Do you want to write for Medium?
Maybe even make some money doing it?
Pull up a chair and listen closely.
My first goal when I started writing on this platform was to gain 100 followers. I accomplished that in a little over 30 days. Then I forgot about trying to get followers and focused on the writing.
What to Write for Medium
Focus on the writing from the start. Don’t worry about how many followers you have. If you write well, people will follow.
It’s just like the movie says, if you build it, they will come.
Spend time trying to find topics that are interesting, captivating, and boost-worthy. But don’t worry about the “boosting” just yet. You’ll get that naturally if you write well-crafted stories.
I wrote a lot of stories that got little notice. So then I started writing stories about my life. I wrote about my service in the U.S. Army, and about my crazy relationships.
All of a sudden, my stories were getting boosted. Even when I wasn’t trying. I wasn’t writing very often, but when I did write, it was from the heart. That was what people seemed to love.
Publish in the Right Places
You can publish your article immediately under your name only. That’s fine. I did that for a week or two. Then I noticed all the wonderful publications on Medium. I researched those and found ones I wanted to write for.
When I write a more spiritual post, I submit it to The Toaist Online or Illumination. When I write creative writing advice, I submit it to Synergy, The Writers Workshop, or Writing 101. My personal stories about myself, my life, my relationships all get submitted to Middle-Pause.
I find it also fun to challenge myself and write short to get published in The Short Form or The Daily Cuppa. Both of these accept stories on most any topic as long as the full article is no more than 150 words.
I have published a fictional short story in Tales of Terror, Paranormal, and the Strange publication. That was fun.
The great part about publishing your article through one of the existing publications is then your story goes to your followers, plus the followers of that publication. Much better exposure. And It’s been those publications who’ve nominated by stories to be boosted. And extra bonus!
Write for Medium…with Soul
Focus on writing from the heart. Don’t worry about statistics.
My life isn’t all that interesting. So I tried to find other things to write about. I started writing daily posts giving other writers prompts, inspiration and writing tips. I thought consistency would help.
But my consistency flopped in that instance. So I moved on to something else. It’s just like cooking, you have to find the right spices, the right amounts, the right cooking times to create the perfect meal.
Give yourself room to experiment and try new things. New topics.
Content over consistency. You don’t need to write daily, or even weekly. Just make what you do write shine.
Make it a story that grabs someone like those Budweiser commercials about the kid on the farm, that airs during the Superbowl. Touch people’s hearts with your wisdom, your experiences, and your warmth.
That’s all you need to be a success on Medium. That, and following the guidelines, using good formatting, and always publish through existing publications. That’s my gold nugget of advice.
What Does Boosting Do?
When something you’ve written resonates with others, someone, usually the editor of the publication you submitted it to, will nominate you to the Medium Gods. If they like it too, they’ll boost it and send you an email like this one:
Hi Sherry,
Your story, Falling For Love, has been selected for a Boost. That means we’ll share it with even more readers across Medium.
Thank you for using Medium to share your stories and ideas with the world. We value thoughtful, nuanced, knowledgeable perspectives — and believe readers do too. We’re glad you’re here.
Medium Staff
That’s the cherry on the whipped cream on the top of the piece of apple pie. Boosting brings more money into your pocket.
What’s the Paywall?
It doesn’t really matter how many people follow you, Medium pays you according to three things:
- Readers clapping for your story
- Readers highlighting something in your story
- Readers commenting on your story
If you hit the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and your readers are doing all three of these things, you can sit back and rake in the gold coins. Medium pays monthly by direct deposit. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
You my friend, are a Medium.com writer!
Note: See Sherry’s other post on writing and wellness here.
Featured image by Lucie Liz via Pexels.
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About Sherry:
A native Idahoan with Cherokee heritage, Sherry Briscoe writes paranormal suspense mysteries and urban fantasy. Her childhood heroes were Alfred Hitchcock and Edgar Allan Poe, and she insists that episodes of The Twilight Zone made perfectly fine bedtime stories.
With degrees in Journalism, Photography, and Adult Education, Sherry covers all her passions of creativity and teaching others.
Sherry is a world traveler, US Army Veteran, and active member of her writing community.
Sherry served as a writing instructor for two years at Writers at Harriman, and is now the Director of the summer writing camp for high school students.
She’s the founder of the Idaho Screenwriters Association, an active board member of the Idaho Writers Guild, Romance Writers of America, Idaho Sisters in Crime, and professional speaker and workshop facilitator.
For more information on Sherry and her work, please see her website and Amazon author page, and connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Sherry’s Books
Penny Angel and the Black Diamond
Penny quits her high-profile job as a lawyer and returns home to claim her legacy – a mystical black diamond ring.
Can she harness the power of the ring before the opposing forces of evil destroy her world?
Life’s messed up, magic’s tricky, and Penny’s caught in the middle of an age-old battle between the Wiccans, the witches, and the werewolves.
Available on Amazon.
Mists of Geribaldi: Tales of the Supernatural
Lives in a small coastal town are threatened by murder and magic. Mists of Garibaldi-Tales of the Supernatural chills and haunts you as the mystical swoops into the bay.
Zoey, a photojournalist, follows the clues in her photos to the small coastal town of Garibaldi, Oregon. She rents a room in a turn-of-the-century bed-and-breakfast, only to find out the other inhabitants of the inn are not of this world.
But hers is not the only strange story in the small community. Lizzy finds an ancient cursed paint brush in Abigail’s secondhand store, and is possessed by an evil spirit. Then Abigail finds more than she bargains for when she mistakenly awakens a sleeping dragon and unleashes him on the small town.
Aiden stumbles across a ghostly town where the spectral residents want to make him one of their own.
From murder to dark magic, danger lurks in the shadows and the shore of Mists of Garibaldi: Tales of the supernatural. If you like mystery, a dash of romance, and a touch of the supernatural, you’ll love these haunting tales.
Available at Amazon.