After 400 Stories, Medium Gives Me a Full-Time Salary. Here’s What I Want You to Know About Writing Here

I’m breaking my no-meta rule for one article only

I rarely talk about writing on Medium because I hate most of the meta BS that flies around the platform. There are so many more interesting things to read and consider than how to — or often how to not — make money here.

But Medium now consistently makes up most of what I spend per month.

Yes, it’s a small salary because as long-time readers will know, I’m a minimalist who only ever spends money on five things. I’m not exactly on the hook for $5000 a month outgoings.

But a salary it is.

This is article no. 400. Seeing as 400 is a nice, round number, and enough to make me at least a small authority on writing for this platform, I thought it high time I come out of the woodwork.

So for one article — and one only — I’ll tell you everything that’s worked for me. Everything you need to know about making a more-than-medium splash on Medium.

You’ll find it easy if you write what you a) know and b) care about

I can write about wine in my sleep. I know I’m a voice of authority — I have a lot of knowledge up there in my noggin. It’s something I care deeply about.

That’s why my wine writing lands well on Medium, despite it being completely different from the usual tech/self-improvement schtick that gets all the Medium limelight.

If you write about something you have a strong opinion about or you know lots about, your fingers will fly across the keyboard. The confidence in your subject matter will shine through. People will want to read it.

If you write about something you don’t care much about but think you should, or if you’re just following trends, sorry but it ain’t going to happen.

Write about what fascinates you and others will be (hopefully) fascinated by you.

If you have a weird or unique set of skills that other people don’t have, lean into it

As far as I’m aware, there are very few — if any — wine pros on this platform (if there are, make yourself known so we can be friends).

I was wary of writing about wine because back when I started here nearly 3 years ago, food and drink content wasn’t popular.

Then I wrote this

And it went gangbusters.

It’s not the only article to do this. I’ve had four articles about wine hit over $1000 and many, many more hit the multiple $100s mark.

Why? Because no one else is lifting the lid on the wine industry here.

I can do this because I have a unique skill that I learned out there in the real world. I know exactly what people want to know about wine because I had people ask me questions every single day for eight years in my wine store.

If you have a skill or knowledge — especially knowledge that few other people possess — and you can make it interesting and relevant to the general populous, then write about it. Even if no one else is.

Especially if no one else is.

You’ll be surprised about what people want to hear from you about

What I thought I’d be writing about on Medium: Entrepreneurship, self-employment, money.

What actually worked: Wine, simple living / minimalism, social commentary, travel, housing.

I honestly thought all anyone would want to hear from me was about how to be an entrepreneur. When I started writing here nearly three years ago I’d just sold my wine store. Hey, I thought, I’ve got a good insight here on how to set up, make a success of, and sell a business.

So I wrote a bunch of articles on entrepreneurship. They went nowhere.

Then I wrote about simple living and minimalism. Social constructs that pissed me off. The odd wine article.

And it started to work.

The fact is, you might not yet know what it is people want to hear from you. It’s why all the writing advice here tells you to try different things until you find what works.

Then you can write that, and whatever the hell else you want. Which segues nicely into my next point:

Write like you give a fuck

My writing both vastly improved and got more popular the minute I stopped writing what I thought my audience wanted to hear and wrote what mattered to me.

No shitty listicles (listicles in themselves are fine but only if they’re meaty). No articles I think I should write but don’t really care about.

Interestingly, I’ve also done better when I give less of a fuck about subject matter. I’ll now write about anything that interests me, fires me up, or I want people to know, not just what I consider my niches.

Sometimes of course it doesn’t land well. But I don’t care because I’ve written something to be proud of. I’m in fact immeasurably more proud of what I write now than what I wrote a couple of years ago.

Because I write like I give a fuck.

You should too. It makes all the difference.

Shout at the system, not the people

This is something for all you social commentators out there.

When you’re writing about something that really pisses you off, it’s very easy to aim your vitriol at a group of people. The problem is, it can get very finger-pointing-aggressive very quickly. You’ll just sound like you’re on a rant and turn people off.

Don’t shout at the people. Shout at the system. It’s normally the system’s fault anyway.

Here’s a good example. I wrote this story that did very well:

In one sentence, the article is about how part of Britain’s food crisis is because we spend too much time in supermarkets with their race-to-the-bottom pricing, than shopping sustainably and locally.

I could have jabbed the finger at people who choose to shop at supermarkets than local grocers. I could have told them off for demanding out-of-season fresh produce all year round. I could have made them out to be the bad guys.

But that would a) alienate half my readers and b) not address the root of the problem.

Instead, I shouted at the system. I criticized big supermarkets. The government. The fact that we have no time to shop locally anymore because life is too busy.

Like I say, the system — not the people — is often the problem because systems force people into behaving in certain ways or believing certain things. And if you aim your criticism at that you’re going to fire people up, not turn them off.

Shouting at the system not the people is something a lot of the best social commentators do on Medium. Try it and see what happens to your stories.

You’ll never be perfect at all parts of the online writing process so stop trying to be

I suck at titles. So much so, I often farm them out to my husband who is much better than I.

The problem is, I often think if I nailed my titles, I’d be so much more successful.

But that’s not the way it works. You’ve gotta stop with the assumption that if you were perfect in every part of the online writing process then everything you want will be yours.

Because no one is perfect. Everyone struggles with at least one part of the process, be it titles, how long it takes you to write an article, marketing yourself, ideation.

Work on it. Get better at it. But you’ll never be perfect so stop assuming it’s the only way to become a success.

It’s not.

When it comes to comments, do what you’ve gotta do to keep on writing

I struggle with bad comments. They have the power to throw my writing pattern off for days.

I have not, nor will I ever have, a thick skin.

So a while back I got my husband to become what I call my Community Manager. He goes through all my comments, claps them, and tells me about each of them…if they’re good. If they are constructively critical or show another POV, I get those ones too. Please don’t think I don’t get your comments because I do.

But what I don’t get is the shitty comments. The ones that add no value. If you want me to read them you might as well give up now because I never see them.

This system works super well for me because it means I get all the good and constructive comments without having to look at the bad ones that could have me questioning my work for a week.

I do what I’ve gotta do. You have got to as well.

If comments hurt you or throw off your writing, consider roping in some help. It’s amazing how much better my work has become since I stopped seeing all the bad stuff.

Not that I get much. Medium is still a rather pleasant environment compared to other internet cesspits. And it’s worth remembering that too.

Finally: The 5 best pieces of writing advice I ever received to succeed on Medium

You’ve probably seen some of this before because it’s true and universal:

1. Get to the point quickly. In the subtitle if you can, or at least in the introduction.
2. Make your titles super specific. The day I started to write longer, more specific titles was the day things changed for me.
3. Write for the reader, not for you. That doesn’t mean you can’t write about you and your life, just make sure it has relevance to your audience.
4. Structure your writing for the internet. All that gubbins about breaking up your paragraphs, using bullet points and whatnot is absolutely correct.
5. Inject personality into your writing. I swear. I use weird British words (see “gubbins” above). You’re not writing a fucking thesis here, you’re writing to entertain or inform.

Read more of my essays at Simple and Straightforward, a Substack designed to have you living simply, sustainably and with intention