Summary

The author reflects on the lessons learned from writing 50 articles on Medium in three months, emphasizing the importance of passion and learning over the quantity of writing.

Abstract

The author of the article has reached a milestone of writing 50 articles on Medium over a span of three months. Initially questioning the adequacy of this achievement given the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the author concludes that the focus should be on the quality of writing and the learning process rather than the number of articles published. The article emphasizes that writing should be enjoyable and not forced, suggesting that inspiration often strikes spontaneously. The author also discusses the irrelevance of view counts as a measure of success, instead highlighting the significance of reader engagement through reads and fans. The content of the articles is also explored, with the author finding that topics of personal passion, such as the environment, yield better engagement than those written merely to produce content. The conclusion reiterates the importance of quality over quantity and encourages new writers to focus on developing high-quality pieces about topics they are passionate about.

Opinions

The author believes that writing should be a pleasurable activity rather than a mandatory task, akin to work or school.
Views on Medium articles are considered a vanity metric; engagement in terms of reads and fans is deemed more important for success.
The author has learned that writing about topics of personal interest and passion, such as the environment, mental health, and climate change, leads to better engagement and personal satisfaction.
Forcing oneself to write without genuine interest or passion can result in lower-quality content and is compared to doing homework.
The author values the learning experience gained from writing, including crafting engaging titles, using appropriate images, and writing in different tones.
The article suggests that the number of articles written is less important than the time spent learning and improving writing skills.
Medium is seen as a platform for sharing genuine thoughts and feelings, not just for meeting self-imposed quotas or deadlines.
The author encourages new writers to prioritize the creation of high-quality content over the quantity of their output.

What I Have Learned After 50 Articles on Medium

It took three months to write 50 articles

Is writing 50 articles on Medium in 3 months something to be proud of? Maybe? Depends on who you’re asking. For me, my first thoughts were: ‘this is kind of sad, why didn’t get here quicker? For someone that has been lying around at home doing nothing for months, it’s not enough. If it were life without COVID-19 it would be more than enough, especially for people that are just starting. But life isn’t normal.’

But does it matter how much you write?

How much should I write?

There is no set amount that you should write, it shouldn’t be a chore, it shouldn’t be the same as work or school. It’s more leisure, I find that when I force myself to sit down write, I tend to find it harder to do anything, and more often than not, I end up going on social media. Compared to when I suddenly get an idea and have to write about it. I’m certainly going to have more fun writing about that than when I force myself to.

Of course, you shouldn’t go days without touching your drafts. For days were I just couldn’t do anything, I ended up writing 10 new titles and kept them in my draft, proofread one of my pieces, and promoted some of my old articles. If Medium isn’t your full-time job, you shouldn’t feel obligated to have to post 2 times a day.

At first, my instinct was, why did it take so long? I should have hit 50 articles a month ago. But now while I’m writing this, I realized it shouldn’t be when I hit 50 articles? But how. Thinking about the process of getting here, all the emails I’ve sent. The articles that get rejects and all the publications that I have yet to be published in. I have learned so much about writing during the process.

Learning how to write good opening paragraphs, how to write an attention-grabbing title, putting images, and using the right ones. Learning how to edit more efficiently and quickly, being able to write in multiple tones like conversational, urgent, and calm. The question shouldn’t be how much should I write, but rather how much time should I spend learning how to write.

Doing is learning, the best way to write isn’t to read other people’s articles about writing, or watching videos about writing, it’s sitting down and writing. I’m not trying to say, don’t read guides on how to get better, but that reading these guides doesn’t do much unless you practice.

Stats

So, what have I learned? Well firstly, views don’t mean anything. Having views doesn’t necessarily mean engagement, as seen in my most viewed article.

When just looking at my views, it appears that my first article did quite well, but head across to the ratio, it’s a shocking 16%. Compare to most of my other articles, that’s quite low. And also look at the fans, it isn’t even one of my most applaud piece with so many views. Even with a double curation in Style and Environment. Then you move to the next one down. The view may be a lot less, but the reads are notably higher. This piece was also only curated in one topic, Mental Health. Then we get to the third one. The views are half as much as the second one and the reads are also lower, but it has the most fans out of all of them.

This shows that views don’t mean anything, it might make you feel better to see a high amount of views, but what you really should be focused on are the reads and fans. That is what’s going to make you successful on Medium. Your articles may get clicked on, but how many of them read the whole thing?

What should you write about?

Steering away from views, let’s talk about content, which topics did the best? Well, there isn’t any 1 topic that does great. I write more about Climate Change, Environment and Mental Health. I’ve tried writing about writing, tech, and other topics, but the best ones have to go to ‘Environment’. But everyone has their style. Like I cannot write fiction or humor. I’m quite humorous according to my friends but when it comes to writing, I don’t seem to be able to convey the right tone.

When it comes to Medium, it relies on your tone, getting the right voice, and being passionate enough about something to write articles about it. The key lies in passion, there are no set guidelines as to what you need to write to be successful.

Passion can’t be faked, the tone carried out in your writing needs to be genuine, it can’t be forced. Some of my articles that flopped was me just trying to put out content. During my first month, I was so worried about not posting every day, I just wrote about things I didn’t care about.

A great way to figure out what you’re passionate about is asking yourself two simple questions. Would I read 500 books about this topic? Can I spend 9 hours researching about this topic without getting bored? Writing takes time, writing isn’t just about the writing, it’s about the research, it’s about the editing. For me, it takes about 1 hour to write an article, but 2 hours of research and half an hour of editing.

Writing without being interested and passionate makes it more of a chore. For me, Medium is a place for me to share my thoughts and feelings with others. Not for me to complete assignments. Forcing yourself to write about something you don’t like is equivalent to doing your homework essay, you don’t want to do it, but you have to. You don’t want to just rush your articles, take the time, and writing about the rights things.

Conclusion

Everyone has their own pace. There is no set time someone should reach 50, 100, or 500 pieces. As long as you spend the time focused on improving and putting out quality content, it does not matter when you reach 50 articles.

New writers should begin by developing high-quality pieces even if it takes them 3 hours to write and then another 1 hour to edit. Medium wants quality, not quantity. Write about what you are passionate about, not what you think will do good on Medium.