CREATING BETTER CONTENT: SEVEN-PART SERIES

Creating Better Content: A Seven-Part Series for Medium Writers

A comprehensive guide to help Medium writers turn their writing into beautiful articles

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

Expecting a creative writer to understand all the tools and interfaces relating to page layout, styling, structure, images, links, SEO and so on, is like expecting a plasterer to rewire your house.

It’s nothing that can’t be learned, but it rarely comes naturally to creative writers — especially new writers, or those new to Medium.

Having seen the many basic “how do I…” or “what’s the best way to…” or “where do I find…” questions repeatedly asked (especially in the excellent ILLUMINATION Slack support group), it’s clear there’s a knowledge gap and that people need help. Hence I created this series to help new writers, in particular, get a head start on presenting their articles in the best and most effective way.

There’s a lot of content across this series, but it provides a wealth of information that you’ll return to time and time again.

Links to each of the seven articles in the series:

Part 1. Your ‘Why’ Journey, Editors’ Challenges, and Why Are You Writing?

Part 1 will help you understand more about the purpose, journey and outcome of writing, as it relates to you, individually.

Part 2. Self-publishing vs Publications, The Challenge of Good Writing, plus Language, Spelling, Punctuation and Capitalisation.

Part 2 looks at the publishing options on Medium, and why quality and attention to detail are important.

Part 3. Grammar, Using The Right Words, and Online Tools

Part 3 tackles some of the challenges and complexities of the English language, and how certain online tools can be a lifesaver.

Part 4. Outline and Structure, Clichés and Jargon, Audience, Editing and Reading Aloud

Part 4 looks at article structure and avoiding some of the traps it’s easy to fall into when rushing to submit content before it’s really finished.

Part 5. Page Structure and Styling, Main Headings and Subheadings, and Using images

Part 5 focuses on how your article looks to the reader and what you can do to make it more appealing for them to continue reading.

Part 6. Photos and Graphics, Weblinks

Part 6 will unlock the mysteries behind using images and graphics and linking your content to other, related articles and sources.

Part 7. Duplicate Content and Plagiarism, Additional Settings, Pre-Flight Checks, Looking After your Editors

Part 7 tackles the difficult and complex issues of copied or ‘stolen’ content, and sets you on the path to confidently publishing your work.

I’m grateful to a number of people for their help and support in creating this series, not least Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Terry L. Cooper and Tree Langdon, all part of the amazing team at ILLUMINATION

A bit about Clive Wilson