Why Self-Publish on Medium If You Can Submit to Top Publications?

Your own publication could outgrow your personal profile

When Niklas Göke told me “No thanks, we’ll pass this story,” I thought: That’s the second time in a row. Am I fired or what?

It was a story written like a hero’s journey about a man who couldn’t sell crap. He wanted to create better products for new moms. The “why” in his Golden Circle made his company one of the top world brands. And Better Marketing didn’t want it. It wasn’t practical enough.

But I had a plan B: to self-publish it instead of pressing “Delete.” I listened to Zulie Rane’s advice and opened my own publication: From Maria With Love. I used to see those individual publications as a waste of time. I would pitch top publications to gain more traction, more eyeballs, exposure, a better chance to succeed.

Big publications have another advantage: if you are lucky, you get small feedback from the editor about your piece. Moreover, a great editor can polish your article to perfection. They know something Grammarly doesn’t. And you don’t need to google things such as “sentence split.” You can also meet other authors and communicate with more readers there.

Still, having your own publication comes with benefits. These are the reasons why I sometimes self-publish and you should, too.

You Don’t Have to Delete an Article Which Will Get Curated 100%

Yes, absolutely look for what the audience wants. They pay you. But if you want to get into Medium-owned publications, you have to self-publish first (Medium-owned pubs are those you see at the top of Medium’s homepage: (Elemental, Forge, Human Parts, Level, etc.). And I wanted to get into Human Parts. So, I wrote a story about how I make noise with unknown people at night. Human Parts haven’t reached out to me. But Medium editors liked my article enough to curate it in three different categories:

To me, that’s something. My storytelling is good enough. I presented a personal anecdote well and it resonates with other people. Major publications such as Better Marketing are great, you get curated fast. But if you self-publish, you can see how the Medium editors and the audience respond to it.

So, my word of advice to you would be: pitch top publications but sometimes also self-publish articles you’d like to see in Medium-owned pubs. While you are doing this, wait for the new audience to accumulate.

You Can Get Your Friends, Family, and Other Writers to Become Members of the MPP

And pay for your living! Your own publication will get you new readers who may be outside of Medium, such as your friends. Once they become a part of the MPP and root for you, the reading time of your articles will increase. Also, you can pull other writers from your country to become new Medium writers. They will draw their audience here. Your publication could thrive if you’re lucky and persistent.

Keep the Readers of Your Publication Posts Longer, Instead of Letting Them Fly Off to Other Writers

Below every post, there are three articles similar to yours. If you submit your piece to a major publication, the readers will see other people’s articles. If you self-publish, you are keeping them inside your own publication.

You Don’t Write Just to Gain Traction

You write to get better in writing, not just to earn money. Or is it just me? Since I’m not playing the “Follow-Unfollow” game, I try to reach followers organically. If I’m extremely lucky and hard-working, it could take up a year or two. Why not use that time to get better at writing?

In my experience, personal stories do better than tutorials. People want to read “This happened to me” more often than “I’ll teach you everything you need to know about X.” Writing native ads, I realized people don’t like the idea of marketing, but they always like a good story, even if they know it’s marketing. Stories make us feel as if we lived through an author’s narrative.

On Medium, I try to implement what I learned from literary writers. I use sensory details for a better description. I mix dialogue and internal monologue; the first and third-person narration; the present tense for more effect and the third to sound more credible. I put cliffhangers to make the read more compelling. I also try to make my characters more human, not one-dimensional in all their virtue. With practice, my storytelling is improving. Your publication speaks volumes about your writing abilities.

You Can Showcase a Variety of Forms

How do you get into the desired publication which doesn’t accept new writers anymore? Give them an article that matches their criteria.

For this reason, I experiment:

• With the form: I wrote a case study, a memoir, a book review, a newspaper article, a teacher’s explanation of grammar, a 3-minute personal piece.
• With the niche: I wrote about writing, social media, self-help, and a literary piece.
• With major publications: Still, your article gets easily moved aside by a large volume of new pieces.
• With minor publications: To see if their writers respond to you more.

