It’s Time for Academics to Write on Medium
By: Rose Ernst
Tags: Academic, Academia, Writing Life, Professor, PhD

How to Write on Medium

Medium allows anyone to set up a profile and write stories. It remains free, but they’ve created a paywall ($5 a month) for most articles. This isn’t an issue for you because you can write articles behind the paywall (so you earn money) and share them with what’s called a “friend link,” as I explain in this video I just created.

1. Join the Medium Partner Program. You actually don’t need to do this to be a writer, but it’s worth it so you’ll have access to the content and can understand what Medium readers expect. (5 minutes)

2. Become a Writer and Create a Profile. Upload a photo/avatar and write a brief profile. (20 minutes)

3. Start Writing Your First Story. I used to write in my stories in word or scrivener but switched to writing the stories on the platform itself because it’s beautiful and it saves my work every few minutes. I can start several stories at once and have them be automatically saved (no one sees them until you publish them). (1–4 hours total)

4. Find Photos and Research Links. Most writers use Unsplash to insert their photos in their story. I use them in between sections of text as visual cues and to keep the reader’s interest. As an academic, I assume you’ll want to cite a few studies (Medium’s editors/curators love this!), so insert those hyperlinks now. (30 minutes)

5. Format. Medium has built-in formatting tools for quotes and headings you’ll want to try. Some publications (see below) have specific expectations before they’ll accept your article, so you’ll want to check that. Beyond this, however, use headings and white space (instead of long paragraphs) to keep your reader going. Imagine facing a wall of block text when you’re reading on a phone! (10 minutes)

6. Select Tags: Select tags that accurately reflect your article (e.g., “creativity”) and have a large following. (2 minutes)

7. Submit to a Publication. Do this before you hit publish! Publications are the lifeblood of Medium. People follow these themed publications that serve as a distribution channel for your audience. If you publish in a publication with a vast subscriber base, then you’ll have more visibility. But don’t let that limit you, as smaller publications often have dedicated followings. Each publication has different rules for submission. Once you become a writer there, however, you can submit your articles there much more easily from your dashboard (see the video). (1 minute)

8. Share and Wait for Curation. Congrats! Your publication published your article. Now you can add audio with AI or your own voice. Within anywhere from 1 to 12 hours, Medium editors will let you know if you’ve been “curated” in certain categories/tags. This means you’ve produced great content and they’ll share it across the front pages of particular category areas (again, like “creativity”). This means you’ll get even more eyeballs on your piece. (15 minutes)

You can also share your story on LinkedIn, FB, or anywhere else. You can use a “friend link” so people don’t have to be Medium members to read it (see video). Remember, you own this article, so you can also submit it elsewhere as long as that publication agrees.

What did you say about earning money?