fiction

My Medium Experience Updated Plus Top Tips For Success

~ ChanAtkins ~ 4 Comments
Image by Anna from Pixabay

Two months ago I posted about my experiences on the writer’s platform Medium, so far. To briefly recap, I first joined the site in April – finally giving in after other writers had been suggesting I try it for some time. I signed up to the paid membership because I knew if I didn’t fully commit, it would fall off my radar and get ignored. Knowing I was paying five dollars a month to the platform would, hopefully, encourage me to be active.

It did, though for April and May I was very quiet – time was spent just adding my About Me story and reading and researching publications that would be a good fit. You need to reach 100 followers to meet the Medium Partner Programme criteria, so that was another incentive to read, follow and comment on other writer’s work. I was pleased to discover there are many excellent writers on the site and it was not the chore I had envisioned reading and enjoying articles. I got to 100 followers by August and received my first payment from Medium in October. This was just over two dollars and was payment for what I had written in September.

In November my payment was just over eight dollars. At this time, I was enjoying the platform so much, I hadn’t actually examined my stats page yet. However, when I received a payment in December for $189 dollars, I was astounded! Luckily for me, I had been boosted in October, and again in November. Your story, if written well and received well, may be chosen to be boosted by the editors of the publication you had it published in. Looking at my stats, it’s obvious that while some of my poems and pieces of flash fiction have made me a few cents or a few dollars, my boosted pieces have made me a lot more. So, the trick is to get boosted if you can, but I’ll come to that in a bit.

I didn’t expect my January payment to be the same but it turned out to be even more. I was paid $249 dollars which is around £193. Amazing! Looking at my stats, I was reminded that in December I was boosted three times.

So far in January, I have published eleven pieces and obviously, my aim was to get boosted again if I could. I was delighted to discover I was boosted just last week! Now, that doesn’t automatically secure me a large payment. It still needs more reads and responses and at the moment it has less than my other boosted pieces.

The stats page is fascinating and I am learning more about Medium every day, but here is a quick run down of my top tips so far!

  • Once you’ve reached 100 followers and posted a certain amount of content, you can start getting paid so this is when you need to start paying attention to your stats if you haven’t already. It shows you how many reads, views and responses each published piece had and it shows you how much each piece earns you. This should help unravel the mystery of why some pieces make you more money than others.
  • I suggest submitting to publications. That is what has worked for me so far, but I am sure other writers might say different. There are millions on there so it’s just a case of looking for writers and content that are a good fit with your own. For example, I like writing about women’s issues such as motherhood, family relationships and the perimenopause, so Modern Women is a great fit for me. There are other similar publications and you can ask to write for as many as you like. In terms of poetry, I am a writer for three poetry only publications, and two that are a mix of poems, stories and articles. I submit to particular ones depending very much on the style, format and content of my poem.
  • Research the publications! Very important. Read as many of their published pieces as you can. Get a feel for their writers and their readers. Check their submission guidelines very carefully. Once you feel your work would fit in, ask to be a writer and hopefully you will be added. Some are stricter and fussier than others. Very large publications obviously have a bigger readership but I assume that makes it harder to be boosted, I’m not sure. At the moment, I am satisfied with how it is working out for me in the eight smaller pubs I write for. At some point, I may try getting added to bigger ones but at the moment, its not a high priority. I am still finding my way and don’t want to give myself too much pressure.
  • Make sure you format correctly! Publications have specific requirements but formatting your title and sub-title correctly are universal, so remember to do that. You simply highlight the first letter of your title then click on a big T to make it a title. For the sub-title, you do the same but click on the smaller t. You then need to add a main image and it gives you an option to upload one of your own, one from Unsplash or one from elsewhere. Make sure you credit it and make sure it fits with your piece and draws the reader in.
  • Pick alluring titles that make people curious to know more. My boosted titles so far have been: Less Is more: The Most Important Lesson The Perimenopause Has Taught Me; An Emotional Haircut: At Age 45, I Finally Like My Hair (my most read and highest paying piece!) I Was The All-Seeing Eye: But Who Saw Me? ; Take It From A True Cry-Baby: It’s Far Healthier To Let It Out Then To Keep It In; One Toothbrush: A Tale of Days Gone By (previously published on this blog!); and finally, I See You, Single White Eyebrow Hair: And You Don’t Scare Me At All (again, previously published here, updated, shortened and reworked for Medium.)
  • Make sure you send your piece to the right publication! Know your pubs and know them well.
  • Leave it overnight before submitting – I’ll write a piece, read it through, edit a bit, read it again and then leave it overnight. The next day I will always find bits I want to sharpen up or edit.
  • Be authentic and write from the heart – This is just what has worked for me so far. When I look at my boosted pieces, and other articles or poems that have done well on Medium, I can see a common thread; writing from the heart. I would say my style and content on Medium is exactly the same as it is here on my blog. My essay style pieces are usually about life, relationships, obstacles, mental health, parenting, etc. I write from the heart, I write as me. I don’t try to be anything I am not. I don’t try to impress anyone. Writing advice style articles are popular but there are so many… I’ve earned a bit from these sorts of pieces, but the ones that have got me the most views and earned me the most money are the universal ones, the ones people can relate to. It works both ways. The pieces I am more likely to comment on or highlight are the ones I can relate to. Everyone wants to feel understood, after all. So, if you’ve got something to say, a point to raise, a life obstacle to discuss, then do it.

