avatarYewande Ade

Summary

Starting a Medium publication offers writers greater freedom, consistency, recognition, audience building, and expanded reach beyond the platform.

Abstract

The article discusses the benefits of starting a Medium publication, emphasizing the liberating aspects of having one's own platform. It outlines how publication ownership allows writers to set their own rules, publish without waiting, exercise creative freedom, consolidate their work, communicate directly with followers, and attract a niche audience. The author shares personal experiences of increased motivation and confidence from quick curation of their work. The publication also serves as a branding tool, fostering a community of readers and providing opportunities for social media exposure and cross-platform interaction. The article encourages writers to start their own publications by taking decisive action, understanding the process, selecting a niche, and deciding on the inclusion of other writers' contributions.

Opinions

  • The author believes that owning a Medium publication grants more freedom to write on any topic without the restrictions imposed by other publications.
  • They suggest that the ability to publish without delay helps maintain a consistent writing habit, which is crucial for writers.
  • The author has found that despite not having the audience size of larger publications, their work is still recognized through curation, indicating that quality content is acknowledged regardless of the publication's size.
  • They express that starting a publication is akin to building a brand and a dedicated audience, which is essential for a writer's visibility and growth.
  • The author advocates for exploring opportunities beyond Medium by sharing content on social media platforms to gain more visibility and engage with a broader community of writers.
  • They encourage aspiring publication creators to not overthink the process and to focus on starting and defining their niche clearly.

Starting A Medium Publication Can Help You Be A Better Writer

Here’s what it taught me…

Photo: Karolina Grabowska on Pexels

Some months ago, I made a decision to start my publication here on medium.

To be honest, doing so has been quite liberating. Apart from the fact that it has been a huge learning process for me, it has also contributed immensely to my decision to continuously write on this platform.

On medium, anyone can create a publication, provided you know how to go about it. It could be a bit tricky at the beginning, especially if you have never created one before.

When you eventually create your publication, you can decide to be the sole writer or accept stories from other writers.

Having your own publication has several advantages:

  1. You set the rules
  2. No waiting game, just publish whenever you are ready.
  3. You can exercise more freedom when writing and sharing.
  4. You will have all your written pieces in one place.
  5. If you want, you can create a newsletter to keep your followers informed and directly communicate with them.
  6. It helps you build an audience interested in your niche.

There are a number of other benefits which I would like to share:

1. Having your publication gives you more freedom to write anything you want

Many medium publications are highly restrictive when it comes to selecting topics. They require writers to carefully submit specific topics and then decide if it would be a good fit for the publication or not.

Where it fits the publication, there is a slightly increased possibility of acceptance. If it doesn’t, the journey to finding another suitable publication begins.

Asides choosing a fitting publication for your story, the decision to submit comes with strict adherence to the rules of your chosen publication.

While some publications have specifications for the precise length and format they desire, others have restrictions on the number of stories they wish to publish per day.

In most cases, your story may not get published until the backlog of submitted articles is attended to.

Some other publications would even request that writers shouldn’t include links of any previously written work to a submitted piece.

The truth is, the laundry list of publication guidelines could sometimes be overwhelming.

However, owning your publication may not require so many rules. For instance, you can write whatever you want, whenever you want.

This is in contrast to submitting to other publications where the waiting-game could get a bit frustrating when you don’t get feedback or an acknowledgment for up to 10 days after submitting. Some other publications take longer than 10 days.

It’s more disappointing when your long wait is met with an outright rejection.

Apart from the waiting game, constantly submitting to publications is no guarantee that they would always accept what you have written.

2. It helps you write consistently

Knowing that you can always write whenever you choose to is enough motivation to keep writing.

After writing through my publication for some time, my desire to continuously write significantly increased due to having an unrestrictive platform to showcase my work.

The point of writing is to consistently produce and where several restrictions limit you from meeting your daily and monthly writing goals, it could be quite discouraging.

Delay could be demotivating for any writer, especially one who needs to get words out as quickly as possible.

If your goal is to consistently write what you are passionate about without being restricted by stringent publication guidelines and timelines, then creating a publication could be what you need.

All it takes is to set a realistic expectation for yourself and meet it.

Amongst the sea of medium writers, many want their voices to be heard. This is only possible through visibility and consistent writing.

At the end of the day, what matters to every writer is being given the opportunity to showcase how well he/she writes.

3. Your work can still get curated.

I can confidently say that 75 percent of what I have written through my own publication received curation within a short time. For some, it was a matter of minutes.

Initially, I had some misgivings about starting my publication because as we know, larger publications usually bring more views and audience.

Now I may not get as many reads as a larger publication would bring, but curation gives me more confidence that what I have written is receiving recognition, even if it is not on a popularly recognized platform.

Truly, curation pays no mind to whether your piece of work is located in a big or small publication. As long as it meets the standard requirements for curation, then it will be curated.

4. It helps you build your own audience

One advantage that comes with starting your publication is that you get to build an audience.

Starting your publication is the best way to promote your work and attract the attention of more readers.

It is similar to branding a business and building a small community that grows as you keep producing the content.

You can regularly interact with your followers by sending emails so as to keep them updated on your writing process.

5. It’s the perfect time to explore what happens beyond the four walls of medium

Since I started my publication, I have formed a habit of sharing my work across many social media outlets. This has helped me gain more visibility.

Consistently writing has exposed my work to more writers of similar and diverse interests. I have had better opportunities to interact with other writers.

Seeing other writers share their work seamlessly has also been a huge source of motivation. On external medium- related social media pages, writing concerns are regularly shared and addressed.

This allows me push further, even on difficult days when I am not inspired to write so much.

Here’s what you need to do if you wish to start your own publication:

  1. Don’t overthink it. Just start already.
  2. Read more about how to start one.
  3. Decide whether you want to be a lone-writer or open it up to other writers to send in their work.
  4. Choose a particular niche and make it clear what you are writing about.

Final Thoughts

An important reason for writing is so that you can share your thoughts with the world.

However, if you constantly struggle to get a perfect publication to publish your article, it doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough as a writer.

Publications reject submitted articles for many reasons and if your work isn’t a proper fit or the editors don’t agree with your perspective, getting in may be more difficult than envisaged.

Through it all, what matters most is to put enough efforts into your writing so it will attract the right audience.

If you don’t have enough time to wait for publications to respond, then creating your own publication is a good option.

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