New to Medium? Save Time and Read This.
5 Essential Reads for Medium Newbies
Formatting, Publications, Establishing a Presence and more
I joined Medium two months ago. There wasn’t much to it — I thought. I knew how to write, and I knew how to hit Publish.
There, all done!
Turns out I had NO IDEA what I was doing, and I wasted SO MUCH time!
Instead of tagging authors, I added links to the authors’ profiles.
What now takes 3 seconds by simply using the “@” shortcut, took me 5 minutes!
- Find the author using the search tool.
- Copy the author’s URL from the browser.
- Go back to the article I’m writing.
- Type the name of the author.
- Highlight the name of the author.
- Click on the link option.
- Paste the URL, and hit enter!
GREAT JOB! The author has no idea I tagged her, AND I completely wasted my time.

I also took the long route when adding stock pictures to my articles. I had no idea what Unsplash was… splash-what?
- I searched the internet for free stock pictures.
- I downloaded the desired picture to my “Medium” folder.
- I uploaded the picture to my article.
- I went back to the website and copied the picture credits.
- Then back to my article and pasted the picture credits.
And voilà, another 15 minutes wasted.
When I figured out I was doing this all wrong, I felt ancient. I felt frustrated.
What a waste of time…
I wished I had read something that summarized everything right off the bat.

I’m writing this article to help Medium newbies get started. I’m no Medium expert myself — I’m still learning.
There’s a ton of great articles on Medium, but these are the 5 articles that changed how I write on Medium and would recommend to anyone new here!
1. The Best Medium Article Formatting Guide
Avoid common formatting mistakes and learn the shortcuts with this complete formatting guide by Casey Botticello. I had no idea Medium had so many formatting options, until I read this
Read this if you value your time!
2. The Ultimate Guide to 43 Active Publications on Medium
I started understanding and writing for publications after reading J.J. Pryor’s article on Medium’s active publications. I recommend going through the steps, starting with smaller publications, and growing into larger publications.
3. How to Medium: A Complete Beginners Guide to the Writing Platform
Another must-read from J.J. Pryor! It’s a fantastic summary of Medium’s fundamentals. A bit of everything in one article.
4. The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Establishing a Presence on Medium
Want to establish a Medium presence? Read Chris Sowers’s article on selecting topics/tags, identifying publications, and writing.
5. Everything I Did to Become a Top Writer on Medium in Under 4 Months
No idea what an SEO is? Not sure if your writing is relevant? Read Jana Bergant’s article on the steps she took to become a top writer in under 4 months. This article explains basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tricks and tools.

There you have my top 5 reads that changed my Medium life in the first two months.
Take the time to read these articles now — they will save you a ton of time later.
