How I Became a Top Writer on Medium in Less Than 30 Days (and Less Than 100 Followers)

If I can do it, you can too.

From the first day, I mediately fell in love with the Medium scene. There was just something completely different about it than what I’d normally seen.

Jumping from one category to another, I read as much as I could without burning my eyes out. I had no idea where to start.

Like a kid in a candy store, my eyes bounced back and forth with excitement for what they would observe next.

So many publications. So many writers with amazing stories. My heart beckoned me to begin.

Still, there was this sense of intimidation hitting me like a ton of bricks. And for good reason.

I wasn’t used to this. But there was no looking back now.

I’d found the jackpot.

The closing factor for me also included the welcoming presence of expressed ideas within the confines of respect, creativity, and integrity. Nothing comes close to being able to freely share your thoughts in front of an audience of people from all walks of life.

And even after I found out that you could possibly make some cash from writing, the only real reason I kept coming back was to share my thoughts, tell my story, and explore the minds of others for the never-ending purpose of learning.

And so, after my experience, I’d like to share some helpful tips for all you writers out there.

1. Find your area of interest first.

One main reason I notice with people who get burned out rather quickly is that they’ve chosen to write for a publication or on a topic that isn’t interesting to them.

I know that a lot of people encourage newcomers to “spread their wings,” so to speak, referring to writing in different categories for the sake of growing an audience. But even when this works, they still don’t know what they want to write about.

They’ve merely thrown themselves into a sea of topics with no intended destination in sight. And then they get lost, they give up, never to return again.

I don’t want that for anyone. I definitely didn’t want that for myself. So I figured out what I wanted to write about before setting sail. And the results have lasted longer. Because of this, I can’t see any reason for getting burned out any time soon.

2. Just start writing.

My first published story went virtually unnoticed.

I talked about a topic that interested me the most — productivity. With a smidge over 10 views, I wasn’t surprised by what I saw. Those views meant so much to me, and I know how funny that must sound. But it’s true.

The second story did even worse than the first.

Both were a result of my intentional desire to test the waters, with little care for how the stats looked. This was ripe ground for planting your creativity and watching it grow right in front of your eyes. Why would you hesitate?

The biggest hurdle I had to get over was that initial feeling of intimidation. That “you aren’t good enough for this” mindset came to my mind more often than I care to admit (all the time!).

Even now I sometimes collide with those thoughts again. Only now I’m more inclined to push them out of the way. And you can too. Just go for it.

3. Take advantage of the small wins.

After my first 5 published stories, I was asked to write for a small publication. Some people would hiss at a proposal with such a small gain in mind. But I was just happy to be writing here.

So I accepted and immediately began publishing for them, gaining views along the way. They weren’t massive, by any stretch of the imagination. But it was an improvement.

With a bit of consistency, I was able to grow my following by a small margin. Think about it: if you are new here (and no one knows who you are or what you have to offer), the best thing you could do is put yourself in front of a larger audience.

This was a no-brainer for me. I wanted others to see what I had to say. I didn’t want to use this platform as a journal of sorts (I already had a journal). No, I wanted to share, with extended thought, what I was writing in my journal. Things that stood out to me and pulled at my heart with interest (which I’ll discuss next).

Don’t write the “little publications” off as insignificant. That’s certainly not true. They are just as important as any other publication. The only difference lies in the number of followers they have.

But in the beginning stages, that’s not as big a deal as you might think.

4. Spend time on Medium every day.

Part of my love for Medium comes from being able to read amazing stories written by amazing people. They have experiences and ideas that I don’t have, and that makes it intriguing to me.

So I spend some time each day going through and reading stories that pop out to me. I genuinely read and comment on their work.

This is so important because a lot of people want to increase their chances of growing an audience without spending time on the site. That’s just not going to happen. You have to be a part of the action. You have to get involved, and with a true desire to learn.

People can see straight through a person who responds to a story with no aim to contribute thought. Be honest, be respectful. And people will generally like what you have to say.

On the 29th day of doing everything I mentioned above, I was shocked by this unexpected email that came to me.

Again, this was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t set out to be the best writer on Medium or to become a top writer in multiple categories.

I just wanted to tell a story. I wanted to try something new and out of my comfort zone.

Social media was okay, but it wasn’t deep enough. It made me so used to reading short, two-sentence tweets that I became too lazy to read books. My brain wasn’t being challenged enough, so I decided that something had to give.

I had all of these thoughts in my head, but I didn’t know where to put them.

Every view was a rush of excitement.

Someone actually read something I wrote and responded to it. That was enough for me.

Just to give you some perspective of what I mean, this is how my profile looks as I write this story.

I’m not some famous guy with a sure strategic plan that will get you tons of followers or an even larger load of money from doing this (I’m still fairly new to this).

But I do know that if I can do this, so can so many other people like you.

You just have to take the first step forward. You have to relinquish the fear of the feedback and keep going.

It’s scary, I’m not going to lie. But it’s every bit worth it in the end.

No matter how long it takes.

Kevin Horton is a photographer, college student, modest book-worm, and wanna-be web developer with a new-found love for writing. He writes helpful words about creativity, productivity, and the enjoyably simple life.

’Til next time. Thanks for reading!

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