60 Things I Learned On Medium In 60 Days Of Posting

On writing.

1. Medium is an excellent place to share your work. You don’t need an agent. You don’t need a publisher. You only need a story to tell or a lesson to teach.
2. Anyone can write, and the more you post on Medium, the more eyeballs on your essays.
3. Taking a writing class while writing on Medium — even an online course — puts you writing mode, and makes the journey easier. During a class, you will most likely have homework assignments to chew on which will spur ideas on what to write.
4. The world is yours to write about; this makes for many subjects to parse. If you have interests, then you have something to write. Pick up a book, listen to a song, or go for a walk and you will come across something to write. Pay attention to the world around you, and you will never have a writing drought.
5. Making a public declaration on social media to share your work is motivating. You have your own built-in accountability partner with Medium. See if you can write and publish for 30 days straight and see what happens.
6. Anyone can start a publication. A publication is like having a website hosted by Medium (without all the technological hassle).
7. Read advice from writers who are successful at earning an income writing on Medium. Shaunta Grimes and Shannon Ashley are teaching a Blogging on Medium class and hearing how they are successful as writers on Medium has been inspiring. You can do it also.
8. Medium is a great place to become a better writer — you don’t have to be great; you only have to start. You can start as a good writer, and get better just through writing and putting yourself out there.
9. Images on your published work are important — make sure the image reflects the writing in your post, that it is somewhat related to your story. The more thought you put into the image attached to your story, the better.
10. Headlines are crucial. There are many tools you can use to generate an emotional headline that grabs a reader’s attention. Here is one, https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer.
11. Everyone takes ideas from everyone. Nearly everything has already been written about, but not by you. Time and time again, I’m drafting an idea out on paper with an outline, and before I get a chance to post it, someone has written something very similar. Post your spin anyway.
12. Read your story out loud before you post it. The errors will be obvious. I cannot overestimate how helpful this is to hear one’s writing aloud. You will hear things you didn’t hear when you read it to yourself in your head.
13. Edit, edit, and then edit some more. Print your essay and take out a red pen and “make it bleed.” Write with brevity and clarity. Good writing is clear and concise.
14. When you are starting on Medium, don’t obsess over stats. Just write and see what happens. Get a few, or 30, posts under your belt. Write consistently and post consistently. Check stats once a week, don’t go crazy with it. If you try to write another post like the one that did well, it will stifle your creativity a bit, and hold you back.
15. The posts that flow out of me when I don’t “overwrite” do the best. Trust yourself, trust your thinking and your ideas and get those ideas out on paper. Many times, the posts I labor over for hours don’t do as well. I have no idea why this is, but I’m sure someone on this platform has written about this and why it is so.
16. Most writers who are successful on Medium did not start that way. They started with low view rates and built their “brand” through hard work. Sure, there are outliers, but they most likely had an audience outside of Medium when they started. It takes time to build an audience. It takes time, effort, and a lot of writing.
17. Build an email list now. Everyone says this, and it is true but not easy, but work on building an email list, so if and when Medium changes its platform, you will have your followers outside of the bounds of the platform. All platforms change; it is inevitable. Social media platforms evolve; their main objective is to take our information and use it to make money. Those are the cold hard facts.
18. The posts I write when I’m at my most vulnerable and open do the best.
19. I don’t’ like being vulnerable. I am working out how to be vulnerable AND not overshare — and be a good writer at the same time. While it is emotionally draining to write about challenging personal experiences, it is also cathartic. The process of writing deep, personal situations onto the page doesn’t feel good when I’m writing, and I struggle to “sit in the chair,” but when I end up with writing I’m proud of or have gleaned some new information about myself, it is worth it.
20. Don’t sell yourself short. Put it all out there. Be honest. And then edit, and then edit some more.
21. Building income on Medium means getting more eyeballs on your work, write interesting well-written content, and promote that content on social media sites.
22. Medium is not only a great tool to practice the art of writing better — by reading the writers on this site and writing daily — you will become a better writer, but it is also a great way to drive traffic to your website. Build a website.
23. Writing for Medium expands your life if you allow it. The best posts are when a writer teaches something they recently learned and is now putting it to action. This has made me want to try new things that I may not have tried otherwise so that I can write about them. Even if you try something and “fail,” readers want to hear about the “trying” part — what you learned and why you failed.
24. Writing and publishing on Medium can give you a better idea of what content will resonate with your blogging community if you have a blog outside of Medium. It can give you a better idea on how to effectively communicate with an audience you are trying to reach.
25. Viewing your stats can help you develop a framework for your blog, allowing you to see what content gets consistent results so you can write to your audience more effectively.
26. Good writing is rewriting. When I don’t spend a lot of time on the editing process, my content is not as clear and concise.
27. When I have fun with my writing, and not take it so seriously, it is better. You can fall into the trap of taking Medium too seriously — reviewing your stats with OCD zeal is a good sign — and really, you are doing something you love, so go into with a healthy and balanced perspective.
28. Finish your story. Perfect doesn’t exist. Do the best you can with each story and then release it. Be who you are and hit publish. Do better the next time. Implementing a daily writing habit will ensure that you will do better the next time.
29. Bad writing days lead to good writing days.
30. Don’t give up. Keep writing. No matter what.
31. The best way to learn how to use Medium is to use Medium. Read Medium stories and write. Then post. The quickest way to become an expert is by using the site.
32. There are only five steps to writing on Medium. 1) Join Medium 2) Hit the button ‘write a story” 3) write a story 4) choose a killer headline and a catching image 5) When finished, hit the button, ‘Ready to publish?’
33. If you want to gain followers quickly, it is best to submit to the more popular Medium publications like Forge and The Startup while at the same time start your own publication (it’s like having your own website, without all the techie stuff, see #6). Alternate between publishing on your publication and one of Medium’s more popular ones.
34. Excitement does not equal passion. In other words, just because you love to write doesn’t mean there isn’t work involved. The payoff of the drudgery of daily writing is cultivating a passion.
35. Growth happens most in your discomfort zone. When writing personal stories that move others — stories that seem to do the best on Medium — it can be uncomfortable to put yourself out there, but you will grow by doing it.
36. Curation matters — If your story is curated, it means it will reach beyond your followers.
37. Medium rarely curates posts about Medium — this post probably will not be curated.
38. When your story is curated, it will have a longer lifespan because Medium will continue to recommend it long after you wrote it.
39. If your post doesn’t get curated go back and rework it. Take another look at the headline and image, and make sure both reflect the story, and then, repost it.
40. If you want curation, and most people do, and you aren’t getting at least 20% of your posts curated, you need to look at your writing and figure out how to make it better.
41. Do not use clickbait titles. Medium doesn’t like them, and they most likely won’t be curated.
42. White space. White space. White space. It’s important. Break up those long paragraphs.
43. Try not to be jealous of other writer’s claps. They’ve been writing for a while. Be happy for them!
44. If you hit an idea draught browse websites like Quora and Reddit. Notice the questions that draw the most comments — write about those topics, and gather ideas from the comments.
45. Try Morning Pages. Morning Pages is a practice of uninterrupted writing first thing in the morning, and not stopping until you’ve written three pages. Don’t edit yourself. Later mine those pages for nuggets of gold and expand on them.
46. Once you have stared a publication and have followers to that publication, you can send a ‘letter’ directly to your followers with a link to your story attached inside the ‘letter.’ The ‘letter’ feature allows you to deliver your story directly to your follower’s email.
47. If your goal is to make money on Medium, then pay attention to the ‘fans’ metric in your stats. ‘Fans’ are the unique number of Medium members (paying) who clap for your work.
48. What you put into Medium, you will get out. You have to work it.
49. You will gain a following faster if you write at least one quality post daily.
50. To build up to a decent income on Medium through followers and fans, writing every day is your best bet. Make it a daily habit.
51. Publishing on Medium every day will give your plenty of writing practice, but it can be incredibly draining. I hit a rut at around day 45. I didn’t want to write, however, after a few days off, I missed it, and was back at it again.
52. Don’t allow family and friends to belittle your writing ambition. Far too often, people who do not write, don’t understand why writers need to write. I haven’t told my friends and family I am writing on Medium, and this works to my benefit and keeps me going.
53. It takes courage to write and follow any dream that seems impossible — to follow it 100 percent without knowing you will be a success.
54. Number #10 (see above) on this list didn’t work for me. When I first started on Medium publishing my stories, I didn’t use CoSchedule. I just made up the headline dependant on what my story content. When I started using CoSchedule, my stories were curated less. Figure out which works best for you.
55. I still do not obsess about my stats, and this seems to be working for me. It may not work for you.
56. When you add a ‘kicker’ above your headline, the chances of curation decrease.
57. You can start a ‘series’ on Medium, but these also don’t get many views, fans or curation. I’m starting one anyway.
58. Elizabeth Goddard has a online class on how to use ConvertKit. I have found it to be helpful and informative. If you are trying to build an email list and need help, I highly recommended her monthly club.
59. Sometimes, what you don’t say in your story adds emphasis.
60. I love Medium. I’m not stopping. Even though there are days I want to.

Don’t give up. Keep writing. No matter what.

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Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering perfectionist. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.