Medium Basics

New Writer? Why You Benefit From Publications.

To cut a long tail short…

The greatest challenge facing the average new writer on Medium is finding readers. Unless you already have a following on some social media platform, or are an established content producer with a mailing list and a fan base, your first stories will make a long drop into a silent pool.

A ripple of interest soon fades away, and the dreams of making it big follow.

Writing on Medium, for most, is a matter of playing the long game, building into a community, reading a lot, and writing a lot. It takes months or years, even to make back the monthly subscription, let alone turn the platform into a useful source of income.

Be advised that if you have patience, some good writing skills, a feel for your readership, you will get there.

Here’s why

One concept that has underscored the arrival of content creation on the internet is the idea of “the long tail”.

Put simply, if you were to make a graph of almost any content — movies, songs, books, blogs , Instagrammers— you find a few hugely popular, and a huge number with few followers. Graph them in order and the results look like this:

That line stretching out to the right is “the long tail”. Chris Anderson in his eponymous book puts a lot of weight on the concept.

He uses Amazon as a good example. A vast number of books on every conceivable topic, but only a few are best sellers.

Most — like mine — languish in an impossibly shallow niche discovered only by a few, usually those who have found just the right combination of keywords.

On Medium, this long tail is where your first stories are almost inevitably going to wind up. No matter how brilliant or well-written they are, no matter how much attention you have paid to all the advice about headings and keywords and curation tips, without some special sauce to attract readers, your first efforts are almost certainly doomed.

But you will get some attention, because keyword searches will uncover relevant stories. Write enough stories, they will be found in the long tail, and you will gain readers and make money.

It will take a long time and a lot of work, but it will happen, simply because that’s the internet, and everything is findable.

But who wants to take a lifetime to reach full potential?

Cut the tail; submit to a publication

Luckily the special sauce you need to push your writing career past the early gloom is simple: submit your stories to a publication.

Here are some of the benefits:

1. You gain a friend. The editor (or editors) of the publication. They will work with you to get your article into a form suitable for their publication, offering advice, fixing obvious errors, helping you get the story into a form that works for you and them. They want you to succeed. (Of course, if your story isn’t a good fit for the publication, then they’ll send you elsewhere, so best do some research first. More on this later.)
2. You gain readers. The regular readers of the publication will have a good chance of seeing your title and lead image. Make that tempting enough, and they will take a look at it, and that may lead to claps, comments, highlights and above all, readers. Money in the bank, right there. You’ll also attract the attention of the regular contributors. More eyes on your work.
3. You join the club. If the publication is any good, it has a core of regulars — readers, writers, editors — who enjoy the publication and its niche topics. They will read and comment on your stories, and you will most likely return the favour. (I recommend this very strongly. If someone interacts with your stories, go take a look at theirs. Most likely you will find a mind interested in the same things that fascinate you. Comment on their stuff, highlight their best bits, and show their appreciation with claps.)
4. You get ideas for new stories. A favourite tactic of mine is to take a long comment I make on another’s story, and expand it into my own story. Sometimes there are deliberate writing prompts, and it is fun to see how diverse minds answer the same question.
5. You will be promoted. The editor(s) want readers, and they will use their own social media streams, mailing lists, and general fan base to get readers’ eyes on your stories. Usually, they have more followers than you do, and they will bring in readers — and dollars — that are beyond your initial grasp.
6. The editors of a publication have better analysis tools than you do as a writer. If they see an opportunity, they will take it, if they are any good.
7. Your story will rank higher in SEO settings.

The end result is that you move leftwards along that long tail. You gain readers and rewards that you would otherwise not have. I cannot stress enough how much this boosts your morale. It certainly bucks me up when readers interact with me and I know that I am not just shouting into the void.

I can do all this on my own!

Well, yes, very true. But it will take you longer if you aren’t bringing a following along with you.

You will get found and read, but only by those actively looking for you or the topics you write about.

Or you could start off your own publication. There are any number of guides around giving you a step by step recipe.

But a publication with one writer gives you few advantages. Sure, you get the publication tools, but that doesn’t necessarily bring the contributors flooding in. You have to work hard to get your publication running well, and that’s on top of doing the actual writing.

But, don’t let me dissuade you. Some people are managers, and editors, and entrepreneurs, and if you are one of those lucky people, then more power to your arm. You will enjoy running a publication.

But for the rest of us, having a helping hand makes a difference, at least to begin with.

Pick your publication

Medium has a bewildering variety of publications. Fair enough. There are (apparently) 30 000 writers getting paid on Medium, and about 10 000 (at least) publications.

So that’s one publication for every three writers, yeah? Not quite. Many writers run more than one publication, each one catering to a different niche. Politics, Travel, Humour, Love; each one aiming for a different readership. You want to read about romance, you probably don’t want to read a bunch of silly jokes; they dilute the message. And vice versa in spades. If I’m looking for a clever joke, I don’t want to wade through pages and pages of emotional yearning with no punchline.

Some publications are specialised, some are general.

Some publications are picky, some take anybody.

When you find a publication that you think is a good fit, look through the stories they publish, look at the editorial policy, do your homework.

An easy start

There are some publications that take anybody. Just ask, and you are immediately a contributor. That’s how I began here, on Writers’ Blokke.

Everyone who applies is given a job as editor. Submit a story and it is automatically published. So, that’s a simple way to get in the door and learn the ropes.

Problem there is that quality and community are lacking, and if you attempt to do anything editorial, the real editor moans. (I didn’t, but that’s because I’m super lazy. But I saw the moaning.)

Don’t apply unless you have a month to spare

At the other extreme are publications that take immense pains to get things just so. These can be bigger hurdles for the newbie Medium writer, and there’s no instant fix or easy road to riches.

But if you want to tick every box and know that you’re amongst the very best (or the pickiest), try your luck.

In between, there are thousands of publications catering to all niches, with editors who are generally happy to have you on board and will help you along your writing path..

You can check them all out, but be warned, if you devote a day to each one of them, it will take thirty years to get through them all.

Pick a couple and be happy

I write regularly for two publications, and I’m a writer for several more. In fact, I find that a couple of times I’ve been added as a writer without me bothering to ask. Or be told about it!

So my advice is to try this publication or that one if you like what you see, and if you don’t find the experience a positive one, move on.

I write for Grab a Slice, because the editor Mark Kelly is a total sweetie, and I’m publishing a novella there, one chapter at a time.

I also write for ILLUMINATION, and the support I get there is amazing. Not just me, but every writer is promoted and encouraged and supported. There are dozens of editors, and they publish hundreds of stories a day. Dr Mehmet Yildiz is a powerhouse, and he inspires everyone to be involved in the community.

These are my happy homes on Medium, and I’m doing pretty well. $500 a month well, which isn’t a full-time job, but it’s big help in these hard times.

You can be your best

Medium is like catnip to me. I purr to be in the company of writers who love their craft and are keen to help others. It is a massive boost to have simple things like clapping to show appreciation, highlighting your best bits, and commenting on the writing.

Feedback like this, at least for a beginning writer like myself, is pure gold.

Medium has become my happy place, and it’s thanks to the publications I write for, and the readers who share the path.

Britni

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