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Abstract

<p id="8324">Here are some examples of stories that I found in some small publications that had a decent amount of reader engagement. I’ve added each niche above the story in Title Case.</p><h1 id="bc23">Earnings Reports</h1><div id="c752" class="link-block"> 
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/my-december-earnings-bf8715321655">

        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>My December Earnings</h2>
            <div><h3>How I almost doubled my previous monthly earnings.</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*HwSpVjk5V8SP5rBnxbgC7A.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="5ac8">Author: <a href="undefined">John Cooper</a> (210 followers)</p><p id="f794">Engagement: 400 claps +12 comments</p><h1 id="02bb">Self-Improvement</h1><div id="4b85" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/6-powerful-ways-to-stop-holding-yourself-back-2380134c1367">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>6 Powerful Ways to Stop Holding Yourself Back</h2>
            <div><h3>I have a magic question.</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*cbSBKOGQdZ1lM24BLKy9pw.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="396e">Author: <a href="undefined">Geri Paige Butner</a> (231 followers)</p><p id="4103">Engagement: 1200 claps + 23 comments</p><h1 id="e910">Humor</h1><div id="64cb" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/faqs-about-the-vampire-in-your-childs-preschool-class-ebae5f0cd552">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>FAQs About The Vampire In Your Child’s Preschool Class</h2>
            <div><h3>Together, we will celebrate diversity</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*lcxU4NmkdMWdL9dD6hvEJQ.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="f9e5">Author: <a href="undefined">Lindsay Hameroff</a> (468 followers)</p><p id="edbc">Engagement: 790 claps + 4 comments</p><h1 id="fb98">Crime Commentary</h1><div id="3eed" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/psychopath-ted-bundys-crimes-taught-me-more-about-humans-than-i-ve-ever-known-e30cac35f3c9">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>Psychopath Ted Bundy’s Crimes Taught Me More About Humans Than I’ve Ever Known</h2>
            <div><h3>Though cliched, these 8 lessons are very crucial for survival</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*TzOjDXrG_4vYON5A.jpg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="973e">Author: <a href="undefined">Bhavna Narula</a> (866 followers)</p><p id="3b7f">Engagement: 365 claps + 5 comments</p><h1 id="4d54">Relationships</h1><div id="11ac" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/being-nice-destroyed-my-relationships-heres-how-i-ve-adapted-8ec5d1131f0e">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>Being Nice Destroyed My Relationships, Here’s How I’ve Adapted</h2>
            <div><h3>Three years ago, I embarked on an educational journey to George Fox University just outside of Portland, Oregon. My…</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*NDfNNg2aZAOzOpmQ)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="306e">Author: <a href="undefined">Joel Sigrist</a> (905 followers)</p><p id="507b">Engagement: 825 claps + 9 comments</p><h1 id="5591">Parents</h1><div id="2f6f" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-sweet-hypocrisy-of-mothers-day-ec922accb365">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>The Sweet Hypocrisy of Mother’s Day</h2>
            <div><h3>Call me a horrible mother, but although I am willing to take care of my child with everything I got, I have no inte

Options

rest…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*5PqW3x8FqoR6FFXyPowY0g.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="b9bd">Author: <a href="undefined">GB Rogut</a> (3800 followers)</p><p id="3c87">Engagement: 4200 claps + 36 comments</p><h1 id="e32c">Mental Health</h1><div id="a9c3" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/one-minute-to-mindfulness-9f87782b56e2"> <div> <div> <h2>One Minute To Mindfulness</h2> <div><h3>Why you should start meditating today</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*Yy0d7Cs9cT1kN6VZmguCbQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="7ed7">Author: <a href="undefined">Zachary Phillips</a> (6,000 followers)</p><p id="86c1">Engagement: 2,000 claps + 26 comments</p><h1 id="5430">General Medium Info</h1><div id="eaff" class="link-block"> <a href="https://shauntagrimes.medium.com/i-blogged-everyday-for-a-month-heres-what-happened-5f1dc616164c"> <div> <div> <h2>I blogged every day for a month. Here’s what happened.</h2> <div><h3>The results of a Quora + Medium experiment.</h3></div> <div><p>shauntagrimes.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*WimrYKd4FoaRDmoTt8nV6Q.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="29f0">Author: <a href="undefined">Shaunta Grimes</a> (38,000 followers)</p><p id="d73e">Engagement: 3400 claps + 105 comments</p><p id="7719">There are many, many, many more topics than this! These were simply some of the articles that stood out to me in niches I was interested in.</p><figure id="fe80"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*gbDd9hz843OUBwOG"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@eddrobertson?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral">Ed Robertson</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="011c">About the Authors</h2><p id="a2bb">One thing you’ll notice about most of the authors on this list is that they aren’t the super, mega-popular people you hear about all the time.</p><p id="df47">I was researching small publications, so there is every chance that some of these people were beginners like us not so long ago.</p><p id="a117">It’s a statement to the fact that you can still get claps and reader engagement even if you only have a few hundred followers (or a few thousand!).</p><p id="fbdb">As you grow, you will gain more followers and your stories will end up having more read time, but when you’re starting out it’s important to celebrate every win.</p><h1 id="ff34">Tips to Take Away</h1><ul><li>Every niche has an audience, even the small ones</li><li>Start with small publications and study which types of articles do well</li><li>Follow people who are popular within those publications and do your research. What makes them popular?</li><li>Write a large variety of articles and publish to different types of small publications. You won’t know the niche that will be most successful for you until you actually see what your numbers are.</li><li>Pick a couple of niches after you start seeing which stories are successful</li></ul><p id="c55c">Happy Writing!</p><p id="19ff">Interested in this subject? Subscribe to my email list so that you don’t miss the next article in the Beginners series.</p><h2 id="7fca">More by this author</h2><div id="566f" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/which-writing-style-earns-more-my-first-month-on-medium-cb50e657d838"> <div> <div> <h2>Which Writing Style Earns More? My First Month on Medium.</h2> <div><h3>It wasn’t what I thought, either!</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*Kv7VIqNoONkLvirX)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Medium Beginners: You Can Be Successful in Any Niche

