Tracy --

That's never been true of me. Two possible reasons:

1 From Day One, I've had a clear niche and been up front about it: I write mainly about books, authors, and related topics, such as writing, publishing, and the media (esp.. journalism). My sense is that if people associate you with a topic, they'll look to you for stories about that rather than about Medium (although the occasional stories I've done about Medium have done well, too).

2 My stories have always had a v. high distribution rate: e.g., 93% CFFD rate for a recent month with 30 stories and, in other months, many weeks with 100%. I've also had stories "featured" (better than distributed because Medium pushes "featured" stories in ways that go beyond distribution, though exactly how it does that may vary with the story). That brings people to non-Medium stories.

I suspect your situation will change as you stay on the platform longer and people come to link you to a specific topic. Good luck!

Jan