Medium
Things you should know before writing for Medium publications
Having patience and keeping it original is the key
Medium — A place to write ❤️
I started writing on medium about a month ago. Before that, I was hooked to medium. I made sure I read 1-2 articles a day.
I am an ECE undergraduate with a passion to build a career in the field of Machine Learning and Data Science. Every time I searched something related to Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Science, I found myself on medium. And from my experience, I understood concepts better via articles on Medium than from videos.
If you don't know, there is always an article out there for anything you would want to learn or read about. Go and check for yourself. After knowing this, why should you even bother to write on Medium? One could just read and get done with it. Saves time! 👀
So why should you write?
I would like to answer this question based on my personal experience. Ever since I decided to build a career in Machine Learning and Data Science, over time I made notes (which is a lot) hoping it would come handy someday.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
- Albert Einstein
Read that quote again. It is true. Most of the concepts on ML and other challenging subjects might seem interesting, but when you start learning, the math will really put you off. So it's better to have a clear understanding of the same. And you always won't find articles which explain concepts from basics. There is always a prerequisite. So you will end up backtracking.
“If you want to master something, teach it.”
— Richard Feyman
If you really want to understand something better than you already do, write it in the easiest way possible. This will help you look back at concepts and understand them better when needed.
What if am wrong at something? 👀
Editors here on Medium are amazing. They reach out within 1-2 days, if lucky an hour! Based on the volume of submissions they receive, they would point out your mistakes and give you personalized feedback. So it is very useful.
It is not about the money and views
If you think writing on Medium will make you a good amount of money, then the answer is NO! Check the statistics, just 8% of the writers earn above $100.
If that is the reason you are writing, then please don't! ✋
Write to impress yourself. Write to make yourself understand things better than you did before. Share your work on LinkedIn, Twitter and Quora. Build connections. Share your knowledge. That is what this is all about.
Keep it original
Yes, everyone will say the same thing. KEEP IT ORIGINAL. 🙏
If copy paste aka ctrl-c & ctrl-v is what you are up to, then you should stop right away. Most of the top publications have plagiarism software so you would not make it.
Why am I not getting accepted?
The top 4 reasons you don't get accepted are:
- The publication you submitted may not be interested in that particular topic. So check out they're about page and see what they are looking for.
- Too short or too long. Don't write a 2min read-time article or a 30min read-time. Usually, 4–8mins is the sweet spot.
- I can’t stress enough on this one. IMAGES! Please make sure you have the right to use the images. Usually, Creatives Common License is something you should look out for. Unsplash is a good place for that. If you want to experiment and have got all the time for it, download Adobe Xd. Make your own images. Although it is meant for UI/UX design, you can use it for pretty much anything.
- Grammatical errors. Please use Grammarly for the same. Hemingway Editor is a good choice too.
What should you write?
Anything! Yes, anything!
I suggest you write something you are already working on or studying. Say a course or a recent project or your experience using software or that one Machine learning concept you really want to understand better.
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
— Benjamin Franklin
At last, have some patience 🙏
Please note that the volume of submissions is a lot. So editors take time to review your submission. If you don't hear from the publication, I suggest you remove it and re-submit.
Conclusion
Medium is a great place to write and learn things that matter. Writing about things that matter to you or things you want to understand better is the best way to begin your journey as a writer on Medium. Remember to keep it original and make a note of the common mistakes that could get you rejected from being published by top publications. Enjoy writing. Peace.
