I Cracked Medium in 2 Weeks, and You Can Too

Success strategies from a newbie (with 30 cracking tips)

Granted, two weeks is not a long time to crack anything, especially from a newbie. However, out of the mouth of children …

Two weeks was more than enough for me to realise the futility in returning incessantly to the green circle with its white numbers. I recognised the vanity of clicking the tab marked ‘Stats’, or ‘Medium Partner Programme,’ even though I could not help myself. What did they show in my first two weeks? I’ll share with you:

• I got less than 50 reads a day (on average)
• Majority of my articles earned below $0.20 and my best performing article was $1.16 when I started writing this story a week ago.

And you guessed right, I have not attained the Holy Grail of curation.

Those are the stats, and they are real. But the truth is, I feel I’ve won the lottery. I am ultra confident that I have cracked it on Medium. I have found a consistent word that powers the great publications and writers I have met in the last two weeks. They have cracked it, I have cracked it. Would you like to crack success on Medium?

Crack (meaning) “to puzzle out and expose, solve, or reveal the mystery of” Merriam-Webster Dictionary

One Word to Rule Them All.

Before I introduce the word that reveals the fundamental truth of success on Medium, I’d like to share seven success strategies and 30 newbie tips which will transport you into the elite group of writers who have cracked Medium.

1. Read

My goal when I joined, was get people to read my stories -hundreds of views would mean I cracked Medium, won’t it? A few days in, I realised that the true wealth of Medium is found in reading and learning from others. Medium is a treasure trove of talented and knowledgeable writers. There is an amazing range of topics, from tech to culture, music and race. From millennials to grannies, city dwellers, farmers. The perspectives from which I could learn was limitless. I changed my focus. From writing to learning; from speaking to listening — and that’s when the penny dropped.

In two weeks, my appreciation for words has grown, my mind has opened up to possibilities and my life has been enriched. I am naturally curious and writers share generously on Medium. Although in lockdown, I have travelled to cities, been welcomed at front doors, invited into homes and chatted with strangers. This is what Medium offers. Can you crack it?

Newbie tip 1: Take advantage of the diversity on Medium and select some topics that are out of your comfort or knowledge zone. Cryptocurrency anyone?

Newbie tip 2: Find and follow a niche publication, something you have never read or learned in your life. A different side of Japan?

Newbie recommendation 3: If you love words and sentences, explore poetry or flash fiction stories. There is a massive variety from exceptional writers.

Newbie tip 4: Don’t spend all your time on the “How to write better… or earn more” stories. They are great, but you can easily get lost in all the advice. Trust your muse. Aim to be the ‘best you’, not a ‘money-chasing’ writer

Newbie tip 5: When you read articles you enjoy, don’t rush through them. That way the writers get to earn some money — at no extra cost to you. (see Medium’s article on earnings).

Newbie recommendation 6: Set aside specific Medium time for reading, especially (now) if you are in lockdown. Separate this from your ‘writing’ time.

Newbie tip 7: Save articles you like, and return to these when you have more time (This also gives you the added advantage of always having a reading list handy).

2. Clap

Claps have become my voice on Medium. Embarrassingly, on my first few days, I gave single claps to articles I liked. I did not know any better, until I received multiple claps on an article I wrote. Giving up to 50 claps on a story means, I could whisper, speak, shout, or yell my appreciation. What would you choose?

I made a plan. Every story I read, excluding responses, receives a minimum of 25 claps. Writing comes from a place in the soul and regardless of writing ability or quality, will mean something to someone. So I choose to applaud the bravery displayed by writers in putting down words for others to read. I salute the time the writer spends putting together the story. This alone is worth at least 25 claps, in my opinion.

Most articles I aim between 40 and 50 claps. Sadly it’s down to the strength in my finger, the kink in my shoulder, the uncomfortable dining chair, the strain in my neck … etcetera. (old age hurts). Writers don’t earn from claps, but the encouragement is invaluable.

Newbie tip 8: You can clap up to 50 times on a single article, and you never run out of claps

Newbie tip 9: Be generous with claps, remember it’s your voice, your power.

Newbie tip 10: Only the writer can see the number of claps you give, so don’t worry too much about your digital footprint.

