Browsing in the Medium “stacks”
Finding buried treasure in the library sub-basement
In physical libraries/bookstores and on Amazon and social writing platforms (Medium, Substack etc.), the hot new (NEW!) publications are displayed prominently at the front of the building and the top of the list. It’s like the candy and gum and magazines at the grocery store check-out line: visible, tempting, BUY ME!
Items that have been on the market for a while are gradually moved to the back of the store or the sub-basement “stacks” of the library or lower on the website listing. We tend to believe older writing is less valuable (just like people!) and so we consign it to the nether regions to gather dust and electrons, alone and unloved.
Rx: Go narrow(er) and deep(er)
I chuckle when I notice that some people who follow me here on Medium are following THOUSANDS of people and vice-versa. Guess how many of my essays they actually read. Digital platforms make it so easy to go far and wide with no friction in hoovering up content. It’s BROAD-band on steroids. Why would we ever stop riding the open range in search of the next new thing?
Fact is, the content we are offered in most markets conforms to a bell-curve of quality.
That means that most of the content is pretty good, and the rest is either excellent or terrible, so most of what you are offered on your algorithm-driven “feeds” is pretty good. Nothing wrong with that. But what if you want more “excellent” (however you define that)?
When you find a writer who really is saying something to you, read everything that writer has written and you will get more education and depth of understanding out of that than reading a scrap here and a scrap there and elsewhere. Then go to people who influenced that writer, or those who were related to them, and your world builds together in an organic way that is really marvelous. — Joseph Campbell
Once you find writers whose work you admire, try a deep dive into their “back catalog”. It takes a bit more effort than just passively letting Medium “feed” you every day, but you’ll get more delicious nutritious writing that suits your brain and biome and less fast-food level stuff (not that there’s anything wrong with a burger’n’fries now and again!).
Job Opening: “Medium Librarian”
If you want to be a real librarian, you will need to go back to school and get a Masters in Library Science. To be a Medium Librarian, you only need to do a few simple things:
- Read lots of writers and make a “card catalog” of your favorites by following them.
- Check out the lists of writers your favorite writers follow. Chances are you will like a lot of them and can add them to your own list.
- Search on Medium by key words (#) for topics that interest you; search on the Stories, People and Publication tabs. Scan the people writing stories of interest and follow the good ones.
- Read author bios at About Me Stories. You’ll enjoy these self-portraits for themselves, and you can decide if you want to follow the writers you meet there.
After doing this in a diligent way for a week or two, you will have a nice curated (by YOU!) collection of favorite writers. Now every time you go over to the Medium Library, you can pick ONE writer to spend some time with, go down to the stacks, pull up a comfy chair and read a bunch of their essays including their earlier/older ones. You’ll be glad you did!
Sit in a room and read — and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time. — Joseph Campbell
Baird’s List
Here are some writers on Medium that really have something to say and say it well. Check them out and see if you might want to rent them some space on your personal favorites list:
Oh, and if you want to consider putting me on your shelf, here’s what I write about 😉
