
readers?
I don't think it has at all.
I think a lot of people who found it were reading me already, and there's so much great
(22:14):
content from people in the Discord that it hasn't gotten me any type of status or extra
reads or anything.
It's just a really great community because Medium really lacks that.
We have comments, which are great, but you can't really talk to people, so there's no
(22:38):
chat.
There's no DM.
I think it's just kind of given some people a little bit more community and place to ask
questions and learn new strategies and post dick jokes and whatever they want to do, but
just get to know some of the more people on Medium, and people find each other's pubs,
and that's really interesting and a fun way to do it.
(23:02):
I don't think it's actually helped me at all as opposed to other than kind of more cementing
some of the friendships that I had.
Now that I get to actually chat with people and closer friends with people in the Discord
than I am with general public.
That's true.
Then I have to ask, what did help you build the audience on Medium?
(23:26):
Because I was under the assumption it was at least in part due to the Discord server.
No.
The mustache?
Honestly, I think I had something to do with it, which is funny.
I don't know.
It's a whimsical picture that seems to help draw people in, and then the humor,
(23:50):
I think, keeps people coming back.
Yeah.
Whenever I figure out a strategy that's working well for me, I post about it, like how I got
boosted repeatedly.
I don't do as much meta writing anymore because I've really more leaned into the humor writing,
(24:11):
but when I do get a good strategy, I spread it around.
And you discover a great way to do things.
And instead of keeping it to yourself, you share it with people.
People pay attention to those things and they remember it.
So I think that has probably helped me a little bit as well, that I have been out there actively
(24:33):
supporting the community alongside tons of other people.
Of course, even people writing here like Sterj who were out there spreading it around.
Right.
The more active you are in the community and the more people know that you care,
(24:58):
people just gravitate towards that, I think.
Very true.
I love that.
I'm going to make that a sound bite with your permission.
So how do you get new Discord members to...
Because you said that the Discord at least did help you kind of deepen your relationship
(25:20):
with some of the writers.
So how do you get them to join in to create that deeper relationship?
Or has it been the same crew for a long time for you?
So the most active people, it's largely the same crew, but we have had some additions.
(25:42):
But it has grown to I think over 500 people now.
I haven't done a lot of that.
I put it in my about page, but I don't know if anybody even reads those.
I've mentioned it a couple of times in articles.
Jason Provencio has mentioned it.
Other people have mentioned it as well.
So it's just people mentioning it from time to time that will get some new
(26:03):
stragglers coming in and we'll welcome them and hopefully they'll stay.
But not everybody likes our particular brand of what the fuck.
So I'm going to jump in if you don't mind.
It sounds like you don't super like go out of your way to like, let's say, advertise yourself.
You've come on and you've unleashed your humor onto Medium
(26:28):
and just people have just been gravitated towards it in like a pretty natural fashion.
There's a pretty strong idea of the internet that like, if you don't get the advertising going,
if you don't brand yourself, if you don't take all these things into account,
then there's no success possible.
But for you, it just sort of all happened.
Is that correct or am I misinterpreting?
(26:51):
Yeah, no, I'm not really advertising myself that well, I suppose.
Yeah, it just kind of happens. People just.
They're following me, but I mean, I've been around for almost two years now
for just about two years now. So, I mean, it's been slow over time.
That's awesome. Heck yeah.
(27:13):
People just are interested enough to pop into your Discord server and hang out.
And that's just fantastic. I think that's awesome.
Sorry, I'm probably saying too many words, but Tam, on you. You're not saying too many words.
You usually don't say very many during interviews, so I'm loving it.
Hell yeah, I'm trying.
(27:34):
So do you like create any incentives for people to interact and engage in your Discord server
or is it just kind of free for all people can do what they want and they just, you know,
talk all the time? Yeah, I don't have any incentive.
I mean, the incentive is to learn how to navigate medium better and grow on there.
(28:00):
So I think that's the only incentive.
People can participate or not participate. Like sometimes we'll have people who will only show
up once every couple of months when they have a question that they can't find an answer to.
And that's perfectly fine. And we've got really active people who chat all the time.
Some mildly active people who pop in occasionally. And then we've got what I call the lurkers,
(28:22):
who just kind of watch things happen. And I've always kind of been partial to lurkers.
