The Surprising Secrets of Achieving Mediocre Success on Medium
After four months on Medium, here’s the scorching hot tea on this big, beautiful, crazy platform.
The four months I’ve spent on Medium have been a wild ride. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, learned a lot, and met some incredible people.
77 stories and 459 followers later, I have a much better understanding of the Medium as a platform. Each of the lessons I’ve learned has helped me work smarter, grow faster, and maintain a positive mindset.
If there was a Black-owned business that sold time machines, I’d buy one, go back in time, and tell myself these tips — period.
Personal stories reign supreme
Medium welcomes most writing with open arms, whether it’s poetry, essays, or fiction. But, unlike Rae Sremmurd, it’s clear Medium has a type: personal essays with clear takeaways for the reader. Those are the stories that popular publications want and curators put in heavy rotations.
This is not unique to Medium. Every social media platform caters to a certain type of content. It’s your decision alone whether you want to feed into Medium’s preferences — and more power to you with whichever road you choose.
The great thing about Medium is that you don’t have to niche down. I write about music, feminism, race, movies, poetry, and whatever the hell else I want.
But, knowing what the platform preferred helped me ease my frustrations when some of the pieces I created fell flat — and there were a lot that fell flat.
Get involved in the community
Medium’s got one of the least toxic communities I’ve ever seen on the internet. There’s a lot of supportive, genuine people on here. Of course, you’ll get your occasional asshole — but that’s just how the internet works.
A great way to network is to get involved with the many Facebook groups catering to Medium writers.
The ones that I’m involved in are Medium Writers Lounge, Medium writers boost, The POM, Medium Magic, Medium Mastery, Medium Dreamers, and Womxn Of Medium.
These Facebook groups are also a great place to ask questions. At times, Medium gets very buggy. So, it’s nice to know you’re not the only one dealing with a certain problem.
If you’re looking to grow and gain more readers, read the work of others — especially those who check out your work.
Medium writers get paid from reading time (and some other mix of factors that probably involved being in the Illuminati). Give articles you’re interested in your genuine attention.
I’m not saying to fake it. Don’t scroll through an article in 15 seconds and comment, “What an insightful article.” The B.S. can be smelled from miles away.
Don’t read what you’re not interested in. But, if you have something to say, speak your mind (as long as you’re not being an asshole.) If you enjoyed it, say that. It’s that simple.
Don’t obsess over curation
Curation is probably one of the most mysterious parts of Medium. Four months later, I still don’t understand it.
But, to my knowledge, curation is dope, clean content + fitting Medium’s distribution standards + the luck of the draw.
It could also include finding Tinkerbell’s pixie dust and having Illuminati connections. Who knows?
I’ve only had one self-published article chosen by a curator for further distribution, “I’m a Black Writer — Here’s How I’m Fighting the White Gaze.”
An editor from An Injustice even picked it up to publish on their platform — which was dope as hell. I definitely understand the buzz around curation.
Being picked for curation seems like how it would feel to get picked as Justin Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl” at one of his early 2010s concerts.
The easier way to get curated is to get published in a publication that can automatically curate their stories. Those publications include Better Marketing, The Startup, The Ascent, and P.S. I Love You. I’ve been auto-curated in An Injustice and P.S. I Love You.
There are also Medium-run publications like ZORA, Momentum, Forge — which probably auto-curate too. Those publications are worth submitting your articles to— go check out their submission guidelines here.
I say this to say that curation isn’t worth stressing over. It’ll come in due time if you’re consistently creating content and following Medium’s standards.
Don’t get wrapped up in the statistics
Medium can turn into a gigantic numbers game. But, if you get too obsessed with the statistics, it can hurt you more than it can help. That’s what happened to me.
When I got curated for the first time, I got more views on that article than I had ever gotten before.
After that article, I dealt with a week straight of crazy anxiety over creating my next piece of content. I felt like there was a bar I had to reach now — and I was deathly afraid of missing it.
That was a recipe for disaster.
Focus on the things you can control:
- The quality of your content
- How much content you publish/submit
- How often you submit to publications
- Whether you stay active in Medium’s community.
Put consistent effort towards those four categories. The people will come if you do the work.
Takeaways
Medium isn’t some get-rich-quick-scheme (sadly), but it is a great platform to get more eyes on your work. Now that I’ve learned these tips, I hope to better utilize Medium, become more successful, and one day earn a bazillion dollars! *crosses fingers*
I’m going to continue writing on this platform into the unforeseeable future because I love the community, writing, and the freedom to create exactly what I want. There’s a lot of good to be found in Medium, and I hope you can find it too — no matter how you define it.
Here’s a quick recap of the tips mentioned:
- Personal stories reign supreme
- Get involved in the Medium community
- Don’t obsess over curation
- Don’t get wrapped up in the statistics
Nia Simone McLeod is a writer, content creator, and pop culture enthusiast from Richmond, Virginia. Follow her on Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram for more dope digital content. She runs a weekly newsletter focused on inspiring creators of color.