Beginner’s Guide to Writing for Medium
By: E.P. Hasan
Tags: Passive Income, Nonfiction, Work, Writing, Remote Work

I’m new here, so I figured there’s no better (or more audacious) way to make an entrance than to have your first story be a beginner’s guide to writing for Medium when you have zero experience writing for Medium.

But in an odd way, it kind of makes sense.

A lot of veteran Medium writers might forget the nitty gritty stuff that newbies wonder about when they’re first starting off. Their experience might blindside them to some of the concerns beginners have now.

I am assuming, if you’re reading this then you’re curious about Medium but on the fence about taking the next step in. I’m just a foot further from where you are right now. Wouldn’t you like to know what I’ve seen so far?

What’s it Like at the Edge of the Woods?

I think what I was mainly looking for when I was researching Medium was what an actual beginner felt/knew/went through. Success stories were everywhere, but what can you expect at the very beginning? How long will it take for an average person to get to there, the clearing where the light was coming from?

So here’s where I am right now. This is my first article or “story” as they call it in these neck of the woods and I’m just starting off on my writing journey just a step in, past the first set of trees.

I have blogged in the past and that’s about the extent of my experience. And I’ve started off knowing the basics about Medium: You write. You get paid.

But initially, I was turned off because I thought the barrier to get in was high (i.e., a strict publishing criteria that would make it hard for your work to even appear on the site). And even if I had managed to get in, I would have to ‘write to the market’ to experience any kind of success.

Turns out, I was wrong on both counts.

ADDRESSING SOME ASSUMPTIONS:

No Barrier to Get In

Medium doesn’t work like a traditional paper magazine where you would have to go through a stringent publishing criteria to just appear on the site. In digital media, there is no red tape. Publishing is the easy part.

Getting views on what you’ve published, on the other hand, is another matter. But that we’ll get to later.

No Need to Write for the Market

If your personal definition of success on Medium is determined by level of earnings, then you may or may not need to write to the market though it is not absolutely necessary. I have heard advice from both ends of the spectrum (i.e., some successful writers have said to follow the market, choose a niche and other successful writers have said to follow your passion or curiosity). Either way, the consistent advice across the board, regardless of what path you choose, has been to write quality work.

No Need to be a Subject Matter Expert

Another misconception I had was that I thought you needed to be an expert in a field in order to succeed on Medium. That you needed to know everything there was to know about a topic in order to write for it. But I learned that’s not the case at all. This community seems to be more like a group of thinkers conversing, positing ideas and learning from one other. Not unlike great minds of the past.

HOW IT ACTUALLY WORKS

Medium is a writing platform. It boasts an ad-free environment and can operate as such because of paid memberships. Your remuneration is based on the # of paying Medium members that read your content. It may be based on reader engagement as well (i.e., how long they’ve stayed on your story or the length of your story), but the algorithm is hard to determine.

It has been noted that compensation from Medium is greater per view than it is from YouTube. For example, you can earn more money on Medium from 1,000 views than YouTubers receive from the same number of views.

HOW TO MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU

Determine what you want. Will this be a source of income for you as a side hustle? Or would you rather just use it as a blog? It’s up to you how you want to utilize the platform. A lot of people use Medium as a blog and write personal pieces that don’t see a lot of earnings. Others use it as a strong source of passive income. How you write on Medium will be based on what you want to accomplish here.

With that being said, the rest of this article is geared towards the reader that is interested in treating this as a source of passive income.

BEST STRATEGY TO FOLLOW FOR SUCCESS ON MEDIUM

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In a nutshell: get noticed.

The two ways to do that is through curation & publications. Both methods are to be worked on simultaneously.

#1: Get Curated

Members of the Medium staff known as Curators read through almost every story that gets posted on Medium to determine if it qualifies as an addition to a topic. If a story is curated into to a topic, it gets distributed to all readers that follow that topic.

What that means for you is that even if you have no viewers or followers (and therefore, no way of earning income), you can have now gained valuable access to paying Medium members that choose to follow that topic you’ve been curated into. This will help you build an audience of paying Medium members and this is key to getting paid at all as your income is based on the number of paying Medium members that read your stories.

It is crucial that you begin writing for Medium with the intention of getting curated right from the start. Providing curators with good quality work from the get-go helps build a reputation for quality work. This will make it easier for you to get noticed later on. The more good work you provide, the more likely you are to get reviewed by the curators. The more you are reviewed, the more likely it is for you to get curated. The more you are curated, the more likely it is for you to get curated in the future and the faster you’ll get curated. It’s a “success breeds success” system here on Medium.

Alternatively, if you start off providing subpar articles to the site, you may write yourself into a ‘blacklist’ for curators, where they will not be as likely to review your stories as you will have built up a unfavorable reputation of posting pieces that don’t meet the criteria. It may take you some time to climb out of that list.

What Gets You Curated?

Quality content. Granted, determining quality content is subjective. So don’t lose hope if it doesn’t happen right away.

There have been instances where people have posted stories that they’ve felt were of great quality, only for days to go by with no curation. But when the same story was reposted, it was curated.

The going theory is that the initial post may have gone to a curator that didn’t feel it, but the second posting landed in another curator’s batch, who ended up liking it. And so the second posting resulted in curation.

