If You Haven’t Started Your Own Publication Yet, Now’s The Time To Do So
By: Benny Lim
Tags: Ｍedium, Writing, Publication, Writer, Medium Publications

One of the first things I learned when I started writing on Medium was that your articles won’t mean anything if no one reads them. And when you’re a new writer with little to zero followers, your chances of getting readers are also little to zero.

How do you rectify that then? Simple, you get your work published in the numerous publications on the platform and there are a couple of ways to go about doing it.

I was lucky in the sense that I was ‘head-hunted’ by an editor from a pretty big publication that was growing when I published my very second article on the platform. Don’t ask me how the editor found it but she did and she left a private note, asking if I’d like to publish that particular article with them. Needless to say, being a newbie writer, I said yes immediately!

You could also request to become a writer. Most publications would have a ‘Write For Us’ tab that tells you how to go about it. Usually, you’d leave a comment or an email to the editor and they’d add you as a writer, depending on whether the niche you usually write in suits them or not.

And then that’s the other, more foolproof way of publishing in a publication — creating your own.

You may ask what are the benefits of starting your own publication when you can just publish others but let me tell you why you should start your own publication — if you haven’t already.

You set the tone of what is published

Personally, I have two publications that I own which you can check out below at your convenience.

The reason why I have two is that both play very different roles and both are home to different types of articles. Writers’ Blokke was created 2 months after I became a writer. I was having a hard time getting my articles published and so I thought why not have my own publication so that I can publish anything I want in there?

And that’s basically what Writers’ Blokke is about. It’s a place where writers and readers can just hang out to create and read articles about anything and everything. It’s a place where everyone can belong.

Mind | Body | Soul was created for the sole purpose to house articles that focuses on health, fitness and overall wellbeing of the mind, body, and soul.

With these two publications, I control the type of contents that are published and I set the tone for what I want to accept. I’ve had to reject quite a few submissions because it didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. But that’s what you have to do when you have your own publication.

It makes you a better writer

Being an editor for a publication isn’t easy. You have to vet through submissions, look through grammar and spelling from other writers and you have to make sure things are all aligned to what the publication needs.

Because of that, you’re more critical of how an article is formatted and you pay more attention to detail. This then trickles down to your own writing, especially when you’re submitting to another publication. As an editor yourself, you know what the editors of the other publications go through and you understand what would make your work be accepted faster.

You will improve as a writer because you’ve learned the trade of running a publication. You know what is needed and what isn’t. You know how to format your articles properly and you make sure that errors are minimal or none at all.

It makes you feel good

Let’s face it, we all want to feel good on here and one of the biggest ways for that to happen is when our work gets noticed. When readers are reading our work, clapping or commenting on it, it helps to keep us going, to keep writing.

Feeling good is an important factor in being motivated to keep going. There’s just something about having your work published in a publication that makes you feel good. It definitely feels better than just self-publishing.

And it definitely feels good when your article that is published in your own publication goes on to do well. Just last month, Writers’ Blokke turned a year old and it just felt good to see how it’s grown over the last year. To having over 1.4k followers, having over a thousand articles published and to just see it continue to grow, it’s been amazing. To know that this small publication which I started more than a year ago has grown to what it is now and has helped many new writers along the way, it’s more than I could have imagined it to be.

You help others to grow as well

Writers’ Blokke became a home for a lot of writers that perhaps didn’t feel like they belong anywhere else at that moment in time. Because I knew how hard it could be to get published in bigger publications, I created a place where it can become home to any article out there.

I’ve seen many writers who started out as newbies and published consistently on Writers’ Blokke. After a few months, once they gained more confidence and improved as writers, they were able to get their work published in the bigger publications and slowly stopped publishing on Writers’ Blokke.

Is it sad when writers do that?

Not really.

The whole purpose of the publication was to help others and when I see these writers getting published in the bigger pubs, knowing that they started with a small publication like mine, it makes me happy. It makes me feel good that I’ve played a small part in helping them get to where they are.

Maybe you feel like you don't need to start a publication due to the fact that there are just so many around and you’re right. You may also feel that your new publication would be drowned out by all the bigger ones and you’re right too.

But even the big publications at the moment started out with zero followers. They just grew to be the big guns that they are now and who is to say that your publication won’t be like that in the future?

There are plenty more reasons to start your own publication so if you haven’t already, why not start one now?

It may just be the best thing that you’d do on the platform.