I recently encouraged a few more friends and fellow authors to join Medium and I’ve been guiding them through the process and answering any questions they have on getting set up. I thought it might make sense to write another blog post listing the process from start to finish. So, here goes.

1. Join Medium as a subscriber if you want to earn money! You can join for free and you can submit writing and read other people’s work for free, but if you want to get paid you need to be a subscribed member. It’s just $5 a month and that gives you endless interesting content to read, plus it means you can start getting paid yourself once you have been accepted onto the Partner Programme.
2. Set up your profile page. You’ll probably find the process familiar if you are on any other social media sites. You need a profile photo and a short bio. Both of these will appear when you follow people. I don’t tend to follow people who don’t have bios or photos, so make sure it is a good clear picture and a nice concise bio. Here is mine as an example: Author and owner of Chasing Driftwood Writing Group and Chasing Driftwood Books. Owner of The Wild Writers Club publication. https://chantelleatkins.com/ As you can see, mine is short and to the point. They don’t allow many characters.
3. Set up Stripe payments. Once you apply to the Partner Programme you can start getting paid, so make sure you have set yourself up for payments via Stripe. I found it very straightforward. You just follow the cues and enter the information required.
4. Write an About Me story. To do this, you first need to find the About Me publication on Medium and comment under their pinned submission post to join as a writer. Once accepted, write your About Me page and once that has been submitted and accepted by the publication, pin it to the top of your profile page. Now you have a short bio plus a longer introduction to who you are and what you write. Here is mine as an example: https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-chantelle-atkins-91d0bc990187
5. Look for publications that would suit you. What do you want to write on Medium? If you only want to write stories and poems, then search for fiction accepting publications. If you only want to write about parenting, then search for those. If you have lots of ideas then reach out to a few publications to get you started. I recommend Promptly Written for the sheer reason they provide monthly themes and weekly prompts to respond to on a wide array of topics. This could be the boost you need to get writing. The Honest Perspective also covers most topics and formats of writing. I also like Modern Women, Rainbow Salad, Read or Die, The Parenting Portal, Know Thyself, Heal Thyself, The Poetry Publication, and of course my own recently set up publication, The Wild Writers Club!
6. Ask to be a writer for the publications you like. Usually the process is simple. Most pubs ask you to comment on their submission guidelines (to show you have read and understood them) asking to be added as a writer. Some pubs are fussier and require forms to be filled in and some prefer to be emailed directly. Smaller pubs are easier to get into but ask to write for any you think you could contribute to.
7. Make sure you read their submission guidelines, rules and their work! This is very important. I recently set up my own publication, added some writers and some then submitted work that had nothing to do with my publications topics! So I had to decline them. The best way to make sure you are a good fit for a pub is to read their work. Spend some time on their page reading work by other writers. Don’t forget to engage by clapping, commenting and highlighting! It’s also really good practice to follow at least some of the other writers on that publication and support their work by reading, clapping and commenting. This shows loyalty to the publication and encourages growth and visibility, which is mutually beneficial for everyone!
8. How to format your written pieces. Some publications may have clear rules on how they want work to be formatted before submitting. If you don’t read and adhere to this, then they won’t publish your piece, and why should they? After all, it is their publication and they may have a certain look or feel they are trying to maintain. Personally I prefer and advise the following check list: Use both a TITLE and a SUB-TITLE. You might as well use both. The sub-title allows you to fit more keywords into your title, which may attract more readers, so in my opinion, you’d be silly not to utilise that extra tool. To correctly format the main TITLE, you write it into the title space, highlight the first T in the word TITLE and then choose the TITLE option when it comes up. It is set out as a capital ‘T’. To format the sub-title, you do the same underneath. Highlight the first letter in your sub-title and choose the smaller ‘t’ when it comes up. This gives it all a nice universal look. You can also add a KICKER above your title. Again, you might as well! A KICKER just gives the reader a bit more information on what type of writing this is. For example you might put: ESSAY/FAMILIES/MEMOIR if you have written a piece about childhood memories. To add a KICKER you merely write it above your TITLE and again, highlight the first letter and choose the small ‘t’ again. This will format your KICKER.