How to Create Quality Content

Common pieces of advice found amongst the experts:

Write clear, maybe even boring headlines so the reader knows exactly what they’re in for

Break up your paragraphs

If possible, make your articles list-form

Cite sources

But above all, keep in mind that quality content is content that provides value to your readers.

When you write, write to help others. Provide a new perspective. Summarize dense information. Break apart difficult concepts or supply some much needed entertainment.

Whatever the case, with each piece of writing you put out, a good rule of thumb is to do the best you can at the time of and if you do that, you’ll continue to stack on experience and get better every time.

Fight Perfectionism

Although you need to focus on getting curated, don’t sit on articles forever, constantly perfecting them but never publishing. (I’m guilty of this.)

It is true that getting curated early on will help, but you need to be ok with shooting for the moon but sometimes landing in the stars instead.

Two ways to fight perfectionism: 1) lower the bar and 2) set a deadline

Have a work schedule and deadline for posting. For example, assuming that you currently hold a day job, you can set a weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly publishing deadline and either work on the story throughout the week or do it all one day on the weekend.

But you need to make sure you consistently get something out, with enough time in between to mold it into a worthwhile read.

#2: Submit to Publications or Create a Publication

Publications are collections of stories that are distributed to its followers. Publications have already done the work and built up followers for you to submit your piece to. Which makes it great way to get exposure.

Some publications can even get you curated automatically.

It usually takes publications 36 hours to review your work. If you don’t hear back from a publication after that period of time, chances are your work will not be included.

Special Note: creating your own publication would allow you to engage with your followers by giving you the ability to send out newsletters/emails/notifications of new content. A Medium writer is not currently able to interact with their followers in the same way.

OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

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Consider Niches

You may or may not want to write for a niche. I’m not someone who likes to be boxed in, but I am including this advice because I’ve come across it a lot in my research. Many successful writers advised writing for a niche to solidify your position on Medium so that your readers/followers will know exactly what to expect from you.

That being said, I’ve also seen advice from the other end of the spectrum to write what pleases you and go wherever your passion takes you.

I’m in the latter camp, but it’s up to you how you want to play the game.

I haven’t compared the stats on niche writers vs. passion writers, but it may be something I will share in the future if I explore it.

It’s a Long Game

Earnings take time. Initially, when you’re starting off, you might earn as little as $0.00 — $0.04 on an article. You will not have any followers and you might not get any views. Of course, as discussed before, this can be remedied if you are able to get curated or accepted into a publication. Many writers’ have managed to increase their earnings from $0.04 to $500 per month as their exposure/reach expanded and their content base grew.

But it’s slow work.

Building an audience takes time and not every article goes viral. In fact, most articles fall flat. So in long-run — and especially in the beginning — it’s best to focus on producing the best content you can and consistently improving your craft.

And if you think about it, in a way, it’s good that it takes such a long time to build an audience because it tends to weed out the ones that are just in it for the money. If you make it on here, it’s because you’re dedicated to the writing itself.

What’s Attractive About This

Although the time you invest in the beginning when you’re not making much will seem exhausting, when you pick up some traction and start seeing the articles you wrote long ago earn you money and continue to earn you money as you put out more work, it will all be worth it. That’s what drew me to this. I have the patience to wait and build something that will keep growing, provided I spend time on it.

If you’re a writer like me, this is passive income at it’s best. Because you’re essentially building a ‘business’ based on what you love to do. You get to explore ideas, hone your craft, get feedback that helps you improve and earn pocket change while you’re at it.

Don’t Get Hung Up on “Failures”

Creative work seems to follow the 80/20 principle. As you build your body of work, you’ll notice that 80% of your earnings come from 20% of your articles. So it’s best not to get hung up over the fact that sometimes some of your stories don’t do as well. Because most won’t.

But a few will and they can carry you forward. You can only get to them, however, by writing all the ones that don’t work well.

Keep in mind that after you hit a good one, you might have to start over and write a couple of flat ones again before you’re able to hit another good one.

Regardless of how each piece fares, the only thing you can do is focus on consistently putting your all into each article you write. Do the best you can do at each point in time. Then put it out there and learn from the feedback, so you can improve for the next time around.

If a Story Doesn’t Do Well

Ask yourself why.

Try something new the next time around.

Don’t give up. Keep improving. Keep going.

Although Not Absolutely Necessary, Consider Getting the Membership

You get to see what’s on the market. What’s doing well. What’s not getting noticed (though if it’s not getting noticed, it’ll be harder to find. Ha.) You get to read the works of top writers in the topics you’re interested in writing for. It’s a good networking opportunity. You become a part of a community of writers, which would give you more exposure. It’s just $5 a month and it helps support other writers like you. It’s not a big investment for the returns you may some day get.

For Canadian Writers: Fill in the Tax Form

When you’re signing up for the Partner Program with Medium, you will be requested to fill in your tax information. Don’t get intimidated. It’s simple and quick.

It’s done to get Medium to release all of your earnings to you (versus withholding 30% to submit to the IRS). Completing your tax information lets them know that you are Canadian citizen and will be reporting your income to the CRA.

If you skip the step, 30% of what you earn will go to the IRS and you’ll have to jump through more hoops to get your earnings back. (Refer to source #10 below for more information/assistance.)

Sources: