New Writers, 5 Tried and True Tactics You Need To Succeed On Medium
and earn $500 per month
Are you looking for a clear path for you and your writing side hustle to become a real business?
What if I told you, I can help you from:
- overwhelm to 🚀clarity
- being afraid to 🚀confidence
- drafts to 🚀published stories
- pennies to 🚀 decent money
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
But who am I to tell you how to succeed on this platform?
Well, I’m not a Sinem Günel, Zulie Rane, or whoever you’re looking up to.
Still, in regard to credibility, I’m one of the Top 1,000 writers on this platform and I’ve managed to get 30K+ views per month and earn around $500 with my writing.
I’ve been writing on Medium for 10 months now and since August 2021 I’ve started publishing over 30 Medium articles per month.
There are 5 tried and true tactics — and I’m excited to share them with you today to give you clarity and confidence.
I can’t wait to support you on your writing journey.
Okay! Are you ready?
We’re going to deep-dive right into it.
Kristina God’s 5 Tried and True Tactics You Need To Succeed On Medium
Here’s the behind-the-scenes look at my 5 most effective tactics to gain clarity, confidence, succeed (and stress-less) on Medium.
① Make writing at least 15 minutes per day a micro-habit
I just love the quote from CNN anchor Jake Tapper in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ on his process for writing his second novel in the middle of the pandemic.
A thriller called ‘The Devil May Dance.’
‘I write every day. Even if it’s just for 15 minutes. If you write 15 minutes a day for a week it adds up… ’ Jake Tapper
I couldn’t agree more.
The 15 minutes a day rule really works — even if it turns out to be garbage, it takes you somewhere!
You can’t edit a blank page, but a bad page, and you can write a short form piece in 15 minutes and send it directly… well, to the pub where I’m a new editor for — ‘The Shortform’.
I have another surprise for you! When you email us to become a writer, I will answer your email and add you!
What are you waiting for? There are no excuses left!
Dedicate 15 minutes to writing a short form piece of 150 words or less and send it to me!
Tom Fenske, Burk, and I are happy to publish it!
Here are more tips:
② Study Medium’s terms and business model
Many writers who are new(-ish) to Medium complain about the platform:
- My earnings are low.
- My views are low.
Some even postulate Medium is about to die.
Believe me, this powerful platform for writers is not dying.
It’s in the middle of an evolution. It’s just constantly changing.
Well, change is an inevitable part of life, isn’t it?
Instead of wasting your time reading these types of articles and not putting pen to paper, I recommend, trying to write distraction-free, for instance on Google Docs.
Moreover, study Medium extensively. Become a master like Doctor Strange! First, you’ve got to master it, then you can play it.
Do you wonder how to master Medium when it’s so overwhelming?
You can watch YouTube videos by Zulie Rane, or take a free email course by Sinem Günel, join a Medium online course by Scott Stockdale or follow me Kristina God.
Let me ask you some simple questions:
- Do you know what a tag is and how to tag your articles correctly?
- Do you know how Medium calculated your earnings and what’s the key metric?
You don’t?
Well, then it’s about time to master Medium instead of just doing it the wrong way.
③ Listen to the data
You don’t know what to write about; if people will care about your stories and what people on Medium want to read?
Did you know that every single piece of content you create is a data point? The more content you have in your digital library, the more data points you have.
The marketer in me recommends listening to the data on your ‘Stats Page’ — they are telling you what’s working and what’s not working.
Here’s how to use your personal dashboard:
- Click on your profile picture
- Choose ‘Stats’. Here you can see how many views per day you’ve received and your views within the last 30 days.
- Scroll down and you’ll see a list with several more important metrics.
Views = the number of people who have looked at your post.
Reads = the number of people who actually read your story from beginning to end
Read ratio = the ratio between your views and your reads
Listen to the data.
- What are they telling you?
- What type of stories do well and why?
Produce more stories that perform well and also experiment with new (niche) topics.
④ Become a Top Writer in a category you’re passionate about
Becoming a Top Writer on Medium is the cherry on the icing!
It’s something you should pursue. Newbies can become Top Writers too.
You probably didn’t know, because no one really talks about that here.
To date, I’m a 15x Top Writer in various categories.
Did you know that there are only 73 tags where you can become a Top Writer?
So, given the fact that each article you write can handle 5 tags, you need to choose your 5 best.
At least one of them should be a tag that’s eligible for a Top Writer badge.
Most important is the act of consistently tagging your articles with the top tag you want to become a Top Writer in.
New writer VRITANT was so clever to tag #Writing consistently in his articles.
Within a few weeks, he has become a Top Writer in his preferred category.
5 Amplify your stories and promote them via Twitter, Quora, and Co.
Grow your audience on other platforms and further build your brand — that’s how Medium wants it.
Ev Williams and his team explicitly say this over and over again.
Although you’re not getting paid for external views at the moment, and every link you share via Twitter is like a friend link (Anyone who has it can read your article for free — even if it's behind the paywall).
Still, if you can generate more (external) traffic, Medium’s algorithm seems to love it. It shows that you create quality content that’s relevant.
I twitter every story I publish on Medium.
Moreover, I try to repurpose the content I write on Medium and /or on Quora.
Lately, Twitter, as well as Quora, have announced new passive income models for content creators.
This is a milestone in the history of content creators and you should take advantage of it.
Final Takeaways
Here’s to getting clarity in your day-to-day writing on Medium.
If you follow the advice within this article, you’ll win too.
Sounds good, right?
Dear new writers, do you know what’s even better — and this is for those who read the whole article (or the skimmers, lol) — in November I will host a Online Writing Kickstarter Bootcamp.
I want to give 5 new (and emerging writers) the opportunity to coach them through what’s keeping them stuck and exactly what will move them forward — with red hot momentum — when it comes to writing and hitting publish.
- Is your big goal to build a daily writing habit?
- Is your big goal to become a Top Writer, such as Frank Larkin, who wants to be a Top Writer in #Poetry?
- Is your big goal to gain traction on Medium, know which publications can help you, and welcome new writers?
- Is your big goal to see your numbers tick and earn a decent amount of money?
- Is your big goal to start your own publication and self-publish your articles?
WOAH! You’ve got to get one of my 5 hot seats!
Leave me a comment with your big goal to become part of my Online Writing Bootcamp!
Kristina God is 11x Top Writer and one of Medium’s Top 2,000 Writers. 4x she received the Medium bonus. She loves to share her Medium 101’s, hacks as well as tips and tricks with new writers.👉Follow her on Medium, Twitter, and Quora.👉 Get her'Medium 101' newsletter with more tips and tricks 📨!👉 Become a Medium member here!
