It’s Not Just About the Writing
“Spoiler alert, I will not be talking about views or how to make money”
Like many other people on here, I’m new. Over the last 30 plus days, I’ve written, rewritten, published, wondered if I should have actually published the article I published and bashed my head against the keyboard. It’s been a fun process. Along the way, I’ve taken a few notes on things that have helped me through this journey that I hope will also help you.
Spoiler alert, I will not be talking about views or how to make money.
Finding Support in the Writing Community
Finding support through the Medium community and writing community at large is easy. It surprised me how receptive and engaging other writers have been and I have absolutely loved this journey on Medium so far. Truth be told, I started writing 10 years ago professionally, took a four-year break, and only joined the wider writing community now.
There are amazing people out there, like Carrie. A. Kelly and Robert Ralph who have created publications to help those just starting out and will do a public shout out to you if they find your work inspiring. Thank you for that, Carrie and Robert. Please go to their pubs and request to be a writer. They are always looking for talented writers and fresh articles. Carrie’s pubs have very specific angles which can make for good prompts also.
As well, social media is a gold mine of support if you haven’t used it in that way yet. I started my first active Twitter account because of Medium and absolutely love the writer’s lifts on there, the engagement from the writing community and support given. Thank you Srini for being my first “real” Twitter follower. You are amazing!
Also, if you find a writer you enjoy reading on here, after following them, go to their about section and click on their Twitter and follow. It’s a great way to communicate and support each other across different channels.
I’ve also joined a couple of Facebook groups which have been great as well. I’m not as active on those, but I’m sure they work for the people that use them for what they are intended for.
Finding the Right Publications
I didn’t realize when I first joined how valuable these could be and how many there were.
Finding the right publication seemed daunting and overwhelming at first. I used Smedium to find a few and would randomly type in things I was interested in seeing if there were pubs for those topics.
A thing I have learned in this process is that not all publications are active. Now I can easily say, no shit, how did I miss that? After looking at dates of articles posted, I realized some were months apart and other publications hadn’t had anything posted in more than a year. Keep this in mind when you are looking for the right pub for yourself. A few of the publications I applied to, I never heard from, I now suspect it may be due to them being no longer in use. I know they could have just rejected me as well, but when their last active article was in 2020, I doubt this was the case.
Even after a month, I am still finding publications to apply for. I don’t think this will stop anytime soon.
Other Successful Writers on Medium Have Great Advice…Sometimes
There are lots of successful writers on Medium. My current favorites are Jessica Lynn and Roblin Meeks. Both of them write beautifully and with grace in how they balance their writing styles with the emotive components of their stories. I’m learning a lot just by reading their work.
Of course, there’s also Tim Denning, who quit his 9–5 job to make a living out of writing. I say, of course, when referring to him because Tim is one of the most recognizable and respected writers on here, rightfully so. I truly appreciate the 3-part writing course he offers online as it actually has some valuable and insightful suggestions.
Writers like the three mentioned above have something to give and know it. They often write to their audience and offer free advice. It’s been valuable to learn from seasoned and more successful writers. I know there are a lot more out there, but like I said, I’m only a month in. I need a bit more time to find them.
This leads me to the second thing I’ve learned, a lot of writers sell courses on how to become successful. Sadly, some offer courses solely to make money off of you. I recently sat through a live video course where a highly successful writer on Medium pitched and offered advice (this was not Tim obviously). The course had nothing to do with writing and had everything to do with marketing. After a painful hour of listening to how we can write for views, the course ended with the host more or less saying, and now I will teach you what I really mean if you sign up and pay for a different course. It got awkward about halfway through when attendees were calling out the host for shady marketing tactics. The moderator of the chat group started deleting comments that didn’t fit the narrative. When another attendee noticed the same thing as me (the deleted comments), he asked if anyone else noticed comments were getting deleted and guess what, his comment was also deleted. Awkward. As soon as the pitch came in to pay for play, I was out. It’s not that I mind paying for something of value, it’s that I don’t like being deceived and this was deceiving.
Be careful who you listen to.
A Few Extra Apps and Things To Get You Going
Substack: I found out about this subscription based newsletter creator through Tim Denning and will give it a go. Substack essentially is a curated newsletter you write and send out to an email list that subscribes to your work. It’s an interesting concept that allows you to really get into your niche, if you have one, and find the diamonds among your followers.
ConvertKit: Another one I am still discovering is ConvertKit. I know it’s good for exporting email lists and creating a landing page if you plan on selling something, as many of the top writers do — informational classes, books on writing, etc. I am still experimenting with this one and have little more insight, unfortunately.
Ko-fi: Thanks to Benny Lim, I discovered what “Buy me a ko-fi” is. It’s an awesome way to make a little extra money or raise funds while also not selling your soul, as we sometimes do when we write these articles. I’ve started my own ko-fi account, have yet to promote it, but look forward to what happens with it in the future. Also, seriously please go buy Benny a ko-fi. The man works his butt off so that people like you and me have somewhere to publish, somewhere to start and the ability to find a community that believes in us.
Evernote: If you need help to organize your thoughts like me, then Evernote might be the right app for you. I’m an old-fashioned kind of person and find joy in watching ink form letters, then words when I write with a pen on paper. I have notes that are messy and highlighted and scribbled out. It’s how my working process flows and changing to a digital note taker will be a challenge for me but one I’m up for.
Editing, Can We Do This Together?
So far, the articles I have written and pitched to publications have been accepted without any major edits and that is great, but I would love a working process where I can grow from some constructive criticism. I’m sure many of you would too. Now I know this isn’t the job of editors of pubs, so I’m hoping to find a group of people who would like to work together and edit each other’s articles, something that is mutually beneficial. I truly believe growth in writing comes from many sources, but one of the main ones is editing. As an ex-journalist who used to be left with one original word on a story after a heavy-handed editor had their go, I grew from my discomfort. I was very pleased to see the publication Invisible Illness offers a slack channel for writers to submit their work and have it edited.
I heard somewhere else writers have working slack groups where they work with each other to edit as well. I want to start something like this. Let me know if you are interested in joining a slack channel for editing or if I’ve missed the mark here, and this is already widely in practice and there are well known channels for this already.
Lots of People Write Articles Like This
Most of these types of articles essentially repeat the same things over and over: write quality, write daily, put yourself out there, know your audience, market yourself on social media, learn from your mistakes, the things you can do to get more views and money. I think you get the gest. I once had an editor tell me there were 10 different ways to skin a cat. It took me a while to understand this concept, but now I get it. On that note, the one and only article I have found of actual substance on this topic came from Fernando Doglio. His article titled A Year of Medium: 4 Down-to-Earth Insights into Writing for this Platform actually has some fresh insight. Thanks for that, Fernando.
That’s it, those are most of my notes from the last 30 or so days. I hope there’s something new here for you to think about. Write on!
