These Checklists Will Help Get You Curated (Chosen for Further Distribution)

They worked for me, so I turned them into printable PDF’s for you

**Updated Mar 1st — 2021

If you’re a relatively new writer on Medium or you’re not getting the results you expected, this ones for you.

The Medium platform is writer-friendly, but there’s a learning curve for sure if you’re serious and want to make some money.

The more I read about having success on Medium, the more I realized that the small details do matter.

And if overlooked, they can keep your articles from those reading eyes regardless of how brilliant they are.

Guidelines, guidelines, guidelines

Geez…eh?

There are many things to remember when you first start, especially once you look into the publication guidelines.

But one thing for sure, if you don’t follow them, you’ll be wasting your time here. It won’t matter how good your writing is if you can’t get past the underlying algorithms.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed and wasting too much time, here’s a little system that has helped me tremendously. When it worked, I figured there are probably many more new writers who could benefit from these.

I had no intention of ever writing about writing on Medium (especially this soon), and I realize the seasoned writers on the platform cringe when they see newbies offering writing advice!

But I wanted to share what’s working for those of you who are right where I am today, So I’m doing it anyway.

Avoiding Basic Mistakes

If you’re serious about making some money on Medium, you’ll learn pretty quickly that there’s more to it than slapping some words in drafts and hitting publish.

You’ve got to get organized, and it’s best to do it right out of the gate.

I took a step back to set up a system because there was so much to remember. I also wanted to look for patterns in what worked and what didn’t.

First, I set up a simple spreadsheet to track all my articles, so at a quick glance, I could see where they’d been submitted and when. I included the publication name, whether the article was declined or accepted, dates, and the tags they were curated under.

Noting your article reading times, any title changes, or resubmissions is a good idea too.

Now that it’s all in one place, you’ll see patterns form, and you can make decisions more easily about what to write next and what is and isn’t working.

It doesn’t need to be fancy, just functional.

As you discover your favourite publications that are a good fit for your writing, do a quick recap of specific things they require (over and above Mediums basic guidelines) and add it to a new tab on your spreadsheet.

Having it at your fingertips, in short form, makes it easy to review before you submit. A simple step that will save you from making careless errors.

If you plan to write for the long haul and be profitable, I highly recommend treating this like a business and tracking your progress.

Next Step

I was still making careless mistakes that could easily have been avoided, and some prevented my articles from being curated(further distributed by Medium).

Not to mention I was missing the opportunity to improve my SEO.

Unfortunately, all the things I should have done would jump into my head after I hit Publish.

“Oh crap, I forgot to format my title and do the Alt Text thing for my images!”

That’s why I put this cheat sheet together.

To avoid the frustration and again to stop wasting precious time.

Old dog, new tricks…haha!

My Gifts to You

My first one is a cheat sheet/checklist for curation. It works like a charm! Then I made it pretty and turned it into a printable PDF so I could share it with you!

It’s a game-changer.

The second is a quick list with twelve helpful tips found while reading other articles. These are less common and from top writers on Medium. All I did was condense a lot of reading into a quick list.

I sincerely hope you find these both helpful.

• You’ll save time, get it right the first time and avoid those automatic declines.
• Your excellent article will get the best chance to be accepted by a publication, get curated or both!
• You’ll also improve your work, get more reads on your stories and gain traction.

I do need to give credit where credit is due.

I’ve read a lot of articles by other writers on Medium that were extremely helpful to me. Two of those writers stand out for me, so if you haven’t found these guys yet, do yourself a favour and read their stuff! Tim Denning and Casey Botticello.

Both have fantastic insight into the platform and share their knowledge generously.

Thanks to all that have helped with their “writing about writing” on Medium. You’ve inspired me to pay it forward.

You can check out my medium articles here at Liz Porter should you be curious and connect if you have questions about my checklists.

Write on!

Here’s one that went viral…

I’m Liz, the self-empowered, red wine & coffee lovin’, personal growth fanatic behind this article. I’ve stopped shrinking into places I’ve outgrown, and I’m a fan of straight talk and practical solutions. That’s why I’m here to Empower, Educate and Entertain.