Newbie tip 11: People are often reciprocal, often people you clap for, return the favour and read your work. This should not be your motive, but it is a nice reward.

3. Respond

One thing I love about my newbie days (and lockdown), is the fact I can respond to every comment on my story, and interact in the community. I dread the days when I can no longer do this efficiently.

Responding on Medium is important. Has someone left a comment on your story? Say thank you, or clap. Touched by a story? Write a response. Love a phrase? Highlight it. Nigerians have a phrase, ‘waka pass.’ The word gives a picture of someone who observes an event, watches and walks on, unchanged and changing nothing. Medium is not a ‘waka pass’ zone.

Newbie tip 12: Writing responses to articles you appreciate is great way to connect with fellow writers

Newbie tip 13: Acknowledge responses to your articles, as best as you can. Someone took the effort to tell you how they felt about your writing. That’s important. Clap if you are short of time. I notice Medium is improving the response interface which was quite clunky. Hurray.

Newbie tip 14: Highlights are a great way to save words that mean something. Medium notifies you when other people highlight the same words as you. This is a great way to identify like-minded people … bringing me to my next point.

4. Follow

On Medium, I was determined not to play the follow for follow game which characterises many social networks. So I set an objective, to follow more people than I was followed. I figured that the more people I follow, the more diverse my news feed, the wider my knowledge base and the more choice of articles I get to see. So I actively search for writers daily, typing in topics randomly to increase the diversity of my network. It does not matter if anyone follows me back, that’s never the goal.

Someone else may decide to follow a few writers. Your goal on Medium may be to go deeper into a topic, which means you are highly selective about who you follow. That’s fine as well. There is no right or wrong way to follow. But it’s not a numbers game, don’t make it one. Easy crack, huh?

Newbie tip 15: Don’t judge another writer by the number of followers. I have read amazing stories from people with just 50 followers

Newbie tip 16: Find and follow writers in other niches/topics to create diversity on your feed.

Newbie tip 17: Don’t worry if they do not follow back, or who unfollows you. does that happen here? Trust me, it’s not worth the effort.

Newbie recommendation 18: I tend not to follow inactive accounts, so if the last article written by the writer is over a year or two old, that’s a no from me.

Newbie tip 19: Follow writers in the publications you write for. Great minds think alike, and all that …

Newbie tip 20: Find other newbies to follow. It’s just nice to encourage each other and grow together.

Newbie tip 21: Top writers are great, but don’t limit your choices to machine algorithms and other people’s preferences.

Newbie recommendation 22: Read the bios and recent stories of the writers you follow (if you can). Interact as much as you can, so your follows are not about the numbers, but the people.

5. Publish

This one is a bit obvious, but if you joined Medium to write, then do so. Finish your story and give it way. Publish it.

Don’t hold back. Don’t be shy. Don’t overthink it.

Medium is a place to experiment and express yourself. The way you see things is different from others, your combination of skills, experience and background is unique and non-one can write the way you do. No one.

According to https://toppub.xyz, there are 10,981 publications on Medium, as of writing. Most are dormant or closed to new writers. But there are several great publications you can write for, including mine.

Newbie tip 23: Join a publication. I was lucky to find Illumination, a collaborative, learning, inspiring platform with an amazing team of editors and writers. It had made ALL the difference to my experience of Medium.

Newbie tip 24: Don’t let a rejection stop you or discourage you. My first rejection hurt, but the very next story got accepted by the same publication. Keep writing.

Newbie tip 25: Join the regular writings prompts or challenges in your publication. It’s a great way to connect with other writers in a shared experience.

Newbie recommendation 26: I always allow a couple of hours before submitting a final draft for publication. I learnt the hard way, with my first 2 weeks spent correcting and re-submitting articles.

6. Mention

People love being acknowledged. If another writer inspired a story, give credit by mentioning this in your story. Medium allows you mention (tagging) names in your articles. Using the ‘@’ symbol and start typing the person’s name. This automatically adds the link to their bio and notifies them.

I love how Kevin Buddaeus took this idea further and came up with a great idea to list other people’s posts at the end of his stories giving them publicity. He absolutely cracked it.

