MEDIUM

The Three Biggest Mistakes Medium Writers make

The big THREE and what to do instead

Yes, another Medium article. Yes, another perspective. And yes, you’ll want to read — because I won’t sugarcoat the Medium experience. You’ll get the real deal from me, every time. If it helps you, then it is worth it to me to risk annoying those who are sick of seeing yet another Medium article.

When I joined Medium — I needed these articles. So I know that you are here because you are hungry. You have goals. And you want to learn all that you can so you can reach those goals.

Let’s take a look at three BIG mistakes many Medium writers make when they arrive here, hungry and ready for success — and what they can do instead to have a greater chance to achieve that success.

Mistake number one

Treating Medium as a self-serving venture.

Let me be blunt. Medium is NOT here to serve your personal interests. Medium is a platform — a tool. And with any tool, it matters that you know how to use it.

If you arrive and begin flinging words and stories into the massive beast that is Medium, your words will be lost in the fray. You may as well be talking to yourself. If you are here on Medium as a writer, understand that while you do have your own personal goals and you may identify as a blogger, you are a content writer for the platform. The trick is to find a way to meet your own personal goals while providing valuable content for a larger purpose.

What you can do instead:

First, you have to learn your way around by being a reader. Learn about publications and what they are looking for by being a reader. Meet people who could be potential readers for your work — by being a reader. When you interact with other people and build rapport with them, you are building a reputation here.

That reputation + your talent, will = your successes.

• Read the work of people who write in the categories that you do — and engage with them. Meet people. A lot of people.
• Reciprocate. When someone reads for you — read for them. At least while you are building your base of readers. This is not tit-for-tat because most of the people who find your work organically may have some similar interests as you. You attracted them — chances are there may be something they have written that will also interest you.
• Self-promote without spamming. Advertise your work with a blurb or a quote — and do it in the right circles. For example, on Twitter be sure to share a snippet of your writing, the friend link, and tags that are trending or popular that relate to your work. Share your work where you will likely find people it may interest. Another example, share your business and self-help related articles to LinkedIn. Engage with the posts of similar professionals. (You will find a great many Medium writers there.)
• Get in as a writer for a few good publications and concentrate on writing content that fits those publications well. Get to know the editors and the audience. Build that relationship. Maximize on the pool of readers. As you get “the hang” of those publications and the rush of new readers seems to slow — add a new publication that has writers you do not normally interact with and do the same thing. Don’t forget about the initial publications — keep those relationships going and build on it.
• If you make it your purpose to give more than you receive — your generosity will pay off.

Mistake number two

Not paying attention.

So many people come to Medium and start writing anything they want and get frustrated when readers don’t respond. Or they place their work into any publication that will take it without first doing the homework of studying that publication.

They don’t pay attention when publications refuse their work over and over — it means your writing needs work. Ask for help and be willing to listen.

Pay close attention to the feedback of readers and other writers. Covering your eyes and ears will not help you to move toward your goals, at least not without a more stressful and difficult uphill climb.

What you can do instead:

Every platform has trends. Pay attention. There are trends in topics. There are trends in the type of work being curated. There are trends in which publications are “hot” at the moment or growing very quickly.

• Scan the “editor’s picks” to see what kind of things MEDIUM wants.
• Scan the tags you write in to see what curators are favoring. There are trends if you pay attention! Curation is a steering mechanism…to push creative content in the direction the platform wants. It’s not nearly as subjective as you might think!
• Pay attention to which publications’ work are being shared most often on the front page.
• Pay attention to reader feedback. Make sure that your intent is coming across to your readers. You may need to edit more for clarity if it is not.
• Pay attention to the feedback from editors when they respond to your work — if they respond. Sometimes they are willing to offer you a bit of advice if you ask politely in response to their private message.
• Read the Medium emails and the official Medium blog to stay on top of what is going on with Medium.

Mistake number three

Expecting too much too soon.

Yes, this one is listed in darn-near every other Medium advice post, but it bears repeating again and again and again.

Some writers experience immediate success, but this is not the norm. In fact, it is quite the anomaly. To say Medium is a long game is brutal, honest truth. If you intend to bring in steady income, you need to be honest with yourself about this.

It will take a lot of work over a long period of time — and you still might not ever meet your monetary goals, because there are factors over which you have absolutely no control.

What you can do instead:

• Write well and write consistently. It does not matter if you write one article a week or 12 — write all of them well, proofread and edit well, and place them in the best publication for the content. Promote your articles in places that will get you the readers you are looking for.
• Rinse. Repeat. It takes as long as it takes!
• Understand, there are some genres and writing styles that will simply not be as monetarily lucrative. Make peace with this. It doesn’t mean to give up on the genres you love.

Which reminds me of a piece of advice I learned from my father:

There are two ways to be successful in life: Do something no one else wants to do or do something everyone else wants to do — and do it better.

— R.W.

• Define your goals outside of monetary ones. These are the things you will learn are worth so much more than MPP. Trust me. The benefits of being here on Medium and writing for Medium will take you farther, teach you more, and enrich your life more than your MPP nuumbers will. Be willing to accept “payment” in measures that are not monetary.
• Just be patient.

For all of you, here to expand yourselves, here to live your dream or make some money — whatever your goals, Medium has great value to offer you. Be careful what you expect. Be careful how you measure your successes. And most certainly, don’t let that MPP number or your stats define your talent or your worth as writer. This platform will not make influencers of everyone or establish Medium writing careers for everyone. But it will offer you a place for your voice. Use it with purpose.

Thank you for reading yet another Medium post. I hope that you have found some value here to enrich your Medium experience. Other nuggets I have to offer you:

Christina M. Ward Medium member since March 2019 Creator of Politically Speaking, The POM, Fiddleheads & Floss publications and the Poets on Medium Facebook group.