I am still learning a lot about Medium and I’m sure I’ll update my progress again at some point. I can definitely see it as something I want to stick with though – something I am happy to devote time and energy to.

My 2023 Goals Vs The Reality

~ ChanAtkins ~ 4 Comments

It’s a yearly tradition for me to lay out my goals for the year ahead just before New Years Eve, and then almost a year later, refer to each goal and see how well I did!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

So, here are the 8 goals I set myself for 2023 and the results.

  1. Start releasing ‘The Day The Earth Turned’ series – Achieved! As planned I released book 1: Summer in June, and book 2: Autumn in October. Book 3: Winter is all set up and ready to be released in January, hopefully followed by book 4: Spring in March or April.
  2. Finish ‘At Night They Played In The Road’ (working title, I still can’t quite decide) and send to editor – Achieved! In fact, I recently received the edits from my wonderful editor and will start working on them very soon. I hope to release it around June 2024.
  3. Publish ‘Days End’, the third book in the Fortune’s Well trilogy – Achieved! The whole trilogy is now published and available in ebook, paperback and hardback!
  4. Keep adding to my new short story and poetry collection – Achieved! I haven’t added a lot and this collection is nowhere near ready for publication but I have managed to add a few new poems to it this year.
  5. Launch Chasing Driftwood Books – Achieved! (Sort of) While we are not ready for any kind of official launch, Chasing Driftwood Books is a thing in motion. There are now eight authors in our indie collective and we are currently taking part in a Christmas calendar countdown together. The website is in progress and our mission is clear. Hopefully this time next year we will have fully launched!
  6. Keep improving my vegetable plot and self-sufficiency in general – Failed! Well, mostly. Unfortunately, my vegetable plot ended up being very neglected this year, despite my good intentions. I have realised and accepted that I just don’t have time for it. I made the decision to take down the fence and start clearing it all away at the end of the season. I felt too sad looking at it. I’m not giving up entirely and I still plan to grow things out there. I am just going to be a bit more realistic about what I have time for.
  7. Keep Up with dog training –Achieved! I had no choice, really. A year ago Ada was a sweet little puppy who was only just starting to go for walks after her jabs. It soon became very obvious that she had a deeply ingrained fear and mistrust of the outside world and just about everything in it! Her reactivity as a puppy was absolutely terrible and I was truly stunned, wondering what on earth I had done wrong. We have done constant training since then, at home, on all our walks and with our wonderful dog trainer. She has been enjoying Hoopers, Trick Training and more recently Future Stars which is teaching her the basics for agility later on. She adores training. She is desperate to learn and please you; she just finds a lot of things very worrying. She is a lot less reactive now, thankfully. She generally won’t react anymore to previous triggers, such as cars, bikes, motorbikes, scooters, children, buggies, men in hi-vis jackets, men in helmets… It was a lot! Now it is mostly just other dogs and not all of them. Just the ones that worry her!
  8. Get fitter and stronger – Failed! I haven’t gotten worse, I just wasn’t able to keep up the pilates. I’m happy with my body and my fitness but its hiking I really want to get into next year!

I think six out of eight is not too bad and the two I didn’t achieve were not total fails. All in all it has been a good year in terms of writing and family life. Look out for next week’s post where I will set out my goals for 2024!

Character Interview: Josh Taylor from the Blackbirch Series by K.M Allan

~ ChanAtkins ~ 1 Comment

Hi and welcome to another character interview here on The Glorious Outsiders. K.M Allan is a writer I’ve been following for some time on social media. I’ve read all the books in her YA paranormal series, Blackbirch and I’m just about to dive into an ARC of the fourth and final installment! So, please welcome the series protagonist Josh to out character interview for November!

How old are you?

I am seventeen years old.

Where do you come from?

I lived in the city with my parents until they were killed in a car accident 6 months ago.

Where do you live? Describe it to us

I currently live in a small town off a highway. It’s called Blackbirch, and it’s filled with black birch trees, which is the only tree that grows around here. Most say it’s because of dark magick, and only my friends and I know that is the truth.

Do you have a family, if so tell us about them.

After my parents died, I moved in with my guardian, Grace. She was my mom’s best friend, and I live with her and her daughter, Sarah.

Who is your best friend and why?

Sarah is. She knows all my secrets and helps me when I’m not sure what to do.

