A Non-Elite’s Guide to Writing on Medium
Let’s see the meaning of ‘Elite’ in Cambridge dictionary-
The richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society
During my Mass Communication program, (encouraged by our writing instructor) I took up an interesting assignment in ‘English’. I wrote a 1000-words long, research-based piece on the local police department’s 150-years’ old history, and edited it under ‘expert-guidance’.
Once done, I mailed the report (along with my bio) to one of the leading English news-paper houses in the city. I never heard back. And in my 1 year course tenure, failed to grab even a ‘rejection’ e-mail from any English newspaper in the city.
My teacher blurted out the ‘possible’ reason-
It might be because your bio shows that you’ve done schooling in vernacular medium.
‘This’, and a close observation of- the kind of writers elite ‘English’ publications in India take on-board , I concluded-
a) There is ‘they’ and ‘us’.
b) When you don’t know any of the ‘gate-keepers’, you need credentials.
c) Credentials come via- industry expertise, being quasi-famous and for a student- having the right kind of ‘private education’ on your CV.
Impressing ‘gate-keepers’ when you are an anomaly (English writer with public education background) is an upheaval battle.
Medium is changing the game and if you’re in the same boat, do embrace it. Why?
You are given a chance
..to hone your craft of writing in English. and to share it with world-audience. I have published so far in 3 publications and none asked about my past work/schooling/reference.
Medium makes me want to read about random topics (for no apparent reason) by faraway writers, like:
i)The under-ground music culture of Azerbaijan,
ii) The women entrepreneurs of Mexico or
iii) The comic books in Namibia.
You can build an audience pretty fast
With Medium, these laborious blogging diktats go out of window-
a) SEO, not talking about catchy headlines but other technical nitty-gritty
b) Joining ‘commenting’ pods
c)Guest blogging,
d) Publishing on a specific time-zone.
e) Taming the beast called ‘Pinterest’.
In Medium, I guess good content rules foremost.
The guidelines are boons..somewhat
I am not the biggest cheer-leader of imposing instructions on creative pursuits. Nonetheless, I, begrudgingly, admit their usability on Medium. They create a sense of transparency, which is sadly missing in many reputed publications, in my part of world.
a) They never call for ‘submission’.
b) ‘Commoners’ are rarely given a chance ( imagine, MJ’s “They Don’t Care About Us” playing in the back-ground).
The trustability
Left-wing, right-wing polarization of media has done irreparable damage. In a society with political turmoil, the division is more palpable. And this sword of Damocles- “you are either with us, or against us’’ eroding your chance to be published if you refuse to toe the line.
I don’t know about the political alienation of the editor of any Medium publication. All I need to remember is- not to be disrespectful to anyone in my writing.
It’s the right time to hop onto Medium bandwagon before the polarization creeps in here ( I pray, it never does) as well.
It may create opportunities
I read about many authors — bagging lucrative publishing/business deals, building contacts, making money while writing- because of their consistent and quality contribution on Medium. Here, you at-least dare to hope, without joining the ‘old boys’ club’.
The traditional media houses are falling world-over. The internet has given a space for alternative voice.
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.
I effing love this quote Gramsci. I don’t know what he meant by it(might be about some sinister connotation). But it sounds prophetic.
We can all be word-ninjas/monsters/sorceress here.
In case, you loved what I wrote, show me some love via claps/comments.
I write about books, reading , and India in my personal blog. Give it a visit if you’ve time. Here’s the link:
https://jheelamduttaroy.wordpress.com/
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