5 Writing Tips I Learned From Medium’s Top Writers

From the perspective of a new writer

Let’s face it, if you are a new writer on Medium, chances are that you have no idea where to start from. As a reader, Medium is a fun place to find informative, digestible articles that speak to your interests. But, as a writer, especially a new one, the story is a little different.

Starting off your writing journey on Medium or even migrating to Medium from other blogging platforms may seem refreshing, as it was for me. But cracking the code on what exactly it takes to be successful on a platform like this, takes you investing some time into it. So, ever since I made a resolution to post an article a week, I have been learning from some of Medium’s Top writers, and here is what I learned.

1. Consistency is king

Here is something that shouldn’t surprise you. Medium’s most successful writers post an article at least once every single week. Some would say real success requires 3–5 articles per week, while others say an article a week is just fine. From what I have noticed, the most successful writers write pretty frequently. Almost every other day.

New writers make the mistake of writing 4 or 5 articles a year, at least that’s what I used to do. Maybe you are better than me, you write once a month. That’s good but definitely not good enough.

The common mistake new writers make is pitting quantity against quality. That somehow if you push out more content, it reduces the quality of your work.

Quantity leads to quality- Ali Abdaal

You don’t have to compromise quality, you can put enough effort into writing a good article but also recognize that the more you write, the more feedback you get, the better you get at writing. If you keep doing it, you are bound to improve. So no, quantity and quality don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

2. Stop writing Journal entries

A major piece of advice I’ve gotten from Medium’s successful writers is to stop treating Medium like your personal diary. After binge-watching Ayodeji Awosika and Zulie Rane’s YouTube channels, reading several top publication’s guidelines, and even Medium’s curation guidelines, I realized that if you want to make it on Medium you need to stop with the journal entries.

This is extremely popular among new writers, and I have to say, I felt a little personally attacked when I heard this. You have to write with the reader in mind. What do you want your reader to take from this? What do you want them to learn? That has to be clearly stated in your article. You can not just go on a whim talking about your life, with no point to it. This may appeal to people who know you directly. Maybe friends and family but definitely not the general Medium audience. I mean, to be honest, would you be that interested in someone’s random musings about their life without a clear point or message to it? Probably not.

Now, this does not mean you can’t write personal stories. In fact, many personal stories do well on Medium. The difference with those stories is that they are compelling and moving because they still have a reader in mind. It doesn’t feel like you stumbled on someone’s personal diary, it feels like you are listening to them tell you about how you can learn from their personal experience. This is how personal stories should be told. They should all have a purpose to them.

A major tip I got from these writers is to change your “I’s” and “me’s” to “you’s”. This forces you to speak directly to your audience. It also allows your audience to see themselves in your article.

3. Write for publications

This one, I am still learning about. However, writing for publications is a great way to get your article out there. A lot of publications already have a large following and so writing for a publication, helps more people besides just your followers see your article. Well of course, if your article gets curated, Medium helps with further distribution but you are still better off getting curated for an article in a publication.

I personally have not done this because as you know, I am just as new to this as a lot of you are. I will be submitting this article to a publication and well if I’m successful, then what can I say, follow my lead.

But wait, you are not done. You have to read their submission guidelines and take the time to format your article accordingly. Trust me, it would save you a lot of time and heartache. Just read their guidelines to check for what they are looking for and provide exactly that.

4. Formatting matters

Yes, your article has to look good. It should be nice to look at, easy to read, and satisfying to finish. There are basic rules for formatting in Medium. The first is how you write the title of your article. I didn’t notice this at first but virtually all the article headlines on my home page have a similar format to how they are written.

Can you tell me what it is?

Every first letter of every word is capitalized in every title. It is a relatively small thing but virtually all the popular articles on Medium use this title format. Even Medium would not curate your article if you sound like you are screaming that them. Yes, an All-Caps Headline is a no for Medium’s curators.

Write shorter paragraphs. Shorter paragraphs are easier to follow. They also make your article appear more digestible. Even if the article itself is long, short paragraphs make it easier to get through from start to finish.

Organize your article into sections. If you’re making a list post, number your points. Even if it’s just a long article create headings for each section. It makes it a lot more aesthetically pleasing. So, satisfy your reader and make your story readable.

Take some time to craft a good headline. Headlines are what sell your article before anyone gets a chance to read it, so it has to be good. Ayodeji Awosika writes 10 headlines a day. Now, that is commitment. Practice writing good headlines that would grab a reader’s attention. This doesn’t mean clickbait. You have to deliver on your promise.

5. It takes time and a lot of grit.

Being successful as a writer takes time and as with all career paths, requires grit. This means to put in the work, do your research, learn from others, and most importantly, don’t give up. Writers are conditioned to think that they can never make a living off of writing and they should get a ‘real’ job. It’s a common stigma, however, because you hear so many Medium success stories does not mean it happens overnight. It takes consistency, persistence, and passion to keep going.

According to many of Medium’s Top writers, it takes about a solid year of consistent writing before you start seeing pay-off of the work. So keep going and keep writing. They say it is worth it in the end.

In Conclusion,

Standing on the shoulders of giants is how you should kick-start your Medium journey. Learn from the big successes and do what they do. Learn from their practices and in no time, you would start to see results and I am excited about mine.