THOUGHT OF THE DAY #67/#15/2022
Medium (Probably) Won't Work For You, Unless…
What I learned after writing 300 Articles on Medium.
Many people find Medium at one point on their journey through the internet; those who love reading and writing tend to stay on the platform.
Some longer, some shorter — life is always like an airport. People come, and people go. It always was this way, and it will always be the same.
And a few are inspired to start writing here to make the fortune that many writers promise in a myriad of articles on "How to make 1,000,000 dollars or less on Medium."
I am no different than all these people.
My journey started in Fall 2019 when I looked for a blogging platform to publish a few short articles for my business partners without needing to learn to code or design layouts.
What kept me on the platform for 298 Articles more?
The stories from writers like Sinem Günel or Tim Denningwho wrote about the surprising facts they learned after making 10,000 dollars on Medium or how they made it in the first place, kept me motivated to learn more about this new business model for writers.
Clickbait Headlines
The secret to success begins with getting the headline right. It is the first impression everybody who schemes through Medium gets from the writer and the article's content.
There is a considerable debate on the internet whether it is morally and ethically correct to go for click baits, and the answer I found after meditating in a monastery for six months over that question:
Yes, it is.
The internet is full of noise these days. The world is fully connected, and although only 1% of the world's population seems to be creators, they constantly produce a lot of noise on the internet.
Any creator who wants to make sure that the information in the article has a chance of reaching readers who might benefit from it must start with getting the title right. Otherwise, beneficial essential information might not reach people who need it.
So be bold and use every strategy that helps.
Keep it short and simple.
When I got curious about the medium writers I admired wrote exciting articles that had a clear structure to success:
- 15 Typical Life Problems And How To Solve Them.
- 9 Micro-Habits That Might Help You Achieve *More* in 202210 Lessons from a book by the best writer ever…
- 13 Lifehacks You Can Apply in 60 Seconds (or Less)
I had the recipe, and I wanted to put it into practice to bring valuable information to readers and make the 10,000 dollars coming my way.
And I failed miserably.
Putting together a listicle with 99 things — like the famous song by Nena — is hard work.
Writers like Tim and Sinem have practiced the craft of writing for years, and I wanted to jump on their train right from the start.
How can I come up with 13 Life Hacks in an afternoon? When I looked at Tim's and Sinem's, they seemed to write three successful articles every day.
And I couldn't get one out.
After reading Atomic Habits, I remembered lessons from my days as a martial arts teacher:
Start with babysteps. Make it easy for you.
That's why I decided to cut back and write about
- 1 typical life problem instead of 15
- 1 micro habit instead of 9
- 1 lifehack
Also, the length — why go for a 12-minute read which is tough to put together — when I can also do a 500-word article for the practice?
Quality improves with quantity.
One question I couldn't get out of my mind for a long time:
Why should I publish when my writing sucks?
I am not a native speaker; that's why I don't have a proper language structure and don't know the subtle fine phrases with a deeper meaning that British and American people frequently use to express themselves; words that can only be learned as a native speaker?
But you know what?
- 1,6 billion people in the world speak English, and only
- 320 million are native speakers
Since the pandemic, almost all non-native speakers have used the internet. Anybody who wants to reach a wider audience must write and speak in English.
And 1,3 billion people have the same problem as I have:
They are not native speakers
I abandoned my worries and started writing. The best thing is that everything gets better with practice.
- Read more articles
- Read more books
- Write more stories
As long as everything is in English, quality will improve over time.
These are the 3 core lessons I made in the last 9 months between articles 200 and 300.
- Get the headline right to make sure the information reaches the right reader
- Write short essays focusing on one key learning and build a story around it
- Be bold: Quality improves with quantity. When in doubt — publish.
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