Writing |Advice

5 Basic Things I Learned In My First 3 Months on Medium

It has been a learning curve that is true.

When I first started on Medium, I had no idea what to do. But I have learned a thing or two over the past few months and want to share those with you.

1. Just Do it — Start

If you are just starting out, it is hard I know. That first post that you publish is the hardest thing you will do. I know it took me ages to hit publish and I still cringe at the one I wrote. But I am glad I did because it got me started. Since then, I have been writing and learning what writing style suits me.

I am not there yet and have lots to learn and trying to capture that elusive writing voice, but that is why we are here, and we have to make a start.

So, write, read, comment, and engage.

Even the simple act of highlighting can help, you can read how to use this feature to find people who might like to read you.

2. No Follow for Follow

I know it is hard when you are all alone and not sure who will want to read what you write or even follow you. And the thought of 100 followers may seem daunting to even get started.

The best thing you can do is to write several posts so people can get a feel for you. Try to write posts of varying lengths, 1, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 minutes to get started. Give your readers a choice of how they want to get to know you.

Maybe they only have a minute or two. Writing long or all 5-minute articles or more may mean they might pass you by. That is something I have found. Because I myself passed over those 7-minute, 10-minute articles as I just wanted a small flavour of your writing. So, give your readers some choice.

I know it is hard not to get sucked into the follow for follow but believe me when I say this will not build anything meaningful in the end.

If you write, read, comment, and engage, soon you will find your following will increase with people who you want to read. And vice versa.

3. Fill in Your Bio

Don’t remain anonymous, tell everyone about you. Sing out your praises and share your tribulations. Your bio is the time to shine out I can’t believe just how many left this important bit out.

4. Use Your Claps Wisely

You will soon come to learn that although claps don’t earn you anything, they can still help your engagement and following. Never leave one clap.

I’ve learnt the hard way that this is rude you will soon come to see why. Just like going to the theatre if you clapped just once and walked away. You don’t do that.

Just clap and clap and clap some more.

Leave 50 claps it will bring you more. Hold down the clap button this will make this much easier, your claps will increase incrementally if you do this simple thing. This will save you a whole lot of time, so that you can increase your own claps here over time.

5. Create Lists

Keep yourself organised, or it can get overwhelming. There is so much to do, and it can all go askew. When I started out, I wanted to read everything and plenty more. Whilst this is good, for the writers and it also increased my knowledge, it soon became a problem I soon found out.

With hours of reading lists, that I simply could not do, I had to learn a system to manage all this to do.

Keep your reading in check, then check it off, this is the way I have found, helps me keep on top of my reading list.

Lists are a way to keep your reading tasks in check.

Take a look at my lists, and see that I have tried to organise it.

Those are the things I wanted to share with you, I hope you have found them of value. Maybe if you could add a thing or two about the things you have discovered since starting out, others may also find this useful.

Thank you for reading.

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