5 Fascinating Things I’ve Learned From My First Two Weeks On Medium

If you think that showing up constantly is the key, then this piece is for you

I started my Medium journey by showing up, maybe a bit too much. And if you were wondering where I’ve disappeared then, I haven’t. I just changed the strategy.

Here’s the deal. I am still a newbie to the platform. Joining at the end of April, which makes me something around 3 weeks of its MPP ‘ writer’.

I know it’s probably not long enough to draw any conclusions, but here’s something (unusual) about me. I am a triple fire sign (by the rules of astrology) which makes me very much of a quick starter, fast learner, ‘passionate doer’, and the one always ready to experiment with new when there’s inspiration. Meaning, if I really WANT something, I will DO it. NOW.

On my first day on Medium, I read as much as I could to educate myself enough to give my starting writing career a real chance. (Because frankly, I really want to do this and I want to do it well.) On the same day, after consuming a number of articles, inside Medium and external research, and a webinar which basically translates to ‘How to make Medium work for you as a writer,’ I ended up on a 6 weeks (paid) ‘Medium Mastery’ course by one of Medium’s Top writers. So yes, this — in short — is how I do stuff.

Now, within my first week, I have written for about 15 post drafts, published 5, while following the guidance from the program I started.

Well, not really. My mentor ‘only’ asked us to write a single article in the course of the week while educating ourselves about how Medium works. But as you can see, I could not stop my mind constantly coming up with new ideas, (I literally felt as if my creative channel just opened and there was no way to keep that stream from free-flowing), which ain’t a bad thing in the end.

Statistically speaking, I hit my first ‘milestones’ within the same week, which definitely meant a motivation to keep moving ahead. This was when i.e. my posts got their first few views, some people started to follow me (meaning they must have read or liked some of my stuff), even applauded me sharing super encouraging messages about my content’s quality. Or, that I was accepted as a writer for Illumination. And then, there were first earnings. Although I know I started with a half-a-marathon while a 5k run would have been just fine, I was honestly more than happily surprised. Maybe because I didn’t have many expectations anyway.

The second week comes along, I keep learning more and writing more. I got accepted to another publication, (The Ascent) and new writing ideas kept growing as well. But, my approach has changed.

Here’s the key information I got as I joined Medium, and which influenced my first 2 weeks over here:

1. Medium is the only platform of its kind that enables a vast variety of writers to widely express their ideas, gain publicity, as well as get ‘paid’ for them,
2. To become one of them, the best thing to do is to write and publish as much as possible, from one post a day to at least 5 times a week,
3. And to grow your follower’s network since the start by looking for other writers, reading their stuff and adding as many as you can, the principle is — if you add someone, they are likely to add you back,
4. The platform works through a kind of ‘mutual support mechanism’ meaning, fellow writers support each other with claps, likes, comments, it’s good to have a few who can reciprocate the favour and this helps your circle grow,
5. Aim to get curated and published by ‘the big pubs’ as that way your content reaches a wider audience, you approach your ‘target readers’ who can start following you and your new work, as well as — you earn more.

I like and agree with some, not all of these points now. However, I somehow applied its logic to my past days. Although, after passing my first 2 weeks here, I am revising them and reconsidering my approach as I sense where it fails. And turning to do this instead.

My custom-made strategy for Medium going forward:

1. Write less quantity and more quality content

I do understand the point about writing more such as writing daily to improve. However, this rule which targets an improvement of writer’s quality of work should not sabotage its very goal — the quality of our writing.

I learned (within a week) that I actually am capable of writing daily and publishing content 5 times a week without my creativity channel and inspiration drying out, it actually does the opposite — keeps constantly expanding! However, I see what the impact is. It is that I keep creating more average content than I would, if I’d have given each of those thoughts more time to mature over time. As I’d revisit and revise them later, and rather than keeping them average, they could become all unique pieces! Such as with allowing the wine to mature, although expecting it’d take much less time.

So, if you are to keep writing daily, which I think is a brilliant way to keep improving oneself; here’s my advice:

Write to practice, not to publish.

Because you know what’s more important than showing up? It’s making sure you’re showing up with something great.

And for me, instead of making it a consistent 5 published articles a week, I’d rather aim for 2 to 3 which are packed with quality information and message. And therefore likely to get a ‘right home’ and reach ‘the target reader’, get some recognition and serve more people. Including myself.

2. There’s no need to rush — Patience is everything

Yes, so this one was obviously coming and impacts my approach on many levels such as to slow down my pace generally speaking — that one course for the next 5 weeks is just enough.

Also rather than thinking and noting down another 15 article drafts today,

I am going to slowly and thoroughly elaborate, rethink, allow them to mature, and complete the existing drafts — in a course of the next few days or weeks.

Why? Because the more thoughts spent on them, the more complete and appealing to readers they become.

Also, no need to rush to hit that ‘publish’ button straight away! Even if I just finished what feels like a good and complete piece. The sense of urgency to get our content across to the reader as soon as we can, must be felt by every single one of us. However, what I now believe is more important than sharing, is to make sure our content does actually reach the right audience, including the right publication, and for that:

3. Invest in finding a ‘right home’ for your pieces

I don’t think it’s the ‘big pubs’ only or basically any publication that does the job for our work. It’s about the most suitable space to hold our thoughts. And the space where our kind of reader comes to pick them up.

There’s a great saying which just came to mind, and which I’ll slightly adapt:

Publishing where you (and your content) don’t belong and expecting any reaction, is like waiting for a ship at the airport.

And here’s another one:

Not every place where you fit in is a place where you belong.

(Have you seen this viral picture of a peeled tangerine, only that it’s got one piece missing replaced by a garlic clove? It perfectly explains the quote above. As I couldn’t use that as a free image, here’s my alternative.)

So, spending time actually finding ‘that place’, your place, is more valuable than publishing amounts of content that doesn’t get acknowledged or appreciated in the wrong place. I hope you get my point.

On this note, if you’re wondering where have my 4 already published articles gone, they are gone intentionally. I am implementing these 3 rules on them as I think they were quite a good work, but could be improved and they deserve a new home.

This was actually supposed to be a quick post, but I still have things to say. Here’s my no. 4.

4. Read as much as you write — To keep growing

I’ve actually learned all that I’ve learned within this short time only because I read as much as I did read — from other writers of all kinds, over Medium. And so it makes this point quite clear.

Writing itself is not enough to become a better writer.

It is great to have our own points of view and experiences, but unless we compare them against the perspectives, thoughts, and experiences of others, we miss out on a lot. Like, I’d most probably not be moving ahead if I was not willing to learn from other inspiring writers. Who didn’t just teach me a lot, but made me LOVE Medium for what it is and be its reader and subscriber, regardless of whether I can make writing my side income over here, or not.

Another point is, and I draw this insight from this incredible article by Tom Belskie I read a few days back, reading others helps us develop our own voice and unique style. Tom says:

‘’Develop your voice. Read widely. Read what you love. Read stuff you hate or don’t necessarily disagree with. Write a lot. And then write some more.’’

‘’Your voice is ultimately going to be a blend of other voices and styles you’ve picked up over a lifetime of reading, writing, talking, watching, listening, and simply just being. Seek as many high-quality inputs as you can so that your voice will be the highest quality blend possible.’’

I strongly believe that we become who and what we read as each piece and every writer impacts us. And that’s why we should choose wisely. Which takes me to my last point.

5. Follow who you actually like, admire and have something to learn from

Although I think that the idea of ‘writer’s support system’ is brilliant, it should not compromise the whole point. Which is that;

We should — first of all — follow those that are fueling our inspiration, motivation, creativity, mindset, and growth.

Ultimately, giving us what we need on our journey to becoming better writers. Instead of following people because we expect a favour or it’s a return of a favour. That may soon backfire!

And honestly, I don’t want you to follow me because you have expectations from me and then unfollow me because I failed to meet them. I am saying that because it happened a few times over only these last two weeks here.

Don’t follow me unless you like my writing. It makes it easier for both of us.

I also don’t like the idea of blindly following everyone I read, who reads me or likes my stuff. Mainly because that way, I’d lose track of a value. I won’t be able to easily distinguish between my favourite stuff, the topics I am interested in, and actually need to read or would look for anyway, from that which is not so much of my style and interest. It’d be somewhere in between all that I am receiving. And I see the main point of following as a quality filter, filtering out what resonates the most with us and what we need more of to make sure we don’t miss out on it! Following based on this makes sense. At least for me.

But if I don’t follow you, it doesn’t mean that when I stumble upon your work and love it, I won’t react or that I will clap in silence. I will clap hard out loud, because I appreciate everyone who overcomes their fears of speaking openly and pours their heart and mind on the paper. It’s a big thing to do and all of you who do that are heroes in your own way!

So this is where I am now and what I am going to do next. It is my own learning experiment to see what comes out of testing this approach. I am a newbie really, so taking this for advice is at your own risk, of course. Well, what’s the worst that could happen? Answer this yourself.

I am curious as to what’s going to happen next for me. And whether my approach lasts or changes again in the next month, two or six?

It well may and I kind of hope so.

As with learning comes progress and it’s often inevitable to adapt our approach, and incorporate new changes.

So if I’ll rewrite my strategy once again, it should mean that I moved ahead and am still learning.

If you’re interested in what I do when I am not contemplating Medium or writing, see my profile.

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