Do you want to share your writing with a bigger audience?

Do you want new readers for your book or your blog?

If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you might want to try writing for Medium (medium.com).

I decided to try writing for Medium, once per week, starting in late October 2017 and I’m still currently doing this.

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash

I’ll share with you what lessons I learned while writing for Medium.

But first, let’s take a look at what Medium is all about.

What is Medium?

Medium is website that features blog posts and online articles on a wide variety of topics, ranging from business/career advice to entertainment/pop culture to politics.

For Readers

As a reader, you can read posts and articles written by diverse groups of people, including new writers, experienced journalists/authors and celebrities representing different experiences and cultural backgrounds. If you enjoyed reading a post, you can “clap” up to 50 times (similar to Facebook’s “like” feature). You can also comment on a post.

For Writers

As a writer and/or blogger, you can write for Medium, by simply clicking the “Write a Story” link on the website.

You can also re-publish any blog posts or articles you’ve previously written on your own blog. (Or you can get permission to republish a post you’ve written for someone else’s blog or website and then publish it on Medium’s site.)

Medium also has a lot of publications on its site that focus on specific topics. Writers can submit a blog post or online article to be featured in a Medium publication by following that publication’s blog post submission guidelines. This is similar to submitting an article for a print magazine.

One major difference is that many Medium publications respond about a week later, compared to many print publications that take weeks to respond, if they respond at all.

Medium’s Two Types of Services

There’s Medium’s free service, which gives readers access to many of Medium’s blog posts and online articles on the general website as well as in its different publications. You can also post your own blog posts and articles for free on Medium.

There’s also the $5 per month Medium membership service. This service gives Medium members full access to Medium’s online articles, including exclusive membership-only blog posts and online articles. Some people call this exclusive content “locked posts.” Some of the exclusive online content also comes with an audio reading of certain articles.

Writers can make money blogging on Medium by choosing to write and publish articles that are available to only Medium members. A writer can submit exclusive content for free and the writer does not have to be a paying Medium membership user to provide exclusive posts.

4 Lessons Learned Writing for Medium

Here’s what I’ve learned while sharing my writing on Medium.

1. Medium is an idea machine.

I love reading other writers’ Medium posts. There are many thoughtful, inspiring and funny articles on the site. Reading Medium posts has also given me ideas for my future posts for my own blog and for possible print and online articles with other publications.

2. Sharing is Caring – and Important.

You must be proactive about sharing your Medium blog posts, especially if you’re trying to earn a few dollars (and hopefully more) with Medium’s paid writing program.

Definitely take advantage of Medium’s option to automatically publish a Facebook post on your Facebook page and a tweet on your Twitter page when your blog post appears on Medium’s website. That’s a good start.

Also, if you belong to any writing/blogging Facebook groups that allow you to share your work, be sure to post a link to your Medium blog post on these types of Facebook pages.

3. Your First Try Doesn’t Determine Your Future.

Medium is vague about their payment system. The website’s managers don’t give any specific details on what factors determine the specific amount a writer gets paid for a locked post. They just encourage writers to get as many claps and comments for their locked posts as possible, suggesting that more claps and comments can help increase a writer’s payment.

Medium pays writers monthly for publishing locked blog posts. Writers also get weekly reports that give an estimated payment amount for the current month, so far.

So, after your first post, you will probably get an estimate report within a week or so.

Don’t put too much stock in the payment estimate amount – for better or for worse.

If you made less than $1 on your first post, it’s okay to be disappointed, but don’t give up. Your future posts could bring in more money, especially as you write more posts and as more new readers start to follow you on Medium.

On the other hand, if you make $20 or more on your first post, feel free to celebrate! But don’t expect all your future posts to bring in that same amount.

4. Money Isn’t Everything.

So far, I’ve made an average of more than $100 per month during the past two months that I received payment for my posts. Some posts have earned more money than others. The extra money is great!

But I also like publishing Medium posts that are not locked and are available to all Medium readers. I published a few blog posts with one of Medium’s publications, The Writing Cooperative. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts and connecting with new readers. Also, some of those readers now follow my own blog.

Should You Write for Medium?

You might be thinking, “That’s great that Medium is working for you. But should I write for Medium?”

I don’t know. And you won’t know, either, unless you try writing for Medium.

I do suggest becoming a regular reader of Medium’s free blog posts.

I also highly recommend writing posts for Medium for at least 2 months, if you decide to do one weekly post, or writing for a few months if you write one or two Medium posts per month.

Whether you decided to write for the general public, or write for pay is up to you.

Writing free blog posts on Medium (especially for a Medium publication) will allow you to share your work with a larger audience. That’s a big perk, especially if you’re looking for new readers for your book(s) or your own blog/website. You might even find one or more new clients to write for, too.

You probably won’t get rich while writing for pay on Medium. But the monthly paycheck could help you cover some small writing business-related costs. Or you could just use the money for a fun, small splurge (#TreatYoSelf).

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck!

Also, feel free share with us know your thoughts, questions, results and any other comments about Medium, if you decide to check it out.