I No Longer Write For Medium Publications That ;
By: Gal Mux
Tags: Writers On Writing, Medium Publications, Writing On Medium, Ｍedium, Writing

Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

Writing for publications is coveted on the Medium platform.

It can get you more views, reads, responses, claps and earnings as publications will tend to have more followers than individual profiles. And particularly when the writers are new on the platform. Publication owners work really hard to gain their publication followers that end up reading our stories so we should give them all the credit they deserve.

I get very excited when I get added as a writer to a publication I like. I also get even more excited when a story I had submitted to a publication gets accepted and published by them.

Writing for a Medium owned publication is the top jewel on the crown. It’s like getting your story curated to me. It might guarantee you more reads which eventually translates to more earnings and a little joy and prestige to top it all.

But writing for a publication is a journey in itself.

You have to research the publication first to know the kind of articles they accept, you have to also read their submission guidelines and contact them to be added as a writer. It doesn’t end there as when you write and submit a story, you have to wait to see whether your story gets accepted or rejected. For larger publications, you have to wait for up to two weeks to know.

It is not clear how publication owners or editors benefit. Even though I created my own publication which is only a few weeks old and is not as busy yet, I can tell you that it requires some hard work to maintain it by keeping your writers engaged and to grow it by seeking more writers and submissions.

It hurts when your story gets rejected, to be honest. And I decided I will not subject myself to unnecessary pain in my life or on Medium for that matter.

As a publication owner, my rules are simple. I will rarely reject an article unless it doesn’t meet the core guidelines. Following the example of Dr Mehmet Yildiz of ILLUMINATION, I plan to give people chances. I even wrote a whole article about it.

For these reasons, I no longer write for publications that;

Constantly reject my stories

If I submit some stories to your publication and you reject them a few times ( meaning five), I will never submit another story to you and I might even remove myself as a writer from your publication.

I understand your publications your rules, but five rejections is a clear indication that we are not a good fit. Also, there are other publications on Medium that would be happy to receive and publish my stories.

So yeah boy bye👋 .

Over edit my stories

I agree it's your publication and you reserve the right on whether to publish my story or not depending on whether it is a good fit or not.

But over editing it other than just a few grammatical errors is a complete no for me!

Change my images

Selecting images is a mind-boggling task. Before I settle on an image I go through several before determining which one to use based on how I feel it will best convey my message. I might not always get it right, but that’s how I like it.

Changing my image is a no-no especially without my permission.

Write your own story yourself and give that fitting image. If you publish my story with a changed image I will withdraw that story and self publish or submit it to another publication. No hard feelings.

Have too many stringent rules

Again, I understand — your publication, your rules. But if a publication dictates what I should or should not have on my profile picture, words I should or shouldn’t use to express myself and whether I should write under a pseudo or not. If a publication indicates that I need to support them on their Patreon to facilitate the publishing of my stories or I can only submit stories on Sundays or specific days of the week— then it’s a pass for me.

Give too much pre-publishing feedback.

I have actually withdrawn a few stories from some publications for this. It’s not a must that my story gets published in your publication anyway.

Look, it’s my story. Written from my perspective. If you don’t like or disagree with what you read, go and write your own story on the same topic but from your different perspective.

I do appreciate some feedback. Actually, I ask for it and I implement it. But I can tell the difference between constructive feedback and an overall judgement of my article or my opinions.

I also understand that the kind of stories a publication accepts and publishes can build or break it so the stringent rules and many rejections may have some merit in them.

Again, no hard feelings here. Give warranted feedback. And if you as an editor don’t agree with the writer’s opinions, just write your own story with your own opinions on that topic. It’s that simple!

What are the reasons that will make you to no longer write for a publication?

Before I go, I must say a big thank-you to all the publications that give us chances again and again! We truly appreciate it!