Why Every Writer Ought to Love Medium and Online Self-Publishing
The web has allowed extreme flexibility and versatility among the creative fields, and writing has been equally affected. The craft has been liberated in a sense. The writer has an immense amount of freedom online.
I love this freedom. Especially through the outlets on Medium, I am permitted to write in numerous genres with great ease. Other publishing sites, such as the beloved Wordpress, have similar capabilities. Yet, Medium seems to be the true master of this digital aspect. As a writer on the Medium platform, I have the possibility of contributing to dozens of websites if the editors find my words worthy of their honor in publishing. So I can be my own editor, and I may be able to contribute to other publications if my writing fits their overall themes.
Writing with Medium allows me to change gears regularly. On my personal blog and on my Medium extension, I am able to switch from journalist to blogger and back again in a smooth transition. I may publish a review, then perhaps a personal essay. And then I might choose to conduct further research to write an unbiased news article.
However, Medium takes my dreams and my flair for the written word a step beyond what my personal website is capable of doing. With Medium, I can more exposure with a bio and profile attached to all my contributions to various websites. Having my writing being published on other Medium-based outlets makes me a bit more credible than if I were only self-publishing through my own site.
Medium even allows me to pursue my interest in creative writing. If I feel like writing a poem, a short story, or a creative hybrid work, I can submit my works to a digital literary journal on Medium such as Lit Up or Haiku Hub. And then I can turn around and be working on an article on a scientific, cultural, or historical topic for my own site or another publication.
Self-publishing on my own site, querying around the internet, and publishing in multiple genres via Medium has allowed me to professionally advance my knowledge and skills as journalist, blogger, poet, essayist, and short story writer — all at the same time. The platform Medium is developing can indeed make good writers grow into greater writers in numerous areas of the broad field claimed by the scribe in all of us.
Thanks for reading Writers Guild — A Smedian publication
Join our Facebook Group. Write for us. Share your many stories on ManyStories.com
