What Being On Medium For 5 Months Taught Me About The Writing Community

Tested steps that every beginner must know for guaranteed growth on Medium.

1. Self-Publishing Just Won’t Do

When I first joined Medium, I was a passive member. I only read articles for the first 3 months. Nothing wrong with that, except I didn’t know the amount of effort writers were putting to get their articles across to me. When you’re a customer, you don’t know how much time marketers spend in a boardroom, making plans to acquire you. ok, that sounds creepy but you know what I mean.

I was so inexperienced with the writing world. One moment I was writing in my spiral-bound journal, and the next moment I was here. I’d never done freelancing gigs, never wrote cringy fan-fiction on Wattpad, and certainly had no idea how a community of writers operates.

luckily, I’m a quick learner. I used to watch and learn.

I noticed how every article I read was on a publication. I started taking these publications and their following into account, but my top priority was how engaged it’s audience was. A publication could have over 1k followers but do nothing for your article, but a small pub with just over 300 followers could take your article places. I knew that already because of common sense.

What I did:

I went on Smedian and zeroed in on all the publications I was interested in and applied there. It took some time, but I was added as a writer to a few great publications. My first favorite pub was Writer’s Blokke. If you’re new to Medium, there’s no place like it. Nobody judges you, they publish your article immediately, you can be an editor, and nobody cares what your topic is about, they simply want to read.

Takeaway: Don’t wait for people to find you, go where they already are. Apply to publications that you’d make a good fit for, and put your articles there. If you have a niche, find publications centered around that niche and you’re bound to find interested readers.

2. Interact and Engage or Be Left Alone.

In my early days on Medium, I wouldn’t leave comments, highlight anything, or follow people. before you start hating me, let me tell you the reason. I was a little shy to leave comments, I didn’t want to draw attention by highlighting, and I was coming from Instagram, where we have high standards and only follow people we’re really really interested in, or will unfollow in a day’s time.

But I started to notice how people would interact with other’s articles, leave thoughtful comments, and appreciate them. They weren't even talking to me, but it would make me happy. I used to feel like a proud mama. Initially, I’d just watch but once it started happening to me, I knew I had to give back.

So I decided to give it a shot too. Again, I was coming from instagram, and people on Instagram interact heavily with their friends and idols. Double-tap everything, comments with caps lock on, “GIRL YOU ARE SO PRETTY OMG WUT”, the whole shebang. It was easy to start interacting on medium even though the people were not my best friends, simply because the content here was worthy of appreciation, and I genuinely found it inspiring, interesting, or entertaining.

What I did:

I started highlighting sentences I liked and letting the author know how reading their article made me feel. Sometimes, if an article touched me personally and I had something to share/ask, I’d leave a private note, explaining how it resonated with me and candidly discuss the topic at hand. I’m a little shy still haha. I remember one time I read an article where the author described a trip to Tokyo. To me, it felt like a written version of a music video very close to my heart. I shared it through a private note with the author and they were surprised at how similar it was to their experience too. It’s so much fun to share and find things that excite us.

Takeaway:

Highlight, appreciate, and follow writers and topics you love, shamelessly. Go all out. Also, don’t comment for the sake of commenting, but only when you really have something to say. The goal is to interact and build friendships, not just getting your name out there. Just like you, other writers can also tell when someone’s comment isn’t genuine.

3. All The Rumours About The Writing Community on Twitter Are True

I read so much about the importance of a writer to have a twitter account. I was skeptical and lazy, so I kept postponing and sleeping on the idea until 15 days ago.

I finally made an account on twitter, and am already close to getting a 100 followers, in less than a month. I had an account in 2017 prior to this that never reached even 30 followers. Not like followers are everything, but this is definitely an indicator that there is a writing community thriving on Twitter. You will find writers, bloggers, publishers, and just about all the resources you require while being a writer that you wouldn’t find otherwise.

Sure, a lot of the time it just feels like everyone is simply pushing their own products, books, and articles, and no one is really interested in your writings, they just blindly keep tweeting “writer’s lift” and retweeting your articles because they want followers. But in the few days, I’ve been on it, I’ve already made at least 7 genuine connections, found and participated in a poetry submission, and found useful resources that would take me a lot of research to get from google.

I wouldn’t count on it for views or traction, but I can definitely see it coming in handy when I need resources, advice/ help, or some entertainment and interaction with fellow writers.

As long as you limit your time on it, all the book/blog and article pushing will be worth it. Also, check that stuff once in a while and give feedback. Support other writers when you have time!

What I did:

I set up a twitter account, swore my allegiance to medium in the bio, added the hashtag “Writingcommunity” to give visitors a clear picture of what I do, and started interacting with fellow writers there. I followed people when I liked what they were talking about, liked promotional tweets and gave feedback, and started retweeting fellow medium writer’s works here and there.

Takeaway:

Make a twitter account. It helps. It may not give you the traction you need on your article here, but it is definitely useful. Believe it or not, the writing community thrives on Twitter and has a lot of love to give to fellow writers, new and old alike.

4. If You’re Going To Clap, Make It Count

When I first joined Medium, I had no idea how this clapping system worked. I thought you could only clap once like you could only “like” a picture once on Instagram or Facebook. So I always left a single solitary clap.

But I also noticed how different people’s claps were adding up differently. Sometimes, my article would have 20 claps from one person, sometimes 7 and sometimes a straight 50 and it was so confusing because there was no rhyme or reason to it.

Additionally, I found no article addressing this, so I came to the conclusion that everyone claps only once but medium calculates it differently. So claps given by people who clap often add up to less than 10 claps, while claps given by people who clap less have more value, it could directly be a 50. I know, it sounds so silly now. but there was no explanation, so I had to come up with my own.

After 4 months, I finally understood how claps work. Once I realized I could give 50 claps for anything that I read, I just went to town with it. I just couldn’t bear to leave an article with less than 20 claps after that.

Many people might think, how does it matter. I’ll tell you why giving 50 claps matters. The algorithm has changed anyway, and claps don’t earn, but they still matter. The writer has worked hard on a piece and you have the power to rate it. When you leave anything below 35, the writer will understand it as “Good but It can be better”. If you leave somewhere between 10–20, they will see it as “nice, but I’m not impressed at all”. However, anything below 10 just looks like sympathy. There, I said it. So, what would you do? And what do you have to lose by leaving maximum claps?

I don’t know about you but if I can give a writer the validation they deserve by spending 20 seconds extra on their article, I will.

What I did:

Every time I read something, I give it 50 claps. If I’m the first person to clap on an article, I additionally leave a comment to appreciate the writer. If I’m really lazy I strive for over 35 claps. The only time I lose my patience to hold down the clap icon for 20 seconds is when it’s late at night and I’m tired. Even then I go above 20.

Takeaway:

Clap like it’s nobody’s business. Always leave 50 claps. If you can’t/ don’t want to do that, at least don’t leave 1 clap. That will be a start. It gives the writer’s a sense of purpose and validation. It pushes them to work on a bad day and is the invisible pat on the back when they don’t feel very proud of their work.

That was all, thank you for reading.

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