Why the ‘I’ll Read Yours if You Read Mine’ Medium Marketing Technique Doesn’t Work
By: Amy The Maritimer
Tags: Marketing, Writers On Writing, Facebook, Writing, Writing Tips

Working on Your Writing Skills Should Come Before Marketing

“If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that’s read by persons who move their lips when they’re reading to themselves.” — Don Marquis

I understand that you may be very freaked out by the new changes on our platform. You are worried that your work will be lost in the algorithm and upset about curation being cut back.

You know what? If your writing is good, it will be noticed. If you work hard, pay your dues, and are writing for the right reasons: your work will bring you something tangible.

Our platform will make changes, just like most workplaces do. Don’t allow these changes to push you into selling yourself short.

The small monetary gains you get from people reading and clapping out of obligation is so minuscule that this technique is a waste of time.

If you are doing read-for-read to make friends or find new content: This is a great technique and not a waste of time.

If you write because of money, people will smell your desperation and it’s a turn-off. The veteran writers on this platform don’t ask for claps or reads on social media because they know they will get them regardless.

This is a confidence thing. New writers can be unsure of their talents and it’s OK if you have asked for reads or claps.

However, if it’s not working, it’s time for a new approach.

If you stop pressuring people for reads and work on the craft of writing, positive changes will manifest because your writing has improved.

If you write with the passion that the writers of the past have, your body of work on Medium could bring you an actual writing job.

I know because it happened to me. Within a year, Medium has brought me some real blessings, but it came with determination, a lot of self-reflection, and working on my skills.

We are never going to be flawless writers, but the best advice I can give you is to work on your basic blogging tools:

Sentence structure.

Grammar.

Spelling.

Punctuation.

Research skills.

Get a solid grasp of what SEO is and how to use it.

Learn to love editing your work.

Learn to accept critique from other writers.

Educate yourself on dealing with negative comments and “trolls.”

Experiment with different tones of writing.

Research what a passive voice is and stop using it (I have to work on this).

Experiment with different genres, niches, and types of writing.

Selection of images: research image credit laws, and abide by them strictly.

Adopt Medium’s style guide (headers, italicizing for effect, etc), you can learn these tricks by looking at a top writer’s work. Tim Denning’s articles were my inspiration for great formatting. Keep in mind, many websites and clients do things differently than our platform, so be prepared to adapt when you get a writing job.

Working on these blogging skills will help you learn what kind of writing you like and what type of writing you’re good at. Learning the basics of writing like grammar and spelling will polish your work and your confidence as a writer will improve.

I have my faults and I know them well. I tend to write in a passive voice, my spelling is atrocious, and I use emoticons too much in my daily life.

I will continue to work on my shortcomings because this business is about improvement. Well, except for the emoticons, I love them.

Reality check: if you are choosing to write for a career, you are choosing to work on yourself and your craft every day, for the rest of your working life.