Newbie recommendation 27: Use ‘mentions’ with care. On Facebook or Twitter, it can be used to increase your post visibility. Don’t do that on Medium. It’s spammy and could be misconstrued as an attempt to get readers to visit your post. Use minimally, with caution and with specific purpose.

Newbie Tip 28: You can mention a user manually, by writing their names and adding their profile page as a link. This is cumbersome for you, but the writer still enjoys from the publicity without feeling spammed.

7. Share

Medium is alive and well on social media. And there are several ways to share the content you love and bring visibility to another writer.

I have not cracked this one fully but hey, it’s been 2 weeks. Most writers have a twitter link on their bio, so it’s easy to connect off Medium. Many publications such have a Facebook and Twitter presence. It’s a great way to connect with other writers. I hear there are quite a few groups on Facebook, I’m not there yet. In the meantime, I have some easy actions.

Newbie tip 29: Enjoyed an article? Use the sharing buttons to share directly to your social media. Don’t forget the hashtags on Twitter. #writingcommunity #writers

Newbie tip 30: Connect with other writers and publications on Social Media, and enjoy connecting with your new besties. (I recommend Twitter)

BONUS TIP: Added 1 June 2020: Download a Backup of your content regularly. Medium returned an error message when I logged in today, and the thought crossed my mind, what if Medium crashed or the company changed direction. What will happen to my content. I googled, and Medium gives you a way to export your content: https://medium.com/me/export.

BONUS TIP: Added 12 June 2020: Comment on stories because people need to know what you think of their effort. This invaluable tip comes from Henery X (long) in his comment below:

That’s it, friends. Seven strategies and 30 cracking tips to succeed on Medium, but I promised you a word.

One Word to rule them all.

In his trilogy, ‘The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about an all-powerful ring, that ruled over other rings.

“In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them”

In the same way, there is one word, that rules above the words mentioned above, and this word is the consistent theme I observed with the writers I respect on Medium. Writers that inspired me and brought me to this point. Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien here is my introduction to the word.

“In the Land of Medium where true Words live. One Word to rule them all, One Word to find them, One Word to bring them all, and in giving you find it.”

Give

Simple, isn’t it? The theme that runs through the seven strategies is ‘give.’ The true worth of Medium is found in what is given to the platform, rather than is received from the platform.

Two weeks of checking stats each time I logged on, checking the number of claps and increased pennies. I realised “all is vanity” Ecclesiastes 1:2

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35

Can you crack Medium?

In the postscript to this story, I record one of the several dialogues I had with my inner critic during the 7-day period this article languished in drafts. But Kevin Buddaeus inspired me to publish my thoughts.

I’d like to mention, but not tag (newbie tip: 27) some of the writers (there are far more than this list) who have inspired this article.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz Chris Hedges Gurpreet Dhariwal Amy Marley Henery X (long) Besom & Bletherskite Tree Langdon ♾️ Suntonu Bhadra Charlotte Zobeir Ali Sanjukt Saha Sana Rose Dipti Pande Selma Terry Mansfield Aurora Eliam, CMP Simran Kankas

Thanks to these publications, they’ve shown me how to be.

Postscript

An internal conversation that happened.

“So you think you have cracked Medium?” My inner critic was perplexed, “And you are going to tell everyone that you did this in just 2 weeks”

“Yes, and yes.” I replied, “I am going to publish this article”

“What if you are wrong, and these strategies do not lead to results”

“What do you mean, results?”

“People who crack medium earn in the thousands, isn’t that the point of this?”

“I never said anything about results, everybody has the power to decide what success means to them. I have decided to boast; not in earnings; but in learning, connecting and sharing.”

“OK, I see, but it would be nice to have the earnings, won’t it?”

“Sure, it would. Life is a game of time and chance. Do you think the best writers earn the most money? There are loads of great stories and great writers that will never be curated, never become bestsellers. So I choose to focus on what I control, and leave the things I have no control over.”

“I agree, but do you believe in setting goals?”

“Yea …”

“So why didn’t you set a goal related to earnings, learn as much as you can and push for that?”

“Because that is not who I am.”

“Hmm.”

Whatever success means to you, I pray you achieve it.

This article is part of my reflective journals on Medium. Part one: