Medium is a Small Town — Meet Your Neighbors to Become a Better Writer

How good neighbors become good friends

When I messaged Zulie Rane a few months ago to ask if she’d coach me to write on Medium, little did I know how much the journey would change my life.

I used to think I was the only one who lived with my head in the stars.

Now, thanks to Medium, I’m surprised when I meet people whose heads aren’t in the stars, who don’t marvel at this world made of stardust and magic.

I thought Medium was about writing — then I found it’s something more (and better)

After being inspired by one of Zulie’s videos, I‘d finally decided to pursue my dream of creative writing. I planned to find an audience and uncover my writing voice. Zulie — with patience and forbearance — guided me in how to achieve both of these.

And then, the shock happened — I started to feel at home here.

Much more significant to me than finding an audience has been the writers I’ve met from around the world. Writers and readers I’ve met on Medium have become close friends who I stay in touch with on a daily basis.

I’m a misfit who’s found my crowd

I’ve always seen myself as a misfit. I don’t fit in easily anywhere. I’m conservative and liberal, spiritual and rational, religious and secular. I have big dreams, I see stories everywhere. I search for the purpose of it all, and I also question whether life has any meaning. In other words, I don’t want to be squeezed into a box.

With Medium, I found my crowd. I’ve discovered a group of people who understand that life is complicated, messy, and absolutely amazing. There are no easy answers.

And these are the people who support me in my desire to put my voice out into the world.

You can have the same support — in this article I’ll show you how.

Medium is a small town — so it’s easy to find your community

When I realized that Medium is a community more than a publishing platform, it ‘clicked’ for me. Since then, my writing has gone to another level. Being accepted in a community, I feel better able to express my soul, to allow myself to be vulnerable, to pour my heart out onto the page, to bleed on the keyboard.

It’s not completely clear how many active writers are on Medium. We do know that in 2020, 65,000 new writers joined the platform.

Now, there’s a high attrition rate of writers on Medium. Many writers only last a couple of months. So a safe assumption would be that there are fewer than 100,000 active writers on the platform.

That number of people is equivalent to the population of a small town.

So as Medium is a small town, how can you go about meeting your neighbors? How can you have meaningful interactions with other writers? I’m not sure it’s completely obvious how to make this happen — I’ve met writers who have told me they feel lonely on Medium, like no one is listening. That’s why I put together this guide.

Finally, I should say that while you’re doing the below, the main thing is to write. A lot. Every day if you can.

Keep writing and publishing all the time. Having your work published on Medium is the foundation of all that follows.

The 3 circles of community on Medium

Before I dig into the strategies, it’s helpful to understand the types of community you’ll be building. There are three types of community, and I call these “circles”. Typically a new connection will start in your outer circle, then they might move into your middle circle, before finally entering your inner circle

Your outer circle

These are the writers you are just starting to get to know. Maybe you commented on one of their articles, or they left a comment on one of yours. You potentially highlighted some of their articles, or perhaps shared one as a tweet.

Your middle circle

These are writers you interact with on a regular basis. You probably don’t have one another’s phone number, but you do have contact outside of Medium. You’re in the same Facebook groups, you tweet one another. You know their names and would be very happy to meet them if you bumped into them on the street.

Your inner circle

These are the writers you’re in touch with pretty much daily, who you ask for feedback on drafts, and whose judgment you absolutely trust. They’re writing at a similar level to you, and you “get” each other (I’ll explain what ‘similar level’ means in a moment). My inner circle have become close friends — and some of these friendships are among the closest I’ve known in my life.

Circles are organic

It’s not completely a conscious choice who will end up in your inner circle — it’s about life circumstances, the level of connection you feel, how much availability you and they have to be in touch. But you can take active steps to grow your middle and inner circles, and this is where you’ll find the greatest connections. Follow the steps below to get started.

Step 1: Build your outer circle by leaving comments

Find writers you enjoy reading, highlight their articles, and leave meaningful comments to say what you enjoyed about their article. This is how I began on Medium, before I started writing. In simply commenting and highlighting articles I began to see my follower count grow rapidly.

Step 2: Join Facebook groups to start creating a middle circle

Writers you interact with on Medium alone are the loosest connections. Facebook is a level up — I find that on Facebook, the connections usually remain informal, but it’s a good way to cement a relationship with a writer that you’ve interacted with on Medium. I first met one of my close writing friends, Kristina Jancar, by commenting on her article in a Facebook group.

Step 3: Tweet

I’ve met writers who have been on Medium for months who don’t know about the power of Twitter in building connections. I’ve found Twitter is the most powerful tool for getting to know other writers.

It’s super easy to share quotes from an article you’re enjoying on Twitter, as long as you link your Twitter account and Medium account. Just highlight the quote you want to Tweet, and click the “tweet” or bird icon, like this:

If the person whose quote you are sharing has also linked their Twitter account with Medium, they’ll automatically be tagged in the link. Like this:

Then hit “Tweet”, and you’re done!