Who is your worst enemy and why?

Eve Thomas. She wants to know all my secrets and use them in the worst way possible.

What are your talents?

I can use magick to heal people, and strength to protect them.

What are your flaws?

Not asking for help.

What do you think people think of you?

I hope they think of me as someone who is just trying to look after them.

What do you wish people knew about you?

That I’m just trying to fix all of my mistakes.

What’s your biggest fear?

Losing more of the people that I love.

What’s your biggest hope?

That I can one day live a normal life again and not be chased for the magick in my veins.

What’s your biggest secret?

That I don’t feel worthy of the responsibility that I have.

What is the worst thing you have done to another person?

My actions and mistakes have resulted in deaths. Of both good and bad people.

What kind of friend are you?

I like to think I’m a good one, but I’ve also put my friends in danger, and I don’t enjoy being that type of friend.

Is there anything about your life you would change?

The death of my parents.

Where would you like to be in 5 years time?

Hopefully living a normal life, not running from danger or from others trying to steal my magick.

Do you have any regrets?

I wish I had known more about my power when I first became aware of it. Then I could have used it in a way that didn’t hurt others.

How would you like to be remembered?

As someone who did the best he could.

What are your hobbies/how do you relax?

Reading, and watching movies with my friends, Sarah, and Max.

If you would like to find out more about this intriguing series, here is the Amazon link to the author’s page:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/K-M-Allan/e/B0849WFZG9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1699006260&sr=8-6: Character Interview: Josh Taylor from the Blackbirch Series by K.M Allan

3 Weird And Wonderful Things About Writing

~ ChanAtkins ~ 6 Comments

I noticed something weird about writing lately and this prompted me to think about how weird and wonderful writing it is. Am I just very weird or does anyone else relate to these?

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
  1. When I read something I wrote, I can’t remember writing it – I’ve always been somewhat aware of this but just recently I really noticed it and it struck me as very weird. If I pick up any of my published books and read an extract, I am always more impressed than I was at the time of writing it. It feels like someone else, someone better than me, wrote it. I can’t really remember writing those exact words, even though the plot and the characters are utterly mine and will live on in my head forever. Just last week I started typing up my Black Hare Valley story. This was the one I’d had in my head and in planning for a few years but ended up writing in longhand about a year and a half ago when a prolonged power cut meant I couldn’t carry on with stories I had on my laptop. I remember writing Black Hare Valley mainly because all the plot ideas came to me while walking. At the time petrol prices had gone through the roof and I was trying to walk more than drive. It was during this long walks to work that this book wrote itself chapter by chapter in my head. Then once it was done, I put the notebooks aside and had to forget about it. Now I’m typing it up and reading what I wrote it genuinely feels very strange; like someone else wrote it. I know the words are mine (when I can decipher the handwriting!) but I have no memory of writing them, or the thought process behind putting each sentence together. Typing it up feels like I am discovering this story for the first time even though it has been in my head for so long.
  2. When a world becomes so real, I can’t wait to get there – I’ve not had this experience for a while because I’ve been editing various books for so long, so it was a lovely but weird surprise when this started to happen with Black Hare Valley. It took a long time to build this world; starting with the drawing of a large map of the fictional town. It’s a valley town, surrounded by iron age hill forts and it has everything from a school, post office, vets, cafes and pubs, library, theatre, police station, church and so on. It was a lot of fun to create and after the map came the character bios. As I created each character I could then add where they lived to the map and this in turn sparked of plot ideas and scenes. This made writing it so much fun as every time a character moved from one place to another I could check on the map which way they would go. It really made the whole place come alive and now that I’m typing it up, I am right back there again. Every night when I go up to write, I feel excited to be returning to Black Hare Valley, this strange, beautiful and terrifying place I created. For me right now, it is entirely real.
  3. When a book writes itself – I love it when this happens but it’s not always the way it works for me when I write books. Sometimes characters will arrive, presenting drama and plot and I’ll have to figure out how to start it, where to start it and how to divide the story up into chapters. I’ll normally do a certain amount of planning before I start, but then once writing commences, the writing and planning run alongside each other, usually with me knowing at least the next few scenes and then working it out again as I go along. But sometimes, something really weird and wonderful happens. It happened recently with a book that will be ready for publication next year and it happened when I was writing Black Hare Valley for the first time. It’s like once I pick up the pen, something else takes over. The pen moves faster than my mind; I feel a bit like I’m in a trance, being controlled by something else. The next words are spilling out before I’ve even had a moment to consider them or hesitate. It’s like the story wants to be written so much it just writes itself. I feel almost disconnected at times, like I’m the reader waiting on the sidelines to enjoy the result.

There are a lot more things about writing I’d consider both weird and wonderful but these three really struck me lately. How about you? Have you experienced any of these things? Or are there other things you find weird and wonderful about writing? Feel free to let me know in the comments.