What Kind of Medium Writer Are You?

How to tell, and how to get better at building your voice

My social media expert, JC Spears and I were discussing my writing on Medium. JC is, in every way, not only just brilliant at what he does, but he’s also become one of my all-time favorite people for many, many reasons. That’s another story, but for now, I want to amplify an excellent piece of advice he offered me.

JC is an expert at amplifying the online voices of entrepreneurs like me and many of my readers. JC has an annoying-but-wonderful habit of dropping extreme wisdom into our fast-moving conversations so quickly that if I’m not careful, that precious stone will drop beneath the surface like the LOTR ring and disappear before I can retrieve the damned thing.

This one I caught. I hope it adds value, especially for those of us for whom Medium is an essential part of our overall business strategy.

In the last two years I’ve written nearly four thousand articles for Medium. Before that, around 550 on Linked In. And two books. JC has scanned a good bit of it. We are now looking at how to link relevant material, including Medium articles,to my new website. He commented that it was time that I wrote more proactively than reactively.

This advice is a lot bigger than it seems.

I teased this idea out a bit, and expanded to include observations of what I’ve seen during my time on Medium, including of course what I consistently do, which is instructive. This is going to be a bit simplistic but you can get the drift.

There are, to my mind, five primary types of Medium writers. This article is mostly aimed at those of us who are using Medium as a business strategy. Hobbyists, and all the other many kinds of very capable contributors are a different topic. The list below speaks only to the kinds of writing I tend to see, in five very general categories. Kindly there are plenty of sub-categories but that isn’t the purpose of this article.

Again:

JC’s challenge to me was to largely stop writing Reactively, and focus more on being Proactive.

He’s spot on. That is, if I have any intention of building a cohesive brand or voice (tagging you, Paul Myers MBA)

Here are the general categories, and why that may make a lot of sense for those of us who write for a living, who have a very specific lane or expertise, or who are hoping to do that.

Proactive

These are articles that we develop, research and publish which are distinctly in our lane, our area of expertise. This is original work, by you, for your readers in this space. They could be solid reporting, or educational, or inspirational, poetry, fiction, scientific, humorous, or an opinion piece on a topic you know well. This kind of article is ours and ours alone. You might have deep experience in risk management, or hands-on expertise in gardening, or raising kids. You own this. Truly proactive work bubbles up solely from you, or you and a co-writer. For example, I recently did a piece on Understanding Styles Under Stress. I shared that work and the credit with another speaker/trainer who has chops in the topic. This kind of material showcases our expertise, and builds trust in our knowledge. This is where we build our voices. While there really is very little that is new under the sun, what makes a topic new is your unique take on that topic. By that I mean we don’t take from others, but we come up with our own brand new way of seeing, using, applying material which has largely been around forever. This doesn’t apply to all topics, but it most assuredly does apply to evergreen topics like management, communication, leadership, travel, marketing, gender and the like. The point of new writers is new eyes. New ways of seeing. That is what you and I can bring, and it’s in every way important work.

One reason this is so very important is JC’s term, relevant material, to my website, above. If my website is, as I certainly hope, going to become an income generator, then all my possibly-interesting or funny or whatever articles that do not align with my brand are just that: irrelevant. To the business, at least. As I’ve written elsewhere, those Medium superstars who were able to earn five figures, when they were being honest, made it clear that they had developed multiple income streams. Writing all over the place, and on certain days this is precisely what I can do if I’m not careful, is like walking into the middle of my parched Colorado yard and dumping a bucket of water right in the middle. Ignoring the prize roses, the maple tree and all the truly promising plants, while the dandelions are doing a happy dance.

However, Paul Myers MBA just added this comment, and I wholly agree: he applies the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of time for pure play, which I think is key not only for inspiration from other writers (nowhere did I say stop reading, heavens!) but also for food for thought in our own work. Focus is an issue for me, and I have to work hard at keeping my eyeballs on my own work because tempting titles appear all the time. This isn’t all work and no play. Please, play. Participate. However, again, if you’re building a business, Prioritize. With thanks to Paul.

Confessional/Personal Story

This is the “how I did it, how I survived, how I lost 100 pounds.” A lot of us not only enjoy this material but we are also inspired by it. This is original (or at least I sure hope so), and can be deeply powerful. This is also proactive writing if the story serves to build your voice and your brand. However, if the personal story doesn’t serve to build your business, it takes time away. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. It’s simply a choice about how you spend your writing time. If your weight loss story supports your professional work, have at it. If your rags to riches story supports your consultancy, go for it. The question might be: what’s my purpose? What’s the point? How does this serve? Only you can answer that question.

Reactive

This kind of material can either be an article or a comment, negative, positive or neutral. What we write reactively isn’t quite fully original; it is inspired by someone else’s original work. Many times this is the knee-jerk response to a piece of writing, which may or may not paint us in a positive light (see below). It may well be outside our lanes, or made us angry or happy. Doesn’t matter. The point is that we didn’t originate the material. There is a crossover point here which I will address in the next paragraph. While this kind of article or comment can add value, it may not always be as powerful as our own original voice, our take. I am often inspired to do pieces that rise out of reading other’s good material, but all too often it’s not deeply in my lane. While you and I might have something very valid to add, the point is that this kind of writing can take time away from building our business and voice. If that is what you’re trying to do, this is where JC’s point really comes home to roost. Write the best original material that builds your brand.

