How to Crush Medium in 2021
It requires a mind-shift in five steps.
Medium is getting crowded. Publications are getting crowded. One-line paragraphs are still over-used.
But I’m staying here.
There’s money to be made and an audience to be created.
As a content creator, Medium is a great place to not just make a good chunk of money each month but to gain an audience.
Have you been giving all you’ve got to creating content for a while, only to see little traction and earnings that aren’t that substantial? I understand this. I wrote every day for three straight months until I wrote something that took off.
It happens; you just have to keep at it. It won’t happen if you give up.
Sometimes a mind shift is necessary after you’ve created a habit, and you experience a dip, or hit a wall, or just can’t write one more blog post.
Even with established habits, like a writing habit, you will experience a lull. Every creator experiences this at some point; some writers call it writer’s block. It happened to me this past November. I didn’t want to write, I didn’t care how much money I was not making, I couldn’t write one more post. I did, but my heart wasn’t in it, and it reflected in my writing.
The best way to deal with this is to be prepared when it happens, know it is normal, and that’s life.
How to prepare for a dip in motivation after you’ve formed the habit
- Know it happens to all creators.
- Have a strategy before it hits you.
- Know it happens to everyone, even if the habit has been established for a year or more.
- Know what to do when you hit a wall. When you hit a period colored by a lack of motivation, the biggest impact on whether you get through it or not is your mental chatter. Don’t beat up on yourself.
- Be kind and compassionate with yourself. Say something like, “I need a break, no big deal. I’ll go recharge doing something else or create something else.”
- Take a week off. Taking a week off will not kill your momentum. It will rejuvenate you and get your creative juices flowing again. If we just sit at our computers 24/7 and not look up from time to time, we won’t have anything interesting to write. You have to get out and live.
- Write on a topic that has nothing to do with your niche or what you usually write about.
The strategy for 2021
Here are some shifts to keep you creating.
Anyone can write on Medium. That is a good thing. You don’t need an agent, a publicist, or a book. You just need an imagination and some writing skills, plus a subscription to Grammarly helps.
1. Call yourself a writer.
Call yourself a writer, even if you haven’t earned any money yet. If you write, you are a writer. It is the act of writing that makes you a writer, not the amount of money you are paid.
When we identify with a value we see in ourselves — or we want o see in ourselves — it gives our habits a more significant impact.
It affects our actions and forms our practices.
You are a writer! Say it aloud.
Right now. Say it.
Good.
2. Write about anything.
You can write about any topic you like. There are so many options. You’re only limited by your interests. Write about anything that piques your curiosity. No, you don’t have to have a degree in it or be an expert on it. In fact, it is preferable if you aren’t an expert. Readers like to read about learning out loud.
This is why I’m continually learning new things, reading new books, and looking for the next course to take. You can learn on the job.
Some questions to ask yourself are:
- What do I love talking to family and friends about?
- What kind of advice do friends seek out from me?
- When on social, which articles do I stop and read?
3. You are not just a writer. You are an entrepreneur.
If you are a writer who wants to be paid for your work, you’re an entrepreneur. You can be an entrepreneur in anything. It’s about starting something from scratch. Entrepreneurs don’t just talk about an idea; they make it happen.
They have a vision and commit to making it real.
Professional writers create content and then implement a strategy to get it shared and read; it is a combination of innovation and implementation. The second part is the most important.
I believe everyone is born with the desire to do something beyond themselves. Writing is one way to go beyond yourself and help others.
What does this mean? Think about ways to market your writing.
Here are some:
- Submit to a publication you would never dream you could get into. Do it anyway. You never know.
- Make a list of 50 publications you want to get into by the end of the year and check them off one by one once you are in. Go down the list. This is an interesting challenge because you have to write specifically for the publication and the topics they publish.
- Write about a topic you have to investigate. It will make you a better writer. I promise.
- After you find a publication that fits you, your personality and your writing, focus on writing for them mostly.
- The two ways to get noticed on Medium are curation and getting into larger publications. Both equate to more eyeballs on your work. That is what you want — more readers.
Not until I got into more substantial publications did I start to see movement — about two months into my Medium journey — I was accepted to P.S. I Love You and The Startup.
I write for other publications, but those are my main two. I write mostly about productivity, writing, entrepreneurship, self, and relationships. P.S. I love you, and The Startup fit my niche. I give a lot of time to my own publications as well now that I have grown my followers.
Make sure you read the publication’s guidelines to produce what they are looking for. You will increase your chances when you read their policies and follow them.
The best strategy is starting your own publication while simultaneously submitting to more significant Medium-owned publications. Add one story to your publication while submitting to larger publications, alternate each day or write two posts per day, and post one and submit one.
Publications are taking forever to get back to writers. Medium has limited the number of editors publications are allowed to have on staff; that may be why it’s taking so long. Be patient.
Medium is going for quality writing. Focus on quality. I promise one gets to quality through the quantity of one’s output. Easy? No, but true.
4. Think about the larger picture.
In 2021, I will focus on free content, giving a lot more value away via a newsletter and posting on other sites, and not concentrating on my bottom line. I may have to take a hit on income (giving Medium less of my attention) to put more energy into blogging to make more money in the long-run.
I want to make money, yes. But I’m shifting my mindset to what originally attracted me to Medium — to become a better writer and grow my audience.
5. Find you true fans.
If you’re starting with zero followers — like me over a year ago — you can get a few loyal fans quickly. If you can get a few true fans, you can get 500,000 true fans; I’m at 7K and growing. That is the power of offering content that helps your audience with no expectation for a return. But from just showing up.
Your job as a writer is to convert the reader into a true fan, so she keeps coming back to your content. You need to get your writing in front of people, so you have the opportunity to turn them into a fan. Good writing must be there. But good writing alone will not earn you an income. You have to be methodical in marketing your content. That is the second step of entrepreneurship, implementation.
This is how all successful bloggers and writers make a lot of money in the long run. Build the audience first and then offer them your most valuable content for a fee whether that is a book, an eBook, a course, or a webinar.
Find your true fans.
My true fans started with one or two die-hards, and my audience grew from there. One way to grow a dedicated audience is to be a reliable content creator. Show up. Often. At least a few times a week on whatever social media channel you’re building your audience on, whether that is Medium or Twitter or a blog.
Create content. Build it, and they will come. Once you grow your audience, this is where real, predictable income is possible.
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.