How to Conquer Medium in 2020
Here is a six month action plan that brought me success and a monthly income.
Since my first post in late June, I’ve been doggedly publishing, nearly every day (I now take most weekends off) here on Medium. My income has increased each month — except for one month when it hit rock bottom — and I’ve found more success than I thought possible in less than six months.
You can too.
I didn’t have a following outside the bounds of this platform. I didn’t have an email list, and I didn’t have a name for myself. I didn’t do much, except write.
I wrote consistently and with intention.
Here is what I did for the first six months and what you can do to gain followers and make an income.
Action plan for 2020:
Step one: Content consistency
Make a goal to write and publish a post at least once a day. Get into a content flow, even if that is just one post per day.
Your followers want to know what to expect from you. It is possible to grow a following and make a name for yourself with consistent, quality writing. It may take time, but it is a slow burn. Rewards — followers and income — come after months of consistent posting. One killer post won’t do it, nor will posting once a month or once a week.
If you are serious about making money on Medium, you have to write consistently and hone your voice and style.
The beauty of becoming a writer is that writing is a skill, not a talent. You can learn a skill with dedicated practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll become.
Step two: Start you own publication
While you are posting once a day, create your own publication.
You may only have a handful of followers to start but think of them as your true fans, even if you only have two followers to your publication. Those two followers like you. They like your writing and what you have to say. Be grateful for those true fans and believe if you have two followers to your publication, you can have 200, or 20,000.
The beauty of starting your own publication is that you can directly reach those fans through the ‘letters’ feature. The ‘letters’ feature allows you to send a letter directly to the followers of your publication, right into their email box. That’s power.
To create a letter, hit ‘letters’ on the dropdown menu in your publication. Add the headline of your story, an image, and the first one or two paragraphs of your story. Under those two paragraphs, add an image that reads, “click here to finish reading,” and then add the link to your Medium story. And then hit ‘send.’
Step three: Submit to larger publications
Once you have your own publication, post to it with regularity. While you post to your publication, submit to Medium in-house publications like OneZero, Forge, Gen, and Human Parts.
Exposure in these larger Medium publications is a great way to get the full support and power of Medium behind you and will expose you to a wider audience.
If you don’t get accepted the first time, keep trying.
Write something you think will fit the content of the publication, and then submit a draft link to the publication. Get ideas about what type of content the publication posts by reading the stories in the publication.
If you don’t hear anything, keep trying. Improve your writing skills, have another writer help you with editing, and flow. Submit again.
Getting into one of the larger publications is great exposure. Make sure you read the submission guidelines of the publication before you submit. Each publication has clear guidelines to follow; following them will increase your chances of being published with them.
Step four: Grow your email list
Sign up for an email marketing service like Mailchimp or ConvertKit to grow your email list. You’ll want to capture your reader’s email addresses, so you have a way of reaching your audience should Medium decide to stop paying its writers for content.
Create a call to action at the bottom of your stories. A call to action can be as simple as a one-line sentence like, “Stay in touch here.”
Link it to your email service.
Step five: Read and follow at least ten Medium writers a week
Medium is a small community. People know each other and are supportive of one another. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with other writers in your niche or genre, and get an idea of the type of writing that does well on Medium.
Read, clap, respond, highlight and engage with stories that interest you.
By reading and following writers you love, you will learn the ins and outs of Medium faster.
Step six: Join a Medium centric Facebook group
You will get to know other writers much faster, and have a place to promote your work within these groups, where other writers are doing the same.
The writers in Medium Facebook groups will offer advice, support, and friendships. You will have a place to find other writers to bounce ideas off of, and there is something special about friending different writers on Medium from all over the world, people who share a common goal, to write.
It is nice to be a part of a community, not just to share your work, but to have accedd to people who know how challenging writing is sometimes.
Step seven: Add a bio to the bottom of your story
At the bottom of each story add a small bio describing yourself. You can add an interesting fact about your life, your personality or your qualifications.
Make your bio short, between two and four short sentences about yourself to share with your readers.
Step eight: Get curated
When Medium editors select a story for curation, they add it to topics, which means your story will be eligible for distribution and promotion across Medium. Meaning, your story gets in front of more readers — more eyeballs on your work. That’s it. That is what you want.
Here are some things you can do to increase your chances of curation.
- Write a clear and descriptive headline that accurately reflects your story. Don’t make the headline clickbaity and make sure your headline is in title case. Here is a website that you can use to make sure your headline is in title case.
- Write your subtitle in regular sentence case.
- Avoid typos, grammatical errors, and strange formatting.
- Stories about Medium will not be curated.
- Choose the right image. The image should be attractive, stunning, and accurately reflect your story. Use Unsplash. Unsplash has beautiful, stunning images.
- Make sure to cite images properly, giving credit to the correct photographer.
- Include any links to facts, quotations, and excerpts to your stories.
That’s it. Those are the steps I took to gain followers on Medium and make money on this platform.
I won’t say it is easy, I have put a lot of time and effort into writing, but it certainly isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done to earn a decent amount of money. I hope you find success too.
Write on, dear reader.
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Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering type-A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
