I had my first article published earlier this week. To be honest, I was just excited that a company was willing to pay me to publish something I wrote. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but the response was incredible to me!
Less than two hours after Scary Mommy shared the article on Facebook, the post had over 3,000 reactions (likes, loves, laughs) and more than 500 shares! The next morning, my husband noticed that my article was listed as "trending" on the Scary Mommy website.
Twenty-four hours after Scary Mommy shared on Facebook, their post had 9.6K reactions, 1.7K shares and 1.1K comments! On their website, they have a counter tracking reactions across all the different shares and that had reached 17.8K!
Fourty-eight hours after Scary Mommy shared, their Facebook post had over 10K reactions, 1.9K shares and 1.2K comments! It was still listed as "trending" and their website Facebook reaction counter had reached 23.2K! The next day, that counter surpassed 25K!
As I write this, four days after Scary Mommy's Facebook share, the reaction counter on their website is at 25.8K! It has been pointed out to me that this number only represents reactions on Facebook -- the number of times it has been read is exponentially greater! It has also been shared beyond Facebook, on Twitter, Pinterest, and elsewhere!
I never imagined my article would be read by so many! I was told that lots of fellow Mommas seemed to really relate to what I wrote. I did not read the comments, even though some friends told me there were many wonderful, positive things written there (I know that even if there were a thousand positive comments and just a few negative, I would end up obsessing over the negative ones).
But, it was not just that over 25,000 people have "liked" my words that made it incredible, it was also that those who know me personally were so wonderfully supportive! It was an lovely experience.
The excitement is dying down now. It has been fun -- like my 15 minutes of (semi-anonymous) fame.
I do plan to try to get published again. Actually, I tried already. I had another article I sent in back on June 8th, only to realize that Scary Mommy had just closed submissions for the month.
It may seem odd, but I am actually more nervous to submit that article now that this first one did so well! One reason is that the subject is more personal and I now have a better appreciation for just how many people will read it. Another reason is that the subject is sure to elicit a more mixed response; it is very likely that there will be just as much of a negative reaction as there is a positive one. That makes me nervous.
Still, I am going to send it in when submissions open up again. Who knows, it may not even be accepted. We will just have to see how it all goes from here.
