Your Essential Checklist for Polished Writing on Medium

7 things you need to consider before you submit your story

You may have noticed — writing on Medium is different. When I mentor new writers, I find they often struggle with the same aspects.

To be successful on this platform, it helps to have a strong, unique voice and original writing style, but there are definitely some basic rules to be followed if you want to do well.

Your Medium Basics Checklist:

1. Create a strong title

A good title is crucial. Without it, no-one will even read your story.

Take the time to study good titles, learn different successful formulas, and practice writing them. Many successful writers create 10 or more titles for each story before they settle on one.

• Highlight your title and click the Large T formatting tool.
• You can choose to place your title above or below the image. Most people place it above.
• Use title case — each word has an uppercase letter, except small words such as “in”, “a” etc.
• Do not add punctuation at the end, except a question mark if appropriate.
• Medium will not curate stories with titles that are click-bait (dishonest titles that over-promise, exaggerate, or are not delivered on in the story.)

2. Create a subtitle that matches your main point or conclusion

Don’t overlook your subtitle. You are not likely to have your story curated (recommended by Medium) without it.

• Place your subtitle directly below your title.
• Highlight it and use the small t formatting tool to create your title. It should change color to a light grey.
• Use sentence case — words are only capitalized as they would be in a normal sentence. For example: “Make sure you’ve done these before you submit”
• Do not punctuate the end of the subtitle, except if a question mark is needed.
• If you change your title or subtitle, check that it is also changed under settings. Go to the three dots in the top corner near “publish” and select “change display title/ subtitle”.

3. Add a clear, quality image

The image is what readers will see when they are on their Medium home page, or the home page of the publication where your work is published. Stories without images at the start get lost in the crowd and don’t get curated.

• Make sure to use an image which you have the rights to use. Unsplash and Pexels have many free images. There are more image sources listed in this article:

• Credit the creator of the image. Click on the image and below it you will be able to paste or write the credits, e.g. Image by Freddy Frog @ Pexels.com.
• Images which are not credited will stop your story being curated.
• If you use your own image, make sure it’s high quality. Credit yourself below it.
• Click on your image to change it’s size and add Alt text (a description of the image for readers with vision impairment).

4. Make sure your first 50 words are strong

You have a few seconds to engage your reader online. Spend time making sure those first few sentences hook them in.

• Get to your point, cut the waffle.

5. Check for errors

Most weeks, I receive a draft from a writer that is so full of errors it’s a struggle to read. Spelling is one thing, but when whole words are missing it becomes a problem.

• Read your work out loud. Listen for how the words sound together, whether you’ve made any double ups or errors, and whether any sentences sound strange to you.
• Try an online editing tool, such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid.
• Leave your story for a few hours (or days) so that you can read it over with fresh eyes.
• Punctuation: think about using oxford commas for lists, for example: write, read, and then cut. The third comma makes a list clear and easy to read (this is up to you, it’s just my personal preference).
• If you want to make an em dash — hit the dash key twice. Once, like this - is wrong.

6. Break up large text chunks

Many people are reading on their phones and long blocks of text are hard to read.

• Break up your text into smaller chunks — even single sentences.
• Use bullet points if appropriate to your story. Hit the Shift and * keys and then press the space bar.
• Use subtitles to break up sections (highlight and use the small or large T.) Some publications have formatting preferences for subtitles within the text. It’s a good idea to check their guidelines before you submit your story.
• Some writers like to place images throughout their text to break it up.

7. Publish or submit your draft

There are two ways to publish a story on Medium — by yourself or through a publication.

• To publish immediately, hit “publish” and add 5 tags. The numbers next to the tags show which ones are the most popular with readers and most followed. Mental health, Self Improvement, Productivity for example are popular tags.
• To submit to a publication DO NOT hit “Publish”.
• Read the publications submission guidelines. Usually you’ll need to email them to be added as a writer. Click the three dots and select “Share draft link” to send them your draft. You can copy and paste the link.
• You can also share your draft link with other people helping you edit your story.
• Most publications do not accept stories which are already published.

Medium staff also have their own blog where you can find updates on changes, what curators are looking for, how to write headlines etc.

Medium let’s you decide how you present your work. You can ignore all the rules above and do your own thing if you really want to.

If you’d like to see your work in publications though, these guidelines will get you half the way there — which leaves you with more time to focus on writing those captivating stories.

If you want to find out more about mentoring contact me, or go here for Inspired Writers Mentor Program.

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