8 Publications To Kick Start Your Medium Journey
For new or emerging writers this is a great way to grow your audience
Updated: November 2020
You’ve decided to write on Medium.
Congrats — this is your first step to Jeff Bezos type wealth. Or not.
Either way, you need to make a start and the journey of 1000 miles starts with the first step.
You may be the best writer in the world, but if no one sees it, it doesn’t matter. One way to build an audience is to get published in a Medium publication. Then your stories are shared with their subscribers.
There are thousands of publications — ranging from those with only a handful of subscribers to the big ones like The Startup which have over 600,000. Some are no longer active so it can take time and research to work out the best strategy to submit your work.
Many aim big from the start. They start by applying to the biggest publications they can find and there are articles to help you do this:
It can be tempting to start at the top — but when you’re a novice writer, a far better strategy is to target the smaller publications. They generally respond quickly and are more open to giving opportunities to new and emerging writers.
It can be a great confidence boost to get a story accepted and watch your stats increase. It will help you build your writing portfolio. You can grow with a small publication. Build an engaging relationship with their audience. And by association build your own following.
Here are eight publications you should apply to as an emerging writer.
1. Live Your Life on Purpose
Subscribers — 17,000
Many writers have started their Medium journey with this publication. They are open to a wide range of topics including:
- Health & Fitness
- Life & Learning
- Personal Finance
- Productivity & Purpose
- Individual Success
How To Submit
2. Greener Pastures
This is a good publication to target for comedy writers. They focus on humor and satire.
How To Submit
3. Be Unique
Subscribers — 3,000
They accept all new writers and focus on stories which include the following themes:
Love, Startups, Business strategies, Parenting, Success story, Poetry, Fiction or non-fiction, Politics, Health, Life and Living, Relationships, LGBTQ, Racism, Sex & Entrepreneurship.
How To Submit
4. Written Tales
Subscribers — 2,000
They promote all forms of creative writing and cherish the freedom of speech, so they do not censor their writers. They welcome submissions of short stories (fiction & non-fiction), flash fiction, and poetry so are open to pretty much everything.
How To Submit
5. Journal of Journeys
Subscribers — 2,000
This publication says, “ Each of us are the narrators of our own unique stories, dramas and sagas. Journal of Journeys is a publication that takes pride in helping share those stories.”
They seem open to any sort of personal writing or experience.
How To Submit
6. Hello. Love
Subscribers —12,600
They publish personal stories that explore the themes of relationships: love, marriage, intimacy, commitment, dating, and social change. They welcome relationship content from all perspectives including non-heteronormative; Love is Love.
How To Submit:
7. A Few Words
Subscribers — 4,900
As the name suggests these are short submissions. They only accept stories under 500 words.
They accept stories on these topics:
- Life Lessons
- Mental Health
- Motivation
- Productivity
- Relationships
- Self-awareness
- Self-improvement
- Writing
How To Submit
8. Inspired Writer
Saving the best for last (maybe I’m biased!) you can write for Inspired Writer.
There are two ways to submit work. If you’re an emerging writer and want to develop your skills, apply to our mentoring program or sign up for The Personal Essay Workshop.
Otherwise, they accept stories from three areas:
- Advice for writers (Writing on and off Medium, marketing, publishing etc — like this one!)
- Personal or inspirational stories from emerging writers.
- We also publish a limited amount of fiction.
Check out the full guidelines here:
Mentoring Program
Write for Inspired Writer
Before You Submit Your Story
You’ve applied to be a writer to one of the above publications. That’s the first step completed.
Once accepted you will see they will be added to your profile. If you click on your Publications on your profile — you will see the list you are now a writer for. It’s worth checking this daily as some publications don’t notify you when they have added you as a writer — it just magically appears.
Now you can begin writing!
When the story is finished:
- Check there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Most writers use Grammarly or ProWritingAid. These are free tools and are invaluable.
- Come up with an enticing headline. There are thousands of writers competing for your attention — make sure yours stands out.
- Include an appealing royalty-free image. Unsplash is the website I would recommend for this.
- Read through the submission guidelines once more for the publication you are writing for. Does it match their style guide? Content rules?
Once you are 100% happy with the article and it meets the guidelines you can submit it.
Submitting Your Draft
Once it’s ready you can submit to the publication.
Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner.
Select “Add to publication” and choose the appropriate publication.
Select “Submit”, add tags, and the draft will be sent to their editors for review.
The Waiting Game
Next can be the most frustrating part. The wait. Just because you have submitted does not mean it has or will be published.
Most of the publications mentioned respond quickly and you can expect to be published (or rejected) within two to four days.
Don’t be tempted to hit PUBLISH before you hear back from them. Most editors don’t accept previously published stories.
Good luck and enjoy your Medium journey!
