Curation Insights on My 4th Month on Medium

Plus the regular stats, earnings, and lessons from a total newbie

Time flies in this jinxed year of 2020, and I find myself graduating from my 4th month on Medium. To be honest, I never thought I’d last this long, but I’m having fun, so it’s easy to stay consistent.

This post, just like the previous ones, is my attempt at being open about my journey and a way to keep myself accountable.

This month has not been easy, and if I could only use one word to describe it, it would be grit.

For the past 30 days, I persevered, despite failing some goals, banging my head against a wall, and doubting myself constantly.

There are a lot of mind games newbies go through in hopes of getting to the other side someday — the other side of worry, the other side of earning pennies, the other side of feeling like an imposter instead of a “real” writer.

Stats & earnings

First things first, let’s get boring stats out of the way: this month, I wrote and published 14 pieces. I was hoping for a little more, but that’s twice as much as what I wrote in August.

My views and reads more than doubled, and as a result, my earnings also grew twofold: I made $41.16.

Am I happy about this? Nope, it hurts. Last month I set the audacious goal of 10X-ing my earnings because I didn’t want to dream too small. I failed miserably. And that’s ok, I’m used to failing miserably.

Just like a weight loss journey has its little non-scale victories, this Medium adventure has its own non-monetary wins, too.

Non-monetary gains

There are a few things I’m proud of this month, and I want to share them with you.

I got four pieces published in P.S. I Love You, a publication that I love.

After a long wait, I finally got published in The Ascent — guys, seriously, just wait the full two weeks already. It takes a long-ass time, but it’s worth it in the end. If that’s your goal, of course.

And what I’m most proud of, out of the 14 pieces that I published, 11 got curated, most of them in multiple topics. Oh, and an old article got curated too, after a month of being rejected (I thought that was weird), so that makes 12 curated articles.

Instead of flooding this story with screenshots, I’ll go ahead and show you what didn’t get curated:

• Firstly, my article about Medium — it’s against the platform’s policies to curate those.
• Secondly, this piece about listicles didn’t make it, because, well, it sucked:

• And thirdly, this piece is still waiting to be reviewed:

80% curation rate — I’m happy about that.

Let’s face it, curation is what matters most on Medium. It’s what ensures your articles get read maybe years from now, while non-curated pieces die a fast, anonymous death.

All I know about Curation so far

So you want to be a good writer — this means writing a lot of lousy content before it gets better. That’s the theory: quantity over quality, hit publish, keep them coming.

Have you ever thought that doubling your efforts on any given article, instead of just cranking out content to hit your “number” might prove much more beneficial for you in the long run?

If you write something that doesn’t get curated, and it doesn’t go viral, those 2 hours may have been a waste of your time. So ask yourself — did you really do your best, or are you just winging it?

I’ve tried not to wing it anymore, this month, and feel like I’ve found a pattern with the articles that got curated. There are many more tips that I could add to the list below, and of course, your writing has to be good enough, but there are also other important things you need to consider:

Curation checklist

• The title and subtitle must reflect the content of the story;
• Properly capitalize your title, and make sure it’s very appealing (and not too long, stick to title and subtitle under 100 characters)
• Credit your images and use free resources or your own pictures;
• The introduction and conclusion need to be on point and provide the reader with clear insights and takeaways;
• You need to have good grammar and syntax, keep your paragraphs no longer than 2–3 sentences;
• Structure your post thoroughly, use subheadlines and separators for each important section;
• Back up your statements with research and quotes;
• Infuse your post with your own voice and experience;
• Aim for a reader-friendly length: 5 to 7 minutes;
• Make sure your post brings a fresh new perspective to your chosen topic;
• Write with the reader in mind, even if that story is about you.

Curation isn’t elusive at all if you figure out what Medium wants to promote. This month, I must be doing something right.

But despite so many articles being curated, there wasn’t any impressive spike in views. I’ll have to wait and see if I’ll ever get rewarded for my labor.

Closing thoughts

I had many depressing days in September because of my unmet expectations, so I decided not to set specific money goals for October. Instead, I’ll keep focusing on writing as much quality content as possible.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m not qualified enough in life to give my insights, and share my experiences for others to learn from them. But then I realize we don’t always need to be learning. We can be moved. Inspired. Entertained.

Even if I can’t write viral and wildly popular content about what it’s like to be a billionaire or a tech mogul, I’ll still be here, on this side of Medium, where imperfection dwells, where we’re all just trying to figure life out.

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