Are You Aspiring To Be Tim Denning or Zulie Rane?
Here is how you can make it possible
The number of people who are unhappy with Medium is amassing into a skyscraper with each passing day. A few complaints are valid when it comes to understanding the workings of the platform, but the majority of them are about how Medium isn’t paying them as much as it does to prominent writers like Tim Denning, Zulie Rane, etc.
Everyone wants to make money on the platform, and it is one thing any writer on this platform should strive for, but writers tend to forget the other aspects. If you start writing only for money, then you will never be able to hone your craft to the next level. There is a dialogue in a Bollywood movie named 3 Idiots; it goes something like this:
Chase Excellence. Success will run after you.
- Ranchhoddas “Rancho” Shamaldas Chanchad, 3 Idiots
We writers (who are new compared to the writers above) need to understand that we need to have a portfolio of stories to share with the readers. These writers have written 500+ stories on the platform (the actual number can be much higher). And here we are with stories somewhere in mid-double digits to low triple digits.
Tim and Zulie put their blood and sweat in Medium when they started. Zulie published more than one story every day for the first year and a half. Tim is still aggregating more than one story daily even after so many years on this platform.
Writing is an art form that reaps the rewards in the long term. The key is patience and consistency. I have been a Medium Partner Program member for 28 months now, having written stories for the same duration even though I was writing on the platform, albeit sporadically, until things changed in July 2021.
I stumbled upon David Majister’s 30 days 30 stories 30 pubs challenge. I thought to myself, why not try it. Nothing will change if I fail because I wasn’t writing consistently. I had 42 stories before I began the challenge. I added 30 during the challenge making it 72.
Upon returning from the break, when I read stories across Medium, I would see at least 2–3 daily on how Medium isn’t treating them right. I understood the sentiment behind them but disagreed. I thought, how can I prove such people wrong.
The answer obviously was consistency. I need to write consistently and have a plethora of stories under my belt. If I write more, my writing will improve, it will resonate with more people.
More stories = More views.
I decided to write at least one story daily. The big question for me was how can I achieve this with my full-time studies and a part-time job. I found the answer to this question on Medium itself.
The answer is short-form stories.
On days when I don’t have work or less studying to do, I will write long-form stories similar to what I have written in the past. On the other days, when I am short of time, I will write short-form stories.
But, what is a short-form story?
Short-form stories are tiny, only up to 150 words.
I inherited this into my writing habit and have reached a story count of 115 published, with five stories submitted to publications. I write for Tom Fenske’s The Shortform.
Short-form stories can be about the following:
- An abstract of a story you read on Medium
- Summary of a long-form story you wrote.
- A quote that resonates with you.
- Thoughts of the day
The sky is the limit. The best thing about short-form stories is that it takes 15 minutes tops to write, and it makes you a better editor because you want to convey your points within 150 words, you learn to remove unnecessary words from the story.
Yesterday, I traveled out of town early in the morning, depriving me of my morning writing session. The commute was about an hour. I was traveling alone and had nothing specific to do during the commute. I took my laptop with me and wrote three short-form stories during the commute. Since I had no Internet, I couldn’t submit or publish them right away.
After coming home late in the evening, I moved my stories from my notes to Medium, did a sanity check, and submitted.
My point here is that even if 5–10 people read your short-form story, you can still redirect them to your long-form stories. Short-form stories don’t take much time to write but still bring in more views. There is nothing to lose.
Write short-form stories daily and long-form whenever you have enough time to nurture them. This will help you build a story portfolio and will only increase your reach on the platform. There is no downside.
The most significant benefit I have reaped is getting five referred members until I started writing consistently in October. I am getting more views than I have ever received. The earnings are on an upward trajectory. I am learning about new styles of writing and improving my own. All in all, I am content, and I am not anywhere near stopping.
I hope you do the same.
Thank you for reading.
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You can find all my stories here in this index:
