How Medium Turned Me Into A Fearless Writer?

My online writing journey had begun about two years ago. Since then, I have contributed to several websites and startups as a content writer, worked for many clients, and explored different platforms.

If we talk about Medium, I am just three articles old here as a writer but have spent more than a year reading the work of many top writers.

I have observed a lot in the process. And as per my observation, Medium has a clear edge over other writing platforms in more than one aspect.

But,

can Medium compete with your personal blogging website?

Or, is it a better option than freelance writing?

It’s hard to answer that in just YES or NO. However, if it was supposed to be said in one sentence, I would say — Medium encourages people to write fearlessly — unlike any other platform.

During the initial days of my writing career, I had no clue about Medium. So without any confusion, I decided to go with the best available options in my knowledge — Blogging and Freelancing.

I was excited about the fact that I will have my own reader base and get paid to do what I love. But since I knew the rules to grow a blog, there was a little disappointment somewhere between that whole excitement.

‘You can grow your blog only by sticking to a particular niche. Blogs that talk about diverse topics struggle to succeed’, — a YouTube video left me worried by stating that.

It’s not like I did not know what to write about. In fact, there were several topics in my mind I truly liked.

Self-growth

World history

Science

Culture

Spirituality & mind power

But the severability of topics to choose from has held me from finalizing my niche for a long time. I wanted to write about all of them. Yes, you read that correctly. I mean how can someone keep writing about one particular topic all the time and not get bored? This was beyond my understanding.

Apart from that, none of these niches had enough monetization potential so I could hopefully expect to replace my 9–5 job anytime soon.

Freelance writing turned out even scarier for me. With a desire for quick and easy money, I started looking for freelancing jobs on LinkedIn and ended up with 3 projects in a couple of days.

Honestly, I was very excited but that excitement did not last much. I discovered that the freelancing money was quick, but NOT EASY.

Clients would give me extremely irrelevant topics to write about.

There were days when I was asked to write about rock crystal, perfumes, amethyst jewelry, etc. Honestly, I did not see that coming.

Anyway, I was moving further with a very positive mindset. But I could not get rid of the FEAR of getting my writing judged by the clients.

I was writing under pressure and that was definitely not the experience I had expected.

I was worried that the pressure might kill my interest in writing very soon.

Eventually, I stopped accepting new writing projects.

Months later, I learned about Medium somewhere on the internet and got blew away as I discovered everything about this platform.

I signed up immediately and remained a part only as a reader as of August 2020. I finally decided to write and see where it takes me.

So the question is what makes Medium preferably a better platform for any writer? Here is my take on this –

You Will Never Get Judged:

Medium is more of a learning platform for many new writers. If you write a good piece, it gets tractions and you get paid.

On the flip side, if you write an average article, it gets fewer views or just gets ignored in the worst possible case.

The more you write, the higher you get paid. Very simple and straight forward.

As a writer on Medium, you are free to decide what to write, when to write, and whether to write today or not.

I don’t see any pressure in this whole process.

Arguably, some people think that the pressure motivates them to try hard to achieve the target. But I think it’s a negative kind of motivation and does not work best with creative jobs.

You Can Write In More Than One Niches:

Medium is like a social media platform specialized for writers and readers. People are here to read great stories.

Unlike traditional blogging, you don’t have to stay with one niche all the time.

However, you will still need to have a primary niche along with your own voice to grow faster on Medium.

According to some top medium writers, nobody minds if you write in 2–3 niches as long as you can do justice with all of them.

Undoubtedly, a big part of your attention must be dedicated to your primary niche. But still, going off the track occasionally will not make you sound unprofessional.

Medium Motivates You To Write Better Everyday:

Medium makes sure that the best pieces of the day get maximum eyeballs. A handful of stories that Medium find best among all, get curated.

These stories are chosen by Medium for different tags to promote them among a large number of readers interested in those particular topics.

This is Medium’s own way to appreciate and encourage its hardworking writers.

Curation is like a bonus reward every Medium writer eyes on and wants to achieve.

No Dependency On Indirect Monetization Models:

You have probably heard of some traditional monetization models like AdSense and affiliate marketing.

These methods are great and widely popular but getting paid directly for the views has no match.

Before I came to know about MPP, I used to wish if there was a YouTube kinda platform also for the writers where they got paid for writing articles.

Medium feels like something straight out of my wild day-dream.

You may disagree but as far as my opinion matters, getting paid directly is more convenient than spamming your website with ads with the hope for some clicks.

Besides that, you don’t have to convince your reader to buy the affiliate products.

By the way, Medium does allow you to put affiliate links in your articles, but with some compromises (topic for another day).

In short, this simplified payment method saves you a lot of time and energy to invest in your writing skills and content strategy.

Does It Mean The Writers Should Focus On Medium Only?

Not really. Although Medium offers a risk-free deal to both beginners as well as established writers, I’d not suggest you put all your apples in one basket.

If you want to build your personal brand as a writer, having a website is essential.

Furthermore, be active and keep on promoting your work on different social media platforms. Building an eco-system is the key to growing faster.

So what are your thoughts about Medium? I’d love to know in the comments.

And, thanks for reading until the end. Have a nice day!