5 Things I Noticed About Writers On Medium
By: Gal Mux
Tags: Writing, Lessons, Writers On Medium, Ｍedium, Writers Discussion Group

Photo by OpenClipArt- Vectors on Pixabay

5 Things I Noticed About Writers On Medium

Let’s face it. Majority of us writers on Medium are the majority that has not made $100 a month on Medium yet. Right?

We are the ones that write a story and cross our fingers hoping for a miraculous curation.

We promote our stories thoroughly on social media because our following on Medium does not translate to substantial views and reads.

We also are constantly checking our notifications and stats because a new view, read, and clap is news.

This post is mostly about us: The majority. I write this because I am in that category and I can only write about what I know. (But watch out I am working really hard to get to the top-earning league!)

This is what I noticed about writers on Medium.

When they give advice, it is to themselves

I hadn’t realised this one until almost two months in on Medium. I went and wrote a story about how to succeed on Medium as a newbie. Turns out all this time, I was telling myself how to succeed on making money on Medium. Otherwise, how would I have known how to succeed three weeks in?

Here is the article I wrote

Almost four months in, I realise I had gotten some things right and a few things wrong. I guess I should write a piece on what I had gotten wrong about Medium as a newbie.

When writers are writing and advising about love, life, relationships, money etc, I realise they are telling it to themselves. It’s like an immortalised soliloquy. Like you are calling yourself to a meeting and writing down the minutes clearly and concisely. Only that this time around, you also share it with the world.

There is no harm in it I guess. If a reader resonates with your story and borrows something that is helpful to them, it doesn’t matter whether subconsciously you were telling it to yourself.

2. Many writers have a specific niche

Some writers write specifically about sex, some about money, success, earnings, marketing etc.

I have read that this is one way to succeed on Medium. They suggest that you identify your niche and stick to it.

Personally, I prefer diversity. I like to read stories from many different writers about a wide variety of subjects. I also like to write about a wide variety of subjects too. I have written about sex, about love, about money, farming, religion etc. I have also written poetry which I enjoy very much.

That is why among several other reasons I follow many profiles on Medium. For diversity.

3. They will give you what you give them

Medium has a culture of reciprocation. If you read, clap or respond to another writer’s story, they will clap or respond to your response.

If you follow them, they will most likely also follow you back and read and interact with your stories.

I like this culture at Medium. It’s a wonderful community built on lending out a hand out to each other.

4. We are all curious about earnings on Medium

To be honest, this is one of my favourite topics on Medium. Particularly at the end month when all the monthly earnings are calculated.

I like to know what people make to encourage me, to inform me on what to write about, to help me understand some things on Medium that still puzzle me and also just out of pure curiosity.

All categories of writers share this information. From those earning six figures to those still earning cents.

It’s a very interesting topic to me. I admit I have searched Medium earnings as a topic on my feed and spent close to an hour reading as many stories as I could about it.

I might write a piece on my earnings at end of the year. Just to feed other writer’s curiosity like they feed my own when they write about their earnings.

5. It’s not all about the money

The first few pennies or cents that a newbie writer earns can be very discouraging. You spend a lot of time and energy working on a story for it to receive little love in terms of responses, claps, views, reads and earnings.

But I realised, if it was all about the money, many writers on Medium would not keep on writing. Most of us write because we love it, because we have the gift and ability, because we love to express ourselves and because we would want to be read among other reasons.

Also, publication owners must not be doing it for the money. As there is little or no financial incentive to take their time and energies, to sit down and help edit and publish other writer’s stories in order to help them earn on Medium.

Writers on Medium among other things are very passionate about what they do. Money is just one of their motivations. Not the only.