It’s not about finding what’s popular, it’s about finding what works for you.

Photo by Kate Hliznitsova on Unsplash

You’re scrolling through Medium, looking at all of the articles for beginners.

“I made $__ in the first 7 days!”

“Gain __ followers in 72 hours!”

“This technique shows that you’re an amateur and nobody will read your writing!”

It’s a bit overwhelming when you look at all the information there is for new writers. One of the most stressful times (for me) was deciding which niche to write in.

Now that I’ve been writing for a month, I’ve decided that the best thing to do is to not pick a niche this early on in the game.

The first 3–6 months are more of a research period. You’re pumping out articles for different audiences to see which are more popular and which are duds.

So far, this has really been working for me. I’m starting to see definite differences in the popular vs. unpopular articles.

You can be popular in any niche

Here’s what you need to do in order to find out what to write about.

  1. Write different articles of different styles, different lengths, and different topics.
  2. Join a bunch of small publications in different niches.
  3. Do your research before you submit articles. Read and comment on at least 10 articles in each publication so that you are able to see which articles have the most reader engagement (since we can’t see which are the top earners, we have to go with stats that we can see, like claps, comments, and the number of followers the author has).
  4. Save the articles that are the most popular so that you can go back to refer to them later. What made them popular?
  5. Write 10–20 articles, then go back and look at your stats.
  6. Download the Next Generation Stats plugin for Google Chrome.
  7. Pick the five top-earning articles, then study what made them popular. Are there formatting similarities? Were they posted to publications with more followers?
  8. Think about what you’re passionate about. Which style of writing comes easiest for you? Now take those top five articles and choose three that match your passion and talent.
  9. Those are three niches for you to start off with that you know will be popular and make you some earnings.
  10. Read this article by Nicolas Cole. It describes how to choose story subjects by observing your top-performing articles.

Your expertise in the subject matter and ability to find readers who care about your stories will prove to be more valuable than finding a specific niche.

Here are some examples of stories that I found in some small publications that had a decent amount of reader engagement. I’ve added each niche above the story in Title Case.

Earnings Reports

Author: John Cooper (210 followers)

Engagement: 400 claps +12 comments

Self-Improvement

Author: Geri Paige Butner (231 followers)

Engagement: 1200 claps + 23 comments

Humor

Author: Lindsay Hameroff (468 followers)

Engagement: 790 claps + 4 comments

Crime Commentary

Author: Bhavna Narula (866 followers)

Engagement: 365 claps + 5 comments

Relationships

Author: Joel Sigrist (905 followers)

Engagement: 825 claps + 9 comments

Parents

Author: GB Rogut (3800 followers)

Engagement: 4200 claps + 36 comments

Mental Health

Author: Zachary Phillips (6,000 followers)

Engagement: 2,000 claps + 26 comments

General Medium Info

Author: Shaunta Grimes (38,000 followers)

Engagement: 3400 claps + 105 comments

There are many, many, many more topics than this! These were simply some of the articles that stood out to me in niches I was interested in.

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

About the Authors

One thing you’ll notice about most of the authors on this list is that they aren’t the super, mega-popular people you hear about all the time.

I was researching small publications, so there is every chance that some of these people were beginners like us not so long ago.

It’s a statement to the fact that you can still get claps and reader engagement even if you only have a few hundred followers (or a few thousand!).

As you grow, you will gain more followers and your stories will end up having more read time, but when you’re starting out it’s important to celebrate every win.

Tips to Take Away

  • Every niche has an audience, even the small ones
  • Start with small publications and study which types of articles do well
  • Follow people who are popular within those publications and do your research. What makes them popular?
  • Write a large variety of articles and publish to different types of small publications. You won’t know the niche that will be most successful for you until you actually see what your numbers are.
  • Pick a couple of niches after you start seeing which stories are successful

Happy Writing!

Interested in this subject? Subscribe to my email list so that you don’t miss the next article in the Beginners series.

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