avatarKatie Jgln

Summary

A writer shares insights from publishing 20 articles across 13 Medium publications in a month, emphasizing the importance of strategic publication selection, adherence to submission guidelines, content originality, and resilience in the face of rejection.

Abstract

The author, a new full-time writer and content creator, details their experience of writing for multiple Medium publications, highlighting the lessons learned from the process. They stress the necessity of choosing publications wisely, reading submission guidelines thoroughly, familiarizing oneself with the publication's content, selecting unique topics, and handling rejection constructively. The writer encourages persistence and continuous learning, suggesting that success on Medium comes from understanding the platform, engaging with the community, and consistently producing high-quality, well-edited content.

Opinions

  • The writer believes that both well-established and niche publications can be valuable for exposure and that smaller, topic-focused publications can yield more views for specific content.
  • They advocate for a careful and repeated reading of submission guidelines to ensure compliance with each publication's specific requirements.
  • The author emphasizes the importance of reading articles from the chosen publication to understand its style and audience preferences, suggesting it as a method for gaining inspiration and improving one's writing.
  • They suggest that writers should aim to provide fresh perspectives on popular topics to increase the chances of their work being accepted by publications.
  • The writer posits that rejection is a common part of the writing process on Medium and should be viewed as an opportunity for learning and improvement rather than a setback.
  • They encourage writers to be proactive in submitting their work to multiple publications and to adapt their content as necessary to fit different editorial needs.
  • The author advises that consistent writing and meticulous editing are key to building a successful presence on Medium, and they recommend using tools like Grammarly to enhance the quality of writing.

5 Lessons Learned from Writing for 10+ Publications Last Month

How to get your work published in Medium’s publications

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

In March, I published a total of 20 articles in 13 unique publications. That included both well-established publications as well as more niche ones.

It was my very first time writing for most of them.

I haven’t been publishing regularly on Medium before, but I have decided to do a few career changes this year. I now work as a full-time video content creator and writer. March was essentially the second month of really trying to grow my Medium platform.

And because I’m still relatively new to the whole I am a writer thing, I wanted to try out several different topics and publications to see what works the best for me.

I’m not going to lie; it took a lot of dedication to get there. But it IS possible if you work hard and stay committed to your goals.

Here are five lessons I have learned throughout the process that I hope could be useful to you as well, my dear fellow writer:

1. Choose your publications wisely

There are so many great Medium publications.

And, at first, it can seem like a difficult choice to identify the ones you’d like to write for. To find a list of top publications, a simple Google search will suffice. If you want to find publications that focus on a specific niche, you can try using this leaderboard.

While choosing a publication, you should pay attention to a few things:

  • Are they covering topics I’m interested in writing about?
  • When did they last publish an article?
  • Are they accepting new writers?

It’s not enough for the publication to be aligned with your writing goals and topics you want to explore; it also has to be active and accepting submissions.

I know that many new writers are tempted to aim for the most prominent publications first. However, I got published in publications of all sizes and didn’t see a significant difference in terms of views, reads and the likelihood of getting curated. At least not yet.

If you are writing on a very specific topic, chances are you will actually get more views from a smaller but more focused publication rather than one of the “big guys”.

2. Read the submission guidelines at least a few times

Once you found that perfect publication match, you need to understand how to submit your draft and what general rules they have.

Most publications have a “Write for us” or “Submit” section on their homepage. Inside, you will find guidelines on how to be added as a writer, submit your pieces and what kind of content they accept.

If you can’t find it, try searching for it within the publication (use the keyword “submit” for best results).

What worked best for me is writing only AFTER carefully reading the submission guidelines and understanding the publication. And don’t even think about just skimming through them. Read them carefully at least a few times.

Even if you feel confident in your formatting skills, different publications might have slightly varying rules regarding image captioning or headlines. Make sure you’re aware of what they are.

3. Always read the articles published in the publication

What I also find helpful in getting to know the publication before writing for them is to read what kind of articles they publish and which are performing the best.

To find the latter, check out the publication’s homepage and look for a section called “Editor’s picks”, “Our best performers”, or something similar. Not every publication has it, but many do.

Reading articles published in your chosen publication helps in understanding what they are looking for, both in terms of the range of topics and formatting rules. (but that doesn’t mean you should skip reading the submission guidelines)

In particular, reading the best-performing pieces can be an inspiring exercise. And it helps in discovering new, brilliant writers that write in similar niches to yours.

While reading, try to highlight the bits and pieces that you liked the most. You can also take notes in your journal on anything that stood out to have it for future reference. After all, you never know when you’ll need a bit of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.

4. Choose topics the publication did not cover extensively

If you’ve been on Medium for some time already, you probably noticed that there are topics covered more frequently than the others.

For instance, there are hundreds of articles about side hustles, online marketing, and personal growth. And not surprisingly so, since those are some of the most popular topics among Medium’s audience.

But to make a popular topic interesting enough for a publication to consider, you need to provide a unique insight or perspective on it. Trust me; no one wants to read another article about the top ten health benefits of waking up at 5 AM every day.

That’s why it is so crucial to check what the publication you want to write for published before. And in particular, on the topic, you want to write about.

Before writing the article, I usually go on the publication’s homepage and search for different keywords related to my topic. If they have already published articles on the same subject, particularly written from the same perspective, I try to think of another one.

Alternatively, you can also come up with a different point of view that will distinguish your piece from the previously published ones.

5. Getting rejected is not the end of the world

I know that seeing the private note rejecting your piece from being published sucks.

And understandably so, no one likes to be rejected.

But everyone on Medium, popular or not, has been in the same place before. I’m sure even the big guys of Medium has seen quite a few of those in their early days. Don’t take the rejection personally; if they provide you with any feedback, take it as constructive criticism, and learn from it.

There are several reasons why a publication could reject your piece. It can be the obvious ones: quality of your writing, lousy formatting, not adhering to submission guidelines or a bad choice of the topic. But it could also be the case that someone submitted a very similar piece at the exact same time.

This actually did happen to me before, and it is bound to happen — in particular, if you are writing about trending topics.

However, if you believe that the rejected article could also fit another publication, try to submit it there instead. Sometimes that means having to adapt it a little bit, but it might just do the trick.

Final thoughts

Starting out, whether on Medium or any other publishing or social media platform, is hard. No doubt about it.

It takes a while to understand all the ins and outs.

And I get how disappointing it can be if you get rejected from a publication. Don’t let it discourage you. Become a fierce Medium reader, interact with writers in your niche, and find publications that could fit your writing style and the topics you want to write about.

And most importantly: write, write and write. And then edit like a maniac. I usually edit my drafts at least 2 or 3 times. On top of that, I also use Grammarly to make sure no typos make it to the article’s final draft.

Little by little, you WILL get there.

I promise.

If you like my work and want to support it, buy me a cup of coffee! For more of my content, check out my other social media platforms.

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