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Checklist For New Writers On Medium

A How-To article

So you’ve stumbled up the writing site, Medium. Maybe you’ve heard a few things about it already, but perhaps you are completely in the dark. It can seem like a daunting task to even decide where to begin. All you know for sure is that you want to write and get noticed, and eventually make some money, right?

Allow me to share my three years of experience here on Medium with you. In this article, I will share with you all of the knowledge that I have uncovered and give you some tips to help you navigate the ins and outs of Medium.

THE CHECKLIST

1. Read Medium’s Terms of Service —This is very important because it tells you what Medium expects from you and what you can expect from Medium.
2. Read Medium’s Rules — This is also very important because it tells you what Medium will allow on their platform. Breaking these rules will get your account deleted and all your work along with it. Medium may or may not even warn you ahead of time. So keep a back-up of all your work.
3. Read Medium’s Help Center articles — Here you can find answers to how to set up your profile, how to create your first posts, how to use the editing tools, how to submit your work to publications, and so much more.
4. Read Medium’s Partner Program articles — This will tell you how to begin getting paid and what countries this program is available in. This is how writers make money from their stories here on Medium.

Those are all of the basics you need to get started here on Medium. However, what comes next? Recognition! Here is a How-To article that will teach you how to gain recognition on Medium:

WHERE TO FIND PUBLICATIONS

So now you know how to set up your profile, how to structure your stories, and how to gain recognition. The next step is to join publications to get even more exposure.

NOTE: Currently owners of publications do not get paid to run their publications. There may be some publications who can afford to pay writers, but the majority of the publications here on Medium are a labor of love and cannot afford to pay writers. What they offer instead is exposure for your work.

So where are all of these publications? Currently, Medium does not have a searchable database for all of the publications hosted here. It can sometimes be tricky to find ones that suits your writing content. But fear not, there is a way to find them.

1. Go to your main profile page.
2. At the top left hand corner, you will see Medium’s logo — it looks like a bunch of white odd-shaped circles. Click on the logo.
3. This will take you to Medium’s Main Page. Here you can find stories from people and topics that you follow.
4. To follow a topic, search the right hand side of that page for Recommended topics or use Search Medium at the upper left corner of the page. If you use the search feature, put in a topic that interests you. This will bring up a drop-down box that shows people who write for that topic, a few publications, and popular tags.
5. Click on either the Publications or one of the tags.
6. I suggest using the tags first. This will show you stories from people who write under that topic/tag. Next, look at the stories. If someone has submitted a story to a Publication, it will show “‘their name’ in ‘publication’” — click on the publication’s name.

Yes, I know all of that seems like a daunting task just to find a publication, but once you start following writers, you can always check out which publications they are submitting to and check those publications out.

So you found a publication. Now what?

Most publications will let you know if they are accepting writers. How? On their Navigation bar. It will usually say something like Submission Guidelines or Write For Us. Now what?

Read the guidelines thoroughly!

Every publication has their own rules and guidelines. Following them will garner you a successful submission and publication. But what if your stories still get rejected? Here is an article on the most common reasons your articles may get rejected:

Here is a helpful article by Marcus aka Gregory Maidman on how to insert images and navigate the format bar:

I have one more tip for you

The sooner you become a paid member of Medium (do not confuse this with the Partner Program — they are not the same), the easier things will become for you. Why? Because unpaid members can only read a few articles per month. Most writers here are paid members and their work is behind paywalls. This means that if you’ve used up all of your free-to-read stories for the month, you cannot read anything else until the next month. Here is the nitty-gritty for becoming a paid member and yes, it will sound like a sales pitch:

For US $5 a month or US $50 per year, you can become a paid member. This will give you access to all the stories on Medium.

My suggestion is to find a writer you admire and use their affiliation link — most writers will post their link at the bottom of their stories. This allows that writer to get a small commission from your payment, at no additional cost to you. However, it does help that writer to gain a bit more income from Medium.

I hope you find this How-To helpful as a new writer navigating your way around Medium. Once you’ve read all of Medium’s articles and you still need assistance, feel free to email me — [email protected]

©2023 Lori Carlson. All rights reserved.