But that’s not all. There is another way to see Reactive material.

Here is some additional advice from JC about how Reactive writing can actually be a boon to our brands:

Writing is one of those places where proactive and reactive are not exactly polar opposites. It is possible to be proactive in your reactionary writing. The way this is done well is by identifying positive and negative values for your brand. In simple terms, in order to proactively react as a brand, you need to know what values and ideas that your brand is explicitly for and what values and ideas that your brand is explicitly against. By understanding these values, you can target your feed to watch for opportunities to proactively react to content or events that align with or oppose your values. This focus on strategic values means your reactionary writing stays closer to your areas of expertise and increases the likelihood of your reactions being seen as thought leadership for your field. (final bold added by this author)

Supportive

The crossover, or cross-pollination work(I share Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s affection for this term) is when a particular article inspires you enough so that you want to build on it using your own expertise on the topic. It’s still your lane, but you’re tagging someone. What I like about this is that it shares the lectern, expands your readership and builds community. However, you didn’t quite originate all of it. I use this a lot, and really enjoy this kind of article writing. However, it still isn’t always quite as strong as originating all or most of your own material. It can also be very time-consuming. If you, like I do, have to start focusing on a brand voice, while this can be deeply satisfying and rewarding, it might be more productive to start spending more time on Proactive material. That depends entirely on what you are hoping to achieve on Medium. If your purpose is to build your business, then you, as I need to do, might want to focus more on original material, the Proactive articles.

Destructive

This is both reactive and damaging, which is why it has its own category.

To set the stage, here is a quote from the guidelines that we have all agreed to abide by as writers:

We welcome thoughtful and civil discussion from a broad spectrum of viewpoints.

You and I can not only torpedo our business and online reputations on Medium, but we can and do get permanently blocked from participating again. To that let’s discuss:

Destructive articles/comments that seek to hurt other writers can ruin our reputation. Every comment counts as a story. It can be a harsh, angry, vitriolic piece of writing that becomes a permanent digital record of our online voice (Dr Mehmet Yildiz has written about this several times). Material that seeks to harm, undermine, denigrate, demean and spread toxic rumor about other writers is the best way to lose followers. We are all subject to such feelings, usually when we are in Reactive mode. It’s human. If someone writes something that offends us, the feeling is legitimate. Making it public is not only damaging to that other person, but we can’t take it back. It’s on record somewhere. Others can block you, report you, you may well be removed. Such behavior has the unfortunate outcome of tamping down valuable voices from others who have every right to write, but fear the ire of those who cannot tolerate alternative viewpoints.

We all lose when this happens.

Better, if I may, that we write out our anger in a Word document first. (Why? because in order to press publish we have to copy and paste the whole ugly mess into a new story. That process may well be just enough time for sanity to settle in. Meaning: delete. ) Even better, write it out in a safe place; by hand is even more helpful. Let the heat dissipate, return to it later. I’ve found that usually, where I have anger means that the person has a legitimate point. The point may have been delivered in a simply horrible way, but it is, after all, feedback. Doesn’t matter if it makes me uncomfortable; if the commenter has a valid point, it’s still a valid point. When I calm down my defensive feelings, I often get value. There is no value in trying to be Vlad the Destroyer because someone offended you, or because you don’t agree. It’s not worth it.

Your feelings are real. Putting them online is probably a really bad idea, if you want to earn respect from potential clients who might worry about being on the receiving end of that kind of behavior someday.

Let me illustrate it another way: A good friend of mine described briefly dating a woman who had an unfortunate habit of castigating and eviscerating all her previous exes. My friend realized it was likely just a matter of time before it was his turn. Same thing. He ended it, wisely.

To Wrap This Up

There will at some point be a new normal. Depending on your circumstances, you may well have the luxury of extra time right now. This might also be a time for you to experiment with all kinds of new topics and subjects. Again, this article focuses on those of us who are building/rebuilding a business and where Medium is part of that strategic plan.

How JC’s advice has helped me:

When I get inspiration for an article, I write a title and a few words in my stories list. Later I revisit that list. In alignment with JC’s excellent business advice, I review those topics. Lately I’ve been a lot more brutal about what I keep, what I choose to write about. I ask:

1. How does this serve my purpose?
2. Is this in alignment with my brand? Does this support my brand?
3. Am I just spouting my opinion or am I adding real value?
4. How does this material add value, particularly as it serves my business?
5. If this is for other purposes, can I afford the luxury of this side-step?
6. How does this article/comment support the voice I hope to build?

While this forces me to rein in some of my more exploratory work, it also allows me to be more disciplined. I have a very real limitation: at 67, I don’t have the luxury of many decades ahead. While I dearly love the free-wheeling nature of Medium, and the opportunity to write about a great many things that interest me, I can’t afford scattershot. Your situation is different, and writing about many topics may be perfect for you.

That’s why for my part I’ve had to pull back from some of my tagging and commenting, and focus on the very real job at hand of rebuilding my business. I’ll still read, comment and on occasion tag (which is that 20% essential play and explore piece), but it’s time for me to buckle down and get to work.

I hope this material has been helpful for those serious about developing your income streams, while using Medium as part of that effort.

Thanks for reading.