Here is a list of all Medium publications, starting from the largest.

Your publication can also become a mishmash of stories.

You Have More Freedom to Write About What Interests You, Instead of What the Publication Demands

Pubs have rules. You are confined by the length of a post, a topic, and a format. Although sometimes there is an article that looks clickbaity and lousy, it’s in the publication because it matches all the stipulated criteria. This is why you can’t write something which “reads more like a biography“ in Better Marketing.

You Don’t Need to Strive for the Popular but It Can Still Turn Out Well

This morning I had both of my self-published pieces curated by Medium staff within 30 minutes. The first was about how indecisiveness can help you make better decisions. The other one was about how I lose my mind amid the pandemic with strangers in the dark. Both are not self-help in a classic way but they are “feelgood“ enough. Although I don’t know if I’ll get 400 views for each one, the curation gives me courage. My writing is good enough for Medium editors.

You Never Know What Will Go Well, and Maybe You Have a Hit

Why not put something in your own publication? Of course, your most popular piece won’t be the one you are most proud of. But as long as you’ve got your big goal in mind, you are doing fine. Make it something beyond “I’ll earn money from Medium.” Try “I want to get published in other places as well,” “I’ll have my own product,” or “I want to write a real book one day,” for example.

People here never clapped most for the articles I spent days polishing. On the contrary. “You Don’t Need a Personal Brand to Get from 1,000 to 10,000 Followers” and “5 Tools I Use to Improve My Writing” were written quickly, to fill in the blank space between my two posts, but they were both hits. For the first one, my partner told me “it’s crap.” It’s my most popular post since I returned to Medium. The second is among my most popular articles about writing. So, feel free to experiment in your own backyard.

You Have All Your Articles in One Place

In the beginning, you can post the articles other publications didn’t accept. And those you still don’t know where to fit. And those you want to showcase to get into desired publications. But focus on top publications. As I said, you need them as a new writer. You need their audience. Still, everything they don’t publish can stay in your publication.

When more people start following you, they will also be able to read all your posts in one place. You could send them a newsletter with your latest articles even if you don’t have a website, because you can do that if you have a publication on Medium. Yes, it will need more time to gain readers. But in the end, your publication could have more followers than your own profile.

Your Publication Can Have Many Different Topics, Not Just One Niche

There is so much room for experimenting. You are not limited to two types of articles or just one topic such as productivity. Take a look at Kay Bolden’s pub. Would any major publication match travel, writing, and lifestyle? I can’t think of one.

When you are considering what to write about, choose your tags wisely. Think about what interests you the most and how many followers each tag has. Strive for those that have a great number of followers.

Here is a list of all Medium topics as searchable categories.

Have in mind there are some very popular topics on Medium which don’t have their own categories such as “Life Lessons”.

You Can Collaborate With Other Medium Authors Who Will Help You Grow

If you choose to publish other people’s work in it as well. Collaboration gets you new followers. Other writers can submit pieces to your publication. Then their viewers could see your articles there, too. Some of their readers could become your readers.

A word of advice if you are going that way: choose writers among your Medium friends first. Then reach out to writers who have a similar number of followers as you are. Big fish won’t be interested to take part in a project with a few hundred readers. As your publication becomes more popular, you can go to people who have more readers.

Conclusion

You’ve seen it yourself, even the most popular writers here often self-publish. Some of them have their own publications such as Darius Foroux. Why not have all your posts in one place? If you have a clear aim of why you are doing this, your publication can be a great source of new Medium followers, a means to improve your writing, maybe create your personal brand, or showcase your craft.

You can experiment with the content and still get curated even though your article doesn’t suit any major publications. As you improve the craft, your pub can strengthen your position on Medium. If you are aiming for first-rate publications, give self-publishing a serious try. But before you get all popular, don’t give up on posting on top Medium publications as well.

I’ve created a 5-day free course on writing that you can read on Medium. Check it out: