Surprising Ways to Use Medium
By: Joe Moody
Tags: Writers Life, Writing Tips, Writers On Medium, Writers On Writing, Joe Moody

Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

Only a few months into my Medium experience, it’s already become more than a publishing platform, it’s my favorite writing tool.

First off, Medium makes headlines and paragraphs so attractive, I want to take them out somewhere intimate and listen to every word they say.

But it doesn’t stop there… So, I decided to sit down and review the surprising uses I’ve found for Medium.

Long ago, Writers Only Needed a Pen and Papyrus Paper

Don’t laugh. They could write down their thoughts from anywhere. But then came the typewriter with its keyboard, and later the computer, both of which lacked the mobility of a pen and paper.

But now, with the Medium phone app, you can revisit a draft from anywhere. This alone helped create a new writing routine:

I’ll usually start a rough draft on the computer.

I’ll refresh my scenery (not my screen, my actual location) which refreshes my mind.

I open the draft on my phone and keep writing with renewed perspective.

Recently, I drove downtown and parked outside a store, took out my phone and started working on a draft as people passed by, oblivious they might become inspirations for my story.

If the idea-stream runs dry, I’ll go somewhere else. Each location brings new insights.

Got writer’s block?

Just go somewhere completely different, doesn’t have to be far from home, and open up your story and see if something new doesn’t download into that writer-brain.

Another bonus, Medium is like this big hang-out for writers: all reading, commenting, clapping, freaking out — things writers like to do.

(By the way, see that dapper dash in the sentence above? That used to be so hard to get, but Medium makes it magically appear when I type a hyphen and a space. Yes!)

Medium is social media for writers, yet unlike most other platforms, Medium actually pays writers (who join the Partner Program) for stories that get engagement from their members.

That’s a big distinction … just imagine all those posts on Instagram and Facebook etc. that get thousands of likes and comments, and how that boosts the bottom line for the social giants, but does little for the writers of those viral pieces, other than a “thank you tip.”

A “thank you tip” is restaurant slang for a customer who thanks the waiter lavishly (“You were the best waiter ever, and that wine you recommended, whoa man!”) But, then they leave the waiter a crappy-ass tip.

Here’s another big one: Medium automatically saves your work as you type. How many of us have lost valuable paragraphs because our computer crashed and we forgot to hit “Save”?

Even better, Medium stores various drafts viewable under the “See revision history” when editing. So, you can go back and grab that paragraph you earlier tossed into digital oblivion.

But perhaps the biggest benefit Medium has to offer is the community of millions of writers encouraging and challenging each other to do better, write more, become wiser, live authentically.

The overall attitude of Medium members is at a high altitude, mainly because it’s a community of writers. Overall, writer’s just seem to see more (gaining insight), feel more (bringing compassion), and express more (requiring courage). Though we’re usually too modest to say it.

And even more (but wait, there’s more!), when you hit Publish on Medium, your story doesn’t go into some vacuum, but out to the vast Interwebs.

While social sites often keep posts private within the platform, Medium stories go into the Google-sphere, meaning your work can be appear on multiple platforms. And Medium stories are known to do quite well in Google’s search results.

Bonus bonuses:

You can create your own publication on Medium! It takes like 2 minutes and you’ve got your own rag with only the stories you want. Weeeee!!

Curators on Medium might promote your well-written work, for free.

There’s no ads, blinking banners, or “one weird trick” clickbait cluttering your work.

Last but not least: Medium members excel based on the merits of their writing, not because they posed next to a flashy car (that may or may not be theirs), or next to a cardboard cutout of a celebrity.

So, how do you Medium?