I don't know why. Mortal knows all about lurkers.
I totally know about lurkers. Less on Discord and more on like Twitch, but like, yeah, it's,
you know, it's either socially awkward or anxious people or people that have like agoraphobia,
(28:43):
but still like to watch people, you know, be social and stuff like that. And
sometimes it's just people that don't have anything to add. Sometimes it's,
there's all kinds of different things. And I think it's delightful.
Yeah, I've been a lurker myself sometimes where I just not feeling particularly peopley that day.
(29:05):
And I just want to go in and see what's happening. And yeah, I've lurked myself.
It's kind of fun when you're just staring into the digital window.
Yeah, I agree. I agree.
So you're also, aside from the medium stuff, you're also an accomplished freelancer
(29:27):
and you technically have more official roles on medium than most.
What advice can you give for those interested in following in your footsteps?
Oh, we don't follow exactly my footsteps. I really go head first in the medium,
just right in the deep end. And it usurps a lot of my time. But that's fine with me because I
(29:54):
absolutely love it. And I guess I don't really have that much of a real life. Like,
a lot of people do. So for me, it's really enjoyable, but it's a lot of work and it's a
lot of time. So I don't think it's advisable for most people to do what people like me and
Sturge and that kind of thing do because that's a lot.
(30:21):
Do you mind if I expand on that a little bit?
No, go ahead.
It sounds like you're saying if you really want to follow in the footsteps of Robyn Wilde,
it's get involved. You wouldn't personally recommend it because of the amount of hours
that goes into it, but you're also personally set up to really enjoy that experience. And maybe not
everybody's like that. But if you want to try it, get involved, get out there and write, go ask
(30:44):
pubs if you can join them, you know, put yourself out there and do it. And the more you do it,
the more likely it is you'll find it. Am I right?
Yeah. Yeah. And keep doing it until you find the right home on Medium. I went through a few pubs
before I found my people. So I'd say the first pub that I found that I really meshed well with was
(31:07):
Facebook, Fred Geo's Bouncing and Behaving Blogs. I'm like, yeah, this is it. This is my people
kind of renegade cursing sailors. That's what I really vibed and meshed well. But it took me
a few pubs to really get a hold of that. And now I've found some of these smaller, smaller
(31:29):
tighter knit ones that are absolutely fantastic as well. So keep trying until you find the right one
because the right one is definitely out there. Heck yeah. Love that. It's a great message.
And on that note, is there anything at all that you would like to promote?
Promote, thank, anything. The stage is yours.
(31:52):
I want to go read my shit.
Hell yeah.
That's really all I got.
Go read Rob's book.
Read my shit, isn't it?
Well, I'm definitely putting your link all over this one. So hopefully they will do that.
(32:18):
I think.
And I haven't really said a whole lot in direct regard to like how much I've experienced of Rob.
I'm so sparse on medium most of the time, but I've had the pleasure of reading,
let's say half a dozen or eight of Robyn's pieces and they always make me laugh.
Like there's just a way that Robyn speaks that's really relatable and easy to find the humor from
(32:42):
my perspective, from my memory at this point also. But that's what I remember from reading
your articles. That was the impression that mortals media enjoy or took during that time.
Just wanted to say that.
Well, thank you very much. And also how dare you for having a life outside of medium.
Yeah, I know.
(33:04):
I've got issues.
Well, I think that's it. So I guess we'll thank Ben and Sturge and Jim for being a part of the
live recording.
And you, dear listener, can be a part of the live action after our upcoming seasonal break
(33:28):
by joining our discord through themonsteralley.com, which also has links to our articles,
Spotify and Substack. And special bonus, the Substack is the only place you get the uncensored
version.
Still you.
And thank you. Hi, I'm still here. Hi, what's up? Thank you guys so much for coming along with
the listening to the podcast. We really have enjoyed the fact that people have been enjoying
(33:52):
listening to us talk about stuff for a while now. I think like 60, 60 plus episodes in and we're
we've had a really good time with it. We're taking a potentially extended seasonal break
after this episode. This is our season finale. So thank you so much. I'm eternally mortal.
And I hope you find smiles to stay.
(34:13):
You can still find us on medium.com even through our hiatus or through themonsteralley.com.
And I've been the accidental monster and remember to follow yourself always.
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