As a Beginner Should You Follow the ‘Publish Every Day’ Rule?

What I learned from 45 days of writing on Medium

Today marks the 45th day of my Medium journey. I started writing on Medium mid-May. The reason- lots of free time plus it was a way to make money online. When my brother introduced me to Medium, I was curious. I went through the platform and also watched quite a few videos on YouTube. I came prepared with the knowledge to make it big here. Or so I thought.

I have always been a voracious reader. Reading intricately woven works of art was enchanting. But a writer? Not so much. I once won first place for essay writing in middle school. That’s about it. I had never considered writing as something I could do.

Medium is an amazing platform for both beginners and established writers. You could say I’m a little late to the game. Some writers have been here since it started!

And yes, like many others- coronavirus brought me here.

My initial intention of joining the Partner Program was money. I quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as the YouTube videos showed. Behind an ‘I made $1800 on Medium this month’ video, there were years of writing and practice involved.

One of the main advice I saw online about writing on Medium was to publish every day. Top writers aimed to publish one story every day. Sometimes more than one. I adopted the same strategy as a beginner.

My goal- hit that green button every single day for a month.

And I failed.

Why I failed to reach my goal.

As a novice writer, generating ideas became strenuous after the initial excitement of starting something new. If you browse Medium, you can read about any topic under the sun. It seems like everything you could say is already out there. Generating novel ideas or perspectives on a subject is not always easy.

Inspiration didn’t hit me every day. Some days I just didn’t feel like writing. Either I had other things going on, or I had difficulty expressing myself the way I wanted. I sat staring at the empty draft for hours with no result. Failing at my goal of hitting publish every day got me discouraged.

Focusing on quantity meant losing quality. In my attempt to publish every day, I noticed the quality of my stories going down. I published some stories only for the sake of it. For example, stories on dentistry. These never did well. But I wrote them anyway, because it was easy. Quality stories took time to develop and edit. That meant not reaching my set goal.

Publications take time. Yes, getting into publications often takes time. Even if it's to get added as a writer. Publications receive a lot of submissions and requests. The waiting period is often frustrating, but it is well worth it if your story can reach a wider audience. Some take up to two weeks or more.

Writing became more of a chore than something to enjoy. I enjoy writing stories, whether or not it does well. But writing with the need to publish every day only made it more difficult. The joy of writing got sucked out by the green button within three weeks.

Here’s what I learned about writing over the last 45 days:

• Write for your reader. There are stories here about any topic you can imagine. You can see tons of listicles and stuff related to technology, politics, cryptocurrency. While these are all informative articles, they are not what I found interesting. The stories I like to delve into are personal stories with an inspiring touch. And that is what I prefer to write about too.

Write with one specific reader in mind. It could be your friends, a stranger, or even your younger self. How can your writing provide value for that person?

• Adding a personal touch. Most of the top writers I follow always begin their stories with a personal account of an event, experience, or feeling they had in life. This immediately draws the reader in because they can relate to your own experiences. A lot of brilliant stories I have read involve deep personal writing. Baring your soul to the world can be terrifying, but human experiences connect your words to the reader.
• It’s okay if curation eludes you. Curation is the big goal of Medium. It ensures that your story reaches a much wider audience. I made the mistake of writing with curation in mind rather than writing for the joy of it. It was disheartening to see the ‘Not distributed in topics’ tag. I wrote about 20 articles before my first curation. It was a story I had written without curation in mind. I wrote many more after, which did not get curated. My first curated article:

• Hovering over the stats page will not help. It feels incredible to see the graph go up each day. But it will not keep going up every day. I had days where I got 150+ views and as little as 3. I spent a lot of time obsessing over the numbers till I realized it wasn’t helping me write better.
• If you don’t feel like writing- read. If you are like me, there will be days when nothing you do will get those words out. On such days, focus on reading and engaging with other members. Medium is a treasure trove of information. Reading enough stories can help you identify unique writing styles and what works. If you don’t feel like writing, read stories by writers you admire.
• Be proud of the minor victories. I wrote 23 stories before my first curation. In my first month, I made $3. I celebrated them anyway. Minor victories kept me going even when I failed to reach my set goals.
• Get comfortable with rejection. Your stories will get rejected. I send off my precious works only to get rejected again and again. The first rejection hurt. I questioned if my writing was good enough. Forty-five days later, I got published in my dream publication P.S. I Love You. Being rejected does not mean your work is subpar. Sometimes, it doesn’t align with the publication’s needs.

Regardless of what others say, you need not force yourself to hit publish. Test the waters to find out what works for you. I aim to post 15 to 20 stories per month. Remaining consistent over time is much more important than setting your sight on something because everyone else is doing so.