Whenever I tweet someone’s article, I then follow them on Twitter as another way to stay in touch.

For more tips on how to grow your Twitter community as a writer, see:

Step 4: Interact

Interacting on Twitter, Facebook and Medium is plenty for getting to know other writers.

Once I’m following writers on Twitter, I’ll interact with them there, commenting on or liking their tweets. I’ll add other writers I know as Facebook friends too, and this means I get notified when they share in Facebook groups. My aim in these interactions is to be positive, friendly, and helpful. I bring a sense of humor when I can.

Most writers I interact with simply stay as friends on these platforms, with perhaps a direct message or private note now and again.

However, with some writers, if I find I’m talking to them a lot, I’ll ask if they want to stay in touch on WhatsApp.

I’m a tech minimalist. I don’t have any social apps like Twitter or Facebook(with the exception of Medium) installed on my phone, so WhatsApp is the best tool I have for maintaining close contact.

I first started using WhatsApp as a tool for chatting with other writers when another writer — Neeramitra Reddy — approached me about messaging there. It worked incredibly well with him, and he also introduced me to other writers he knows. That’s why I started suggesting WhatsApp when I reach out to writers.

Step 5: Ask for feedback

When I know a writer on WhatsApp (and occasionally with writers I only know on Twitter), I’ll ask for their feedback on articles, and offer to give feedback on their articles. This cements the relationship and is a practical way of supporting one another.

What’s more, when you give feedback on an article and it’s submitted to a publication, the editor sees your feedback. I’ve been told by other writers that editors have asked about me because I left feedback on their articles. I’ve also written an article for a large publication, and I asked a writer to give feedback. The editor liked their feedback so much she immediately added him as a writer — and this is a publication where there’s a high bar for entry to be added as a writer.

Step 6: Get vulnerable in your writing

Knowing other writers encourages me to be vulnerable in my writing. The more I get to know other writers, the more they ask about my story, and the more I open up and share. Writing is especially powerful when you let others see inside the dark places of your life, and it’s having the support of other writers that has allowed me to be open in this way.

Step 7 (Advanced): Start your own publication or community

This is the next level in terms of interacting with and supporting other writers. I’ve been blessed by the writing communities that I’ve been invited to be part of, especially those that are behind closed doors.

Invite-only communities may seem exclusive, but they’re also safe spaces to interact with other writers who are working at a similar level to you, to be vulnerable about what you need, and to get support.

I didn’t expect to start my own community, but now it’s happened. I recently completed a 30-day challenge, submitted 30 articles to 30 different publications.

I’d originally planned to do this challenge on my own, to push myself as a writer. At the suggestion of another writer who gave feedback — Katie O'Grady — I opened up the Challenge and invited other writers to join. I was delighted when a handful of writers did. We now have our own WhatsApp group, and one of the Challenge completers — Catherine Mancini — suggested we start a publication especially for other writers who want to take part in the Challenge. We’ve had an excellent response, and it already means I’m getting to know even more writers:

How to find writers at your level

I recommend following the above steps to connect with writers at a similar level to yourself. I get the most out of the community on Medium by interacting with writers who I consider peers. To find these writers I look at:

• What’s their output? Are they publishing on a regular basis (at least weekly)?
• What publications are they writing for? Do they frequently write for publications with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers? As I’m also publishing at this level, to me this is a good sign. Writers who regularly submit to publications usually understand the basic rules of Medium.
• Do I like their writing? Does what I read inspire me? This is the most important factor.
• What’s their follower count, and their follower/following ratio? This is the least important factor for me, but it’s also a really quick way to find out if you’re interacting with a high-quality writer.
• Do they respond when I leave comments? This isn’t a dealbreaker — I know for myself I don’t have time to respond to all comments, though I do read them all. But I do need a writer to at least respond to one of my comments or tweets to start building a relationship with them.

What do to when you know other writers

Once you’ve built relationships with other writers, what should you do next? That’s between you and them. There are so many options, from starting a publication together, to organizing a face-to-face meetup. Here are some of the most helpful things I’ve done with other writers:

• Share your article ideas, and ask which one they’d most like to read
• Ask for feedback on headlines and subheadings
• Ask for feedback on a complete article — get them to leave comments in Medium, then they’ll get credit at the end of the article
• Send voice notes or videos to build a closer connection
• Find out about their hobbies and interests and what inspires them. A couple of writers I admire both do yoga, which encouraged me to take up the practice.
• I haven’t done this yet, but I’m excited for when it happens — meet in person! I’m quiet and introverted, I communicate best through the written word, but I’m still excited for the day I get to meet other Medium writers in person.

Thank you for reading, and good luck in building connections. You can follow me on Twitter here. Send a tweet to say hello, and I will follow back.