How to Supercharge Your Visibility by Maximizing Medium’s Publications
It can be like being featured in a newsletter with 250k subscribers
Hello Everyone,
Last week, I mentioned that I’ll be hosting a booth during Medium’s pub crawl. It occurs to me that some of you might have questions about Medium’s publications. I’ll try to address what I can anticipate here, but if I leave anything out, please leave a comment. Alternatively, bring your comments to the pub crawl (it’s free).
What the heck are Medium’s publications?
I found the concept of Medium’s publications confusing when I first started on the platform and I often find myself having to explain it to writers I’m trying to recruit.
What’s really happening is that, throughout its history, Medium has launched innovative ideas to try and draw in more users.
Remember in the Matrix movies when they said that werewolves and vampires were remnants from an earlier version of the program? That’s kind of what you get with Medium. Some of the older innovations hang around or evolve into something new.
I was initially attracted to publications because they offered a “mass email” feature. This allows editors to send an email to everyone who follows the pub. However, in my experience, those emails don’t generate much interest. They also aren’t monetized so basically the publication email has become Medium’s version of an appendix—by that I mean the vestigial organ that can become inflamed (note: they did just send me a questionnaire asking how to improve publication emails, so maybe some changes are upcoming).
How to get added as a writer to a publication
To get your work featured in a publication, you must first be added as a writer to that publication. I wrote a whole article about that here. Every publication does this a little bit different. Some of them have a Google form they want you to fill out, some of them want to see a draft before they are willing to add you, some of them want you to send them an email:
One of the most basic and enduring rules of being a writer is to READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. I had to put that in all caps because so few writers do it. In fact, the percentage of writers that fail to abide by the publication guidelines is probably around 90%. In my small publication, I don’t think anyone who has asked to be added has followed the requirements exactly as written.
With all the articles that are written about “how to become a writer” the simple advice of following the dang submission guidelines is probably responsible for more rejections than anything else.
The advantage of publications
Publications are nice because they’re like an updated version of the old snail mail submission process. I’m old enough that I typed out stories and articles, stuffed them in an envelope (with a postage paid return envelope), and dropped them in the mailbox. Doing that is like sending a letter to Santa. The problem is, it took magazines months to get back to you if they got back to you at all.
Today, writers complain when the editors of publications don’t get back to them within a few days. If you really want to take advantage of Medium’s publications, you have to have a bit of patience. For example, the publication Human Parts will provide you with a lot of visibility. I’ve had several articles featured there and they always take about a month to get back to me. If you yank the submission, you don’t get the benefit.
I’ve had writers yank submissions from my publications in less than 24 hours. C’mon people! Be prepared to give editors at least a week to review your work.
The great thing about Medium’s publications is that it brings a lot more visibility to your writing and the editing process is a LOT faster. It’s really only through Medium’s publications that freelance writers are able to offer opinions on current or breaking news (rather than just writing ‘evergreen’ content).
Publications also mean that an extra set of eyeballs will take a gander at your scribbles and advise you if you made a mistake in the title. There’s tremendous value in that.
My first story in a big publication
When I first started writing on Medium, I was really excited about the idea of having something featured in The Writing Cooperative. That’s one of Medium’s flagship publications and it has a couple hundred thousand followers.
Just think about it! Wouldn’t it be exciting to have your work featured in a newsletter that went out to 100k or 200k subscribers?
Well, it sounds good, but it doesn’t quite play out the way you think it will. Followers on Medium represent a sort of “potential to be seen.” The editors have the option of sending out an email to all their followers, but as I mentioned, that feature doesn’t really seem to work. Still, I’ll take any multiplier I can get and if you publish regularly in Medium’s publications, the results start to trickle in.
I submitted four or five stories to TWC before they finally accepted one. The first was “Hey Writers! Stop Giving Bad Readings.” It’s a story about how writers can improve their author appearances. It was published on June 4th, 2020 and went on to make me just under 8 bucks:
Honestly, in 2020, I was pretty psyched to make $8 on an article, but I’d been hoping for more. I did a few more articles for TWC before I had my first semi success:
“8 Cruel Lessons From a Year of Content Writing” was published on June 23, 2020 and it went on to make me over $70. It still wasn’t an example of “breaking the bank” but I was encouraged to see improvement.
Ultimately, you’ve got to approach Medium’s publications with the understanding that it’s a “growth” mechanism not an “instant success” mechanism. The process requires you to build up your platform both on Medium and external to Medium. Then, you have to submit and publish regularly.
Medium’s publications are one of many hooks you have to have in the water.
Some publications can drive a lot of traffic to your stories. Also, don’t be too dazzled by the follower number. The stories I’ve published in An Injustice have always performed very well, and that publication doesn’t have nearly as many followers as The Start Up.
An opportunity to build a community
Medium’s publications offer a streamlined version of the freelance submission process. Writers have an opportunity to have their work featured in an online community that’s interested in hearing what you have to say.
There are a TON of niche publications on Medium. Part of the reason Medium is doing a pub crawl is they want to give readers and writers the opportunity to get to know a few more of the publications that are out there.
You have to think of it as joining and contributing to a community. If there’s a topic you’re passionate about, chances are that Medium’s publications will offer you an excellent means to connect with likeminded people.
Really, that’s what it’s all about!
Interesting information. I'm going to check it out.
Very interesting. I do read guidelines now, but I didn’t when I was young. Substack is great if you write non fiction. People here do not pay for fiction. So what is the best way to create your own fans for fiction? Patreon? I have set it up, but it is so much work. Is Medium a good place to find fans for a trilogy of stories which are set in Japan, Korea, China and Tibet in the 1850? I would like to find people to read them. I may serialism them here , but I am starting to feel that I won’t find readers for them here. And I am not sure if I want to go through one more learning curve. In the last two years I may have climbed a hundred of those mountains . It is very time consuming. I am attempting to master Amazon ads . Very challenging .