Having few likes is nothing to worry about

A while ago, I wrote an article titled "Is an article with few likes a bad article?".

Since then, I've written more. If I count them up, I'm almost at a hundred. Every day, I've been watching the numbers. Which articles get read, and which ones don't. Which ones get likes, and which ones don't.

After keeping at it for that long, there's something I can say more clearly than back then.

An article with few likes is not a bad article.

On the contrary, I sometimes even feel relieved when there are few likes.

Today, I'm going to talk about that.

The number of likes is a meter of purity

Articles with a wide entrance get read. Stories that apply to many people, easy-to-understand angles, relatable themes. Those kinds of articles get more views and are more likely to get likes.

Conversely, articles with a narrow entrance that dig deep don't get read. They also have few likes. My own very personal experiences. Biased stories that don't apply to everyone. There are few people who will be struck by such articles in the first place.

But lately, when there are few likes, I think this: "Ah, this time, I didn't cater to anyone, I didn't dilute it, and I was able to say exactly what I wanted to say."

The number of likes is probably a meter of "how many people it applied to." If that's the case, having few likes is also a meter of "how much I didn't dilute myself."

When you try to cater to many people, your words become rounded. You shave off the edges to make them reach everyone. In that process, the sharp parts you really wanted to express get shaved away.

An article with few likes is an article where that sharpness wasn't shaved off. That's why I feel relieved. I was able to write without betraying myself this time, too.

Wide articles are the entrance, and the narrow ones are the main body

So, does that mean I don't write wide articles? That's not the case.

I write both. I write wide, easy-to-read articles, and I also write narrow, deep articles.

Why?

Wide articles are the entrance.

A door to get many people to notice in the first place. And what I really want to leave behind is, perhaps, the narrow and deep side with few likes.

Some of the people who come to my broad articles eventually find their way to my niche ones. And there are a handful of people who read those niche articles over and over again.

What makes me happiest isn't getting a thousand likes on a broad article. It's having just one person read a niche article over and over again.

I won't show my numbers

Writing this, some might think, 'So, what are your numbers?'

Honestly, showing my numbers might make this article more persuasive. If I could say, 'I've achieved these results, that's why I'm saying this,' my words might be easier to believe.

But I've decided not to show them.

There are two reasons.

One is a simple contradiction. Saying 'don't obsess over numbers' while showing my own means I'm obsessing over them after all.

The other is the real reason. When you show numbers, people believe you because of the numbers, not because of the words themselves. They think, 'If someone with these numbers says it, it must be true.'

That's the same as a title.

I once wrote about how my words without a title are cheap, but even if they are cheap, I didn't want to borrow a title. Numbers are the same. I don't want to make people believe my words using the title of 'numbers'.

I want to reach people with my words themselves. That's why I won't write down my numbers.

Even so, I choose this method

Finally, I'll write something honest.

If I only wanted to grow my numbers on note, my approach would be wrong.

There are plenty of more efficient ways. I could just mass-produce broad articles every day. I could target popular themes. I could just stop writing niche, deep articles that don't get many likes.

There are ways like that. I won't deny them.

But I won't choose them.

Because to me, the fact that just one person reads my work over and over again is worth far more than numbers inflated by superficial evaluation.

—To have just one person read your work over and over again. What a beacon of light that is for a writer.
I want the writers I love to keep writing forever.
With that memory in mind, I wrote this.
If you'd like, please give it a read.