Writing | Warren Buffett | James Clear
As a New Writer — Should You Publish on Medium Daily?
To do or not to do — here is the question
One core question I frequently read on the Medium news feed since I started writing on the platform:
As a new writer, should you publish daily, or polish your content to perfection before hitting the odd publish button in the right corner of the screen?
I read a bunch of articles that clearly stated:
No, don’t do it. Content from new writers should never reach the internet. Leave the public space to those who already have amassed decades of experience.
Others recommend:
Go ahead, be bold, and publish everything. Use Grammarly to make sure that everything is grammatically correct.
Since I didn’t have formed a final opinion yet, I searched the internet for advice from pros on the art of writing.
What should new writers do with the publish button?
James Clear
Let’s be clear here. Well, it goes well with James Clear’s name.
Who is he?
His blog states:
James Clear is a writer and speaker focused on habits, decision making, and continuous improvement. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits. The book has sold over 7 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 50 languages.
In his book, he describes that a bit of work every day helps to gain mastery over time. It is just a 1% improvement every day, not a giant leap once in a while, that makes the difference in the long run.
On his blog and in the book, he describes the story of a teacher of photography.
The story concludes that mastery needs daily practice. Polishing one article for two years — or, in the case of James Clear, a shot — doesn’t lead to the path of mastery.
Since publishing is part of the writing process for bloggers, I take James Clear’s conclusion as a vote for:
Publish daily
Jordan Peterson
Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian clinical psychologist, YouTube personality, author, and a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto
Being an author makes him an authority on the topic of writing.
Yet, some articles like in the guardian describe him as a dangerous rightwing professor for his opinions that — according to the guardian — are often missing facts and deploying conspiracy theories.
Jordan Peterson has voiced his opinion on writing in several Youtube videos.
He believes that writing helps people structure their thought processes and become critical thinkers.
In a Guide to writing Essays, he posted his thoughts on how to structure essays properly. In principle, Medium is nothing else than a platform for essays.
He points out in the document that writing an essay is a lengthy process. Let’s bear in mind that he is coming from the university perspective.
In brief, his process is:
- Making a list of topics
- Picking one and creating a first outline
- Just write the paragraphs without thinking
- As a second step, editing — rewriting paragraphs, creating second versions of outlines, rearranging everything.
- After a couple of days, come back to the first, second, and third outline and re-write everything.
- Repeat until it feels finished
It is a great process, and everybody has their opinion on where to place Medium in such a process.
Some might say it is a platform for results, so don’t publish daily. Finalize your work over a couple of weeks, and only post when it is perfect.
I see Medium more as a platform for writing down paragraphs, rearranging them, and rewriting them. It belongs in the middle part of Jordan Petersons Writing process.
After all, it is a blogging platform, and blogs per definition are:
A blog (a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first, at the top. It is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject.
Here is my take on the blogging perspective using the Jordan Petersons process:
- Make a list of topics — can be done as a draft version
- Pick one topic and produce an outline — blog post number 1 as a listicle to a specific topic
- Write paragraphs — one blogpost for each paragraph
- come back a couple of days later and re-arrange the outline — another listicle
- The same to the rewriting of paragraphs — each one another post
- Arrange the best blogpost into a finalized article once you see what goes well with the audience in terms of views and reads.
Why would I publish everything?
The great thing with blogging is that you get the content immediately in front of an audience and eventually get feedback.
Feedback from readers adds more nuance to the thinking process during the editing.
Once several paragraphs feel great, you can take them and polish them into an excellent essay or book.
From this angle, it depends on how the writer wants to see Medium:
A platform for results or a blogging platform.
I vote for the blogging “work in progress and stream of consciousness” platform.
Since every writer has a limited audience, it is a perfect way to test content, which helps improve the final version's quality.
Warren Buffett and his passion for the Orang Utan Method
Warren Buffett is one of the world’s most famous investors.
He is well known for his value approach. Instead of trying to make a fortune by trading penny stocks, he advocates for finding great businesses with long-term prospects.
Why did he become so successful?
In his speeches, he addresses 3necessary skills frequently:
- He reads a lot — 500 pages per day
- He took classes to improve his speaking abilities and
- In the latest shareholder letter, he emphasized another skill:
Writing
Are you insecure about whether your writing is good enough for anybody to read it?
Don’t worry; according to Warren Buffett, writing isn’t about pleasing other people in the first place.
This might sound pretty narcissistic for some since many accomplished marketers recommend writing to please the eyes of the audience.
Which is right, and I won’t contest it, but I want to add one thought:
Finding your voice, your calling, your audience is a process that reveals itself only through practice.
Writing helps to clarify the own thoughts in the first place.
And this is the point that Warren Buffett emphasized in his latest Shareholder letter when he wrote about writing:
Teaching, like writing, has helped me develop and clarify my own thoughts. Charlie calls this phenomenon the orangutan effect: If you sit down with an orangutan and carefully explain to it one of your cherished ideas, you may leave behind a puzzled primate, but will yourself exit thinking more clearly.
How does this affect the decision whether to publish daily or not?
Whenever I sit down to write an article or essay, I need to think about
- the topic
- what problem I want to address
- who created a solution to the problem
- what 3 points from this solution might create value for readers
- come up with a conclusion
That’s why I love sitting down every day for 1–2 hours and writing — to train and structure my mind in this problem-solving process on various topics.
Why do I recommend publishing daily?
It helps me understand where my writing stands in the view of an audience.
- Does it get many views — well, then I obviously address a problem many people face. Writing more about this area helps me and probably others.
- Does it get views but no reads: Then maybe my writing lacks structure and clarity — back to the workbench to work on improving the writing skill
- Does it go viral — well, then probably I nailed both areas, problem/solution, and delivery
Without sitting down, writing, publishing, and getting feedback, I would never find out where I stand.
That’s why I put the advice from James Clear, Jordan Peterson, and Warren Buffett together in my way:
Every writer on Medium needs to decide what Medium is for themselves. A platform for their end results, or a blogging platform to experiment with writing, style, and topics?
Simply a place to structure the mind and get feedback from readers?
I decided that it is the second:
a place to train, play, and practice writing
Daily writing and publishing are a must to get better at putting readable essays together that deliver valuable content to readers.
Even kind of feedback, no matter whether it is negative or positive, helps new writers to evolve:
No matter how good a writer is, there will always be haters. The best way to deal with them is to learn to ignore them early on the path to mastery. You need to create the necessary thick skin to become successful.
Enjoy your writing journey.
About the Author:
I love developing global businesses that help improve society based on scientific results.
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This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial, Investment, or Legal Advice. Consult a financial, investment, or legal professional before making significant decisions.