6 Valuable Writing Lessons I’ve Learned From Publishing 600+ Articles on Medium

0 to 15k monthly views later.

You can tell from the title that I’ve written on Medium quite a lot.

It all started when I set a goal in 2020 to write an article on Medium every single day for a year. It’s been almost a year and a half and I’ve managed to land 15k monthly views on my work. Not only that, but I’ve learned some valuable writing lessons along the way.

Here are six valuable writing lessons I’ve learned from publishing 600+ articles on Medium.

1. For the love of God, don’t start your own blog — Medium is one of few writing platforms where writers can build a solid following while making money. Building your domain is pointless. The SEO game is too complicated to play and you’ll get frustrated in the process. Don’t put your eggs into a domain with nonexistent traffic when Medium is giving you a leg up.
2. Come up with terrible ideas — I’ve been using James Altucher’s technique of writing down ten headline ideas per day. It’ll boost your ideation process. When I do this technique, I end up with five mediocre ideas, two horrible ones, and two great ones. Don’t get discouraged because you came up with some terrible ideas. You can’t find the gems until you sort through the trash. The more you do this, the better your ideas will be.
3. Write stuff that you and your audience will enjoy — I have three niches I write in (writing, social justice, life lessons). Articles about writing get the most engagement and make the most moola for me, but I can’t write about the same damn thing all of the time. I need variety. I write about other things to keep myself entertained. Writing isn’t just about money — if it was, I’d write the same type of article a million times over. Find a healthy balance between what you like and what your audience likes. It’ll prevent you from quitting.
4. Your thoughts matter more than the writing — You can’t write a great article without a great idea. Your best writing happens when you’re passionate about the subject. The reader can feel that passion radiate through their screen. Heck, they’ll let you get away with grammatical errors if your message is great. There’s a reason why Twighlight is a best-selling novel.
5. Learn new techniques from popular writers on the platform — I know I just told you that your thoughts matter more than the writing, but that doesn’t give you a reason to stop practicing. You don’t want to spend years writing on Medium and never get anywhere because your writing hasn’t progressed. Read the popular writers on Medium, pay attention to the techniques they use, write them down, and practice implementing them into your articles. Practice until you can do them subconsciously, and create your unique writing style. Use your Medium earnings to invest in writing courses if you can.
6. You MUST be consistent — I saved this for last because I know it’s cliche, but it’s too important to leave out. You can’t succeed on Medium unless you publish 3–7 articles per week. I publish every single day. I’ve been in the hundred-dollars club for at least six months now, plus I’ve gotten a few top writer tags from doing this. I’ve also gotten into the thousand dollars club a couple of times. You must build a writing habit to succeed here. If not, you can kiss all of the other lessons I’ve mentioned goodbye.

To be honest, I’m still not in the consistent $1,000 club with the big boys (yet). I’m still a work in progress. But I believe with the consistency I have and the new skills I’m learning along the way, there’s no doubt I will get there soon.

The Medium algorithm changes frequently. You can’t rely on this platform to do your bidding and feed your more views.

You have to write content worth reading consistently. I know EVERY other Medium writer has spewed that advice, but it’s beyond true. All you have to do is write on.

Get my free writing guide that can teach you how to build a writing habit in 90 days or less here.