Medium 101

Are You a New Writer on Medium? Start Here.

These best practices can save you years of stress

This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here.

When I started publishing articles on Medium in 2015, I had no readers, and no one on the internet knew me. But as soon as I started writing here, I instantly enjoyed this platform.

I had just published my first book, Win Your Inner Battles, and I was trying to find readers. I found Medium through Google. I was searching for a bunch of topics on writing, productivity, and entrepreneurship.

And I thought, “Why are there so many Medium articles ranking high on Google? I need to look into this.”

What I found was this: Medium is not only a site with authority, it’s also a site that has millions of readers who are already on the platform. By publishing on Medium, you can meet readers where they are.

Over the last six years, this platform has gone through a lot of changes. But one thing remained constant: The readership. Sure, people come and go. But I’ve never experienced a long period of low engagement.

Readers have been here for nearly 10 years, and if they have been here for that long, I bet they will be here for the next 10.

In this article, I’ll share the path I followed from being an unknown writer with zero readers to reaching millions of readers.

Step 1: Focus on your writing

When we try to write, we often think about a lot of things: views, getting attention, playing into trends, you name it. We also write for different reasons, like self-expression, audience building, establishing credibility, creating awareness for a product/service.

There are so many things going on that we sometimes forget the most important thing about writing: The writing itself!

As a new writer, you don’t want to focus on hacks to grow your audience. Instead, focus on becoming a better writer.

Once you’ve honed your skills and craft, then you can focus on how to use your writing to get what you want—build your email list, gain more exposure for your book, and so forth.

So how do you improve your writing? In my experience, there’s no one way to improve your writing skills. A lot of folks assume they can’t write just because they didn’t study journalism or English. That’s really not true.

Everyone who’s willing to get any form of training can write. No degrees are required to write online. I also don’t have formal training in writing (I have a degree in business), and yet, I’ve written a lot, and I also teach a class in writing.

Here are a few things that I’ve done to improve my writing:

• Read a lot. Fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, and all that. You don’t have to limit yourself to reading books about writing. Sometimes, you get the best insights by simply reading great books. You can check out my reading list of all the best books I highly recommend.
• Study your favorite writers. Every writer is influenced by other writers. And that’s okay. We all stand on other people’s shoulders. My influences are Ernest Hemingway and William Zinsser. It’s best to study just one or two writers. Try not to use too many different writing voices at once. Otherwise, you end up mimicking a bunch of writers, which leads to an inconsistent style.
• Take writing courses. I love courses because they go deeper than books. It’s a great way to learn practical things about writing.
• Become a better listener. A writer is someone who’s good at communicating what they observe. Listen to what people say about their fears, challenges, hopes, desires, etc. The more you listen, the better you understand others and the better they can relate to you when you use everything as input.

Step 2: Figure out who you’re writing for and why

When you start, you might think your writing will appeal to every single person on the planet. At least, that’s what I thought when I started.

But here’s the harsh truth: Most people don’t care. And that’s what it should be like.

There will always be people who won’t like your writing. This is true for any writer in the world. For example, Danielle Steel has sold 800 million books. She’s sold more books than J.K. Rowling. Yet I’ve never read a single book by Steel or Rowling.

And that’s fine. They don’t need me to read their work. They only need to reach a specific audience.

So, who’s your audience? Who are you writing for? Don’t know yet? That’s fine. A good starting point is to write for people like yourself. Write the post (or essay or book) that you want to read. Then think about why you’re writing for that audience. Are you writing to establish credibility? Or maybe to entertain your readers? How about helping them by sharing technical knowledge about coding?

I personally write for ambitious people who are already committed to improving themselves. Not for people who don’t care about personal development. And the reason I write is that I want to provide value for my readers. Everything I write needs to have some sort of takeaway, idea, or useful piece of knowledge.

Step 3: Serve your audience

Once you’ve found your audience, you want to keep serving that same audience. If you jump from one audience to another, you’re not likely to build a large readership.

That means you have to enjoy what you write about. Otherwise, you’ll be one of those people who spends a year on Medium and gives up because readers can’t relate to your content.

It can be tempting to write for superficial ends, like views or money. But if you spend all your energy writing for those reasons, you’ll eventually burn out. And who wants that?

I mentioned Danielle Steel earlier. I don’t read her work, but I admire her dedication. Even though she’s a millionaire who lives in a 55-room mansion in San Francisco, she sometimes writes 20 hours in a single day. That’s hardcore and a bit too much for most of us, but it just shows the importance of consistency.

Also, I think of my readers as my friends. I don’t lie to my friends. I always tell them the truth, and I’m ready to help. When I write, my goal is to ensure that my readers get the most out of every article or book I publish.

And I listen to what my friends say, even if I don’t agree. To me, that’s the equivalent of reading comments and emails from real readers. When writers say, “I don’t read the comments,” I think, “You’re missing out.” (But I get that some audiences are negative and hateful. So if you write about sensitive topics like politics or race, this advice doesn’t apply.)

If it doesn’t work, adjust your approach

The steps to becoming a better writer are straightforward but not simple. That’s because it takes time and consistency to execute. I’ve been here on Medium for more than half a decade, and I’ve seen many writers come and go.

Some people burn out and lose motivation. Others complain they aren’t getting any readers. And all I can say is this: If you enjoy what you’re doing and you keep serving a specific audience well, you’ll be fine in the long run.

If you don’t see any results within six months, however, don’t do the same thing and expect a different outcome. Adjust your approach and test whether that’s working better. You should see some kind of progress within several months. If that doesn’t happen, keep adjusting until you do.

Either way, if you keep improving your writing, you will never lose. Writing is one of the most valuable skills of your career. So if no one reads your work, you still win because you’ve improved yourself.