Part 8 — Editors, Readers, Writers
How To Be Crazy Successful Writing in Medium
Understanding the writing eco-system gives us an edge over others in Medium. What do editors, readers, and writers want? I will explore this topic here.
Every ecosystem is made up of power players. Write on Medium, and in fact, the business of writing per se — Editors, readers, and writers come together to form the triangle of success where we need each other to get to the next level.
Thus, it is necessary to explore what each power player wants to achieve. When we know what they want and start attending to their needs, our odds of success increase beyond an uninformed bet. Now we have a strategy.
We shall begin with editors.
Ecosystem Power Player # 1 — Editors.
Love them or hate them — You will cross their path in the publication journey unless you choose to self-publish.
You might be attracted to a publication because of the giant size of followers (read: readers) to read your work. You might submit your work to a publication because it publishes genres that you have a niche for.
You do not join a publication because of brilliant editors or a rigorous editorial process, am I right?
Of course. No one in their right minds wants to have friction in their publication process or have someone tell them that they are wrong, and parts of our work have to be re-written.
That said, editors are important.
They tie the success of the publication with the quality of the work that they publish. In short, they give us hell because they want you to succeed, because they want their publication to succeed.
I imagine editors in every publication are overwhelmed by the pipeline of stories they have to clear daily. Editors are human too.
They get annoyed reading stories with grammatical or expression issues, one after another. Unless they are devoid of emotions, I think it is reasonable for them to lose their patience.
So, this is my proposal for all of us to have a pleasant day.
Commit to checking our work using the free software tools out there. I will write one story on this topic tomorrow.
Also, treat editors with respect. Some editors are nice people. They will send you a private note to explain why they are passing your story for publication. Naturally, getting rejected is not a good feeling but do give them credit for vetting our stories.
Reply to them with a Thank You. That is not difficult to do.
Then perform the changes before submitting again. Our stories will go through.
Ecosystem Power Player # 2 — Readers.
Readers support our work. I mean, unless you are writing to feel good and it does not demand any form of viewership or readership, feel free to skip this segment.
Readers read for a purpose.
They read to acquire new perspectives, to learn a new skill, or to understand. Of course, there are many other reasons which cannot be enumerated completely.
I have written stories on this topic previously, so I will not duplicate my content here. Do feel free to go through these attached references that detail my perspective on getting more readers by understanding them.
Ecosystem Power Player # 3 — Writers.
Ah, our peers.
I have a lot of respect for my peers. Some of us are brilliant at non-fiction, and some of us are a natural printing press for fiction.
Our peers want readers, just like us.
Beyond that, they want to know how to get better in their writing and conveying their ideas.
We can support our peers through the following: -
- Comment with suggested improvement points, or giving credit when it is deserved.
- Clap for them with all your heart.
- Highlight segment of their stories that is well expressed.
- Follow their work by following them.
We will be greatly appreciated if we can help our peers by injecting new perspectives into their stories.
The Power Player Recap.
Writing is about writing, and it is about the people in the ecosystem. We do not exist in isolation (pretty, unfortunately, actually).
When we learn how to interact with the power players in our ecosystem, we will start excelling in what we do.
That is just the case, am I right?
Get Started And Happy Writing.
Aldric
Related Stories from the Author — The Writer’s Starter Pack.
About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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This is more “About Me”.
