I Am Starting My Own Medium Publication
By: Alex Mah
Tags: Self-awareness, Writing, Self Improvement, Publication, Ｍedium

I Am Starting My Own Medium Publication

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Medium is one of the publishing platforms on the Internet. Just like how Airbnb become the largest landlord without owning a single property, this is how Medium drive the demand for content consumption and supply of content creation in writing:

Driving Demand

When was the last time we get to read something on the Internet without the annoying advertisement popping out of nowhere?

The need to accept cookies before reading an article on a website or news app

All these make reading on the internet distracting.

This is where Medium comes in to solve the problem. It provides an ad-free, simple and beautiful layout to allow readers to drown themselves in the content of their choice.

Interested in travel? Medium has a topic page for that.

You are also looking for a topic about health, relationship or money? Yep, there are writers all over the world creating valuable content around these topics and many more.

Driving Supply

To make Medium sticks with readers, it needs great content.

To generate great content, Medium needs a lot of writers. Good ones.

To entice great writers, Medium offers the platform where every writer are looking for:

1. Proven business model with its monetised structure that remunerates writers. Writers’ earnings are based on statistics such as members read time and conversion of readers to Medium members 2. Over eight years since its inception, Medium has garnered nearly 200 million unique monthly readers and counting. This is an unparalleled built-in audience for a new writer.

3. Submission to Publication

The Medium publication is where owners of various publication devoted time and effort to maintain and grow its followers count.

Hence, if you are able to get your content published in a renowned publication like The Startup, The Ascent, The Post-Grad Survival Guide, The Writing Cooperative you are able to leverage their vast reader base to your favour.

Thousands of the publications’ loyal followers will get access to your content when your content gets published. If their followers like your content, they will follow you too! This will contribute greatly to your members reading time statistics and subsequently drive your Medium earnings to greater heights.

There is One Catch

The publication editors need to set the bar high when it comes to reviewing the submission. This is to maintain the publication’s quality based on the niche and brand the editors have built throughout the years of hard work.

Hence, editors don’t care how much time and effort you have spent in your writing; they care whether your writing follows their rules, their quality standard.

They want research, length and stories that “FIT” with them. Tom Kuegler

Hence, as a writer, you will face a ton of rejections from countless editors when you first started.

Hey Alex! We are going to pass on this one as it’s not quite right for us, but we really appreciate you sending it our way. Till next time!

This is actually what I have received from editors every time I wish to get my article published on publication. Sometimes days, sometimes a week of waiting for their response. To be honest, it doesn’t feel good.

My Thoughts

To think in editors’ shoes, I get it, it is my story that does not fit theirs. That does not mean that my story will not get better to be published one day.

I have to keep writing, keep pressing that green “Publish” box.

I have to believe that writing consistently in the only way.

I have to improve to get my voice heard.

In the end, it is my voice that makes me, ME.