5 Things You Need to Start Doing on Medium to Get More Attention
And eventually, more money.
When I first started working on Medium back in June, I would write, publish articles, and… that’s it.
That’s all I would do. Write, publish, and wait for people to find me.
I assumed that since there were already readers on Medium, I wouldn’t have to do anything else because they’d find me.
I wouldn’t share my work on social media, I didn’t interact with people, and I didn’t even leave a comment all month because I didn’t know how.
Medium may have an established readership, but you still have to work to earn attention.
I may not be “successful” on this Medium yet, but this is how I’m working toward it, and it’s working.
1. Join private Facebook groups
These Facebook groups are filled with writers who love to read, so you can always expect someone to support your art when you share it.
Sometimes, only one or two people will click, but one is all it takes. That reader could become a hardcore fan who reads your stories every time from there on out.
You can also like and comment on people’s posts. Those comments are pivotal because it’s how you start conversations and get to know people.
If you have a question about the tips that someone shared in their article, comment, and ask if you can talk about it further in a private message.
Writers love to help people (and talk about their work), so you’re likely to get a yes in response.
These are my favorite Facebook groups:
- Medium Dreamers (run by Oren Cohen)
- Medium Mastery (run by Frank McKinley, Jewel Eliese, Amy Torres, and Nicole Akers)
- Medium Writing (run by Casey Botticello)
- Medium Magic (run by Greg Prince)
- Womxn of Medium (run by myself, Itxy Lopez)
2. Start a publication
I heard of Tom Kuegler is because I kept reading articles that were in his publication, The Post-Grad Survival Guide. I discovered ZUVA because of her publication, An Injustice!.
Whether or not they started their publications to gain more eyes on their work, it served as a tool to do just that.
I started a publication called The Brave Writer, just to see what would happen, and the next thing I knew, it had nearly 130 followers.
An article from it was recently featured in Medium’s monthly MPP update, too.
While I started the publication because I wanted a space for writers to share their work about specific topics, the attention is a perk.
So, if you can, start a publication. It’s up to you whether you want people to submit their work to it or not. Lots of authors, such as Shannon Ashley and Shaunta Grimes, own publications in which they only publish their own work.
A perk of owning a publication is that you can send Letters to the readers who follow and choose to receive emails from you. It works the same as if you had an email list.
3. Read people’s work and comment
I read articles because there are some damn good writers here that have amazing stories and great advice.
I love clapping and commenting on their posts because they deserve it — not because I want them to clap for mine.
Never read people’s work because you want them to read yours in return.
However, I won’t lie and say that sometimes, when I comment on someone’s work, they don’t “return the favor.”
Read your fellow writers’ work because you want to, and then clap and comment because you’re kind.
If you happen to earn a read or a follow, be grateful for it. Thank the Universe for a mini-success, and then move on.
Something good will happen to you at some point if you always give from the bottom of your heart.
4. Write more
You’ll read a lot of pieces on here about how quality is better than quantity, and that you don’t have to write every day.
However, I firmly believe that if you’re a beginner, you need to write and publish as often as you possibly can. Put yourself out there a lot, so people are more likely to find you.
In the beginning, even if someone bumps into your post, they may not read because they don’t know who you are.
If you keep showing up, eventually, their curiosity will get the best of them, and they’ll click.
Writing often will also help you become a better storyteller, figure out your most popular topics, know how to format your pieces, and more.
If you can, upload once a day. If you think it’s impossible, it’s not. Brian Rowe and August Birch regularly upload three times a day. Start with once a day, and you’ll stand out.
5. Use Twitter to your advantage
Medium lets you link your Twitter in your bio, so use it to your advantage.
Plenty of Medium authors are on Twitter, and there’s endless support on the platform.
I’ve discovered writers and become a huge fan of some of them through Twitter alone — usually, because someone retweets or shares their work.
You can also promote your work on there. Just like Facebook, you just have to copy and paste the link.
Twitter makes it easy to connect with others too. The casualness of the platform takes all the pressure off, and you can become friends with a simple conversation over Medium talk.
You may have noticed I tagged a lot of people in this article. I did it to show you a few of the writers already putting this advice in action. Follow them, learn from them, apply their advice.
I also did it because all of them deserve to have more readers, claps, and money. They work hard and persist on Medium, and my tagging them is just another way for them to get more attention.
I want you to see that if they can do it, so can you. If you keep at it, maybe someone will start tagging you in their stories too.
I wholeheartedly believe that you can become the successful writer you want to be. You already started, didn’t you?
You’re halfway there. You just have to keep going.
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