9. Images. It is wise to add a suitable image to your piece. I usually only add one at the start of my piece, but again, some publications will prefer you to add more and some really don’t like more than one. Check those submission guidelines! To add an image you click on the + symbol and a menu of options appears. You can upload an image from your device, or choose one from the Unsplash site. You must then add a credit under the image stating where it came from. You can also use other free sites like Pixabay. If the photo is your own, just state that. Then add Alt-Text. If you click the image, you will see a box saying ‘Alt-text’ come up above it. Click on this and it will ask you to describe the image for visually impaired readers. This is good practice and some publications are now insisting on this, so you might as well get in the habit of doing it.
10. End of your piece. You can use the + symbol again to add paragraph breaks or new blocks. I like to add a ‘…’ to separate my main piece from my explanation or links at the end. Some people add these throughout their piece. It’s up to you. It’s a style choice. At the end of mine, after the separator, I use italics and thank people for reading. You can ask for claps, comments and follows if you want, but I prefer not to. Most pubs will allow you to add links or ‘calls to action’ at the end of your piece. If it has been written in response to a prompt, for example, the publication will want you to add a link to that piece. Some ask for their submission guidelines to be added at the end of each piece. Again, read those guidelines! I tend to add a link to the prompt and then one or two more pieces I have written for that publication. This gives the reader the option to read more from me on a similar topic in the same publication and I like to think it shows some loyalty and appreciation to that pub for having me as a writer! You can also add links to your books, if you are a published author, links to websites or other sites such as X or Substack etc. But again, check. Some publications only allow a certain amount of links at the bottom. To add a link, again click on the + symbol and move along the menu bar until you find the option for adding a link. It’s sensible to add links if the publication allows it. If people enjoyed your piece, you are giving them more to click on.
11. Getting boosted. Writers on Medium can have their work boosted by boost nominators. Some pubs have boost nominators and some don’t. It’s probably a good idea to write for a mix of both. But writing for a pub without a boost nominator is not a problem, as boost nominators don’t just nominate within their own publications. They can nominate anything they come across on Medium. They have 20 nominations a month to use up and the Medium curation team then decide if the piece is indeed boost-worthy. You might get lots of nominations for boosts but not have them actually boosted, or you might win on both fronts. If your work is boosted you will receive an email from Medium. Your piece will then be pushed in front of more readers and you will see more views, reads, claps and comments as a result. This generally means your piece will earn you more money, but it does vary. My biggest earner from a boost has made me $405 so far. It’s still getting reads so it will continue to make me money. But some of my boosted articles have only earned around $15. As for non-boosted, you can earn as little as a few cents or as much as $50 or more! It really can vary a lot. What gets boosted? That would take a while to delve into but for me, it’s been pieces that are raw, honest, heartfelt and authentic, usually on topics that are fairly universal and relatable.
12. Medium etiquette. Medium is overwhelmingly a lovely, warm, supportive place. It’s a very co-operative place and that’s why it works. It’s reciprocal. It has to be. If you use Medium selfishly, you will not do well. Follow people you are genuinely interested in. Subscribe to get email alerts from them if you really want to support them. Read the Daily Digest email every day. It will load up stories from writers who follow you, writers you follow, and topics it has noticed you are interested in. Read whatever catches your interest, clap and comment to increase engagement for that writer. Every time you read AND engage, you are helping that writer earn money. Support the publications that have accepted you to write for them. Answer comments when you get them. It’s polite to thank people for reading and commenting, and your comment to them also counts as more engagement. Don’t beg people to follow you. I hate that. Don’t comment on people’s work asking them to read your piece on a similar topic. That’s so rude. Don’t be needy. Don’t spam people, don’t try to sell them anything. You can get reported and thrown out, quite rightly. Medium etiquette really needs a longer post, so I might come back to this another day! But it’s really quite simple. Read the rules, learn the rules, pay attention to the etiquette and support others if you hope to be supported yourself.

Okay, that’s everything for now on the basics. If you want to know more about Medium and what a wonderful platform it is for new and established writers, let me know what else I can talk about! Thanks for reading!

format title, sub title and kicker

add image and give credit plus alt text

use title and sub title – alluring, thought provoking

edit edit edit proofread, edit and again

be real