If you want to create a blog without setting up your own website, then you might consider writing on Medium. Medium is an online writing platform that offers the potential to monetise your content. It’s a great place to start your online writing career! But first you need to know how to write on Medium.
So, if you’re interested in writing on Medium, here’s a guide on how to create an account and publish your first story. First, let’s take a closer look at the platform itself.
What Is Medium?
Medium is a publishing platform open to new writers and experts alike. It offers a space for writers to express their thoughts and opinions on any topic. Popular topics on Medium range from mental health to social media, and from politics to cryptocurrencies.
Medium is a great solution for people who want to share their writing without having to worry about creating a website. Plus, if you join the Partner Program, you can even earn some money from your writing!
Is Medium Free?
Medium is completely free for writers. There are no fees involved with creating an account, setting up a profile, writing, publishing, and even getting paid. However, Medium’s funding model charges readers a subscription fee.
Readers get access to three free articles each month. To read more articles, or locked articles, readers need to subscribe. Medium’s current monthly subscription fees are $5 (about £3.70) per month or $50 (around £38) per year. This gives members access to unlimited articles.
Even if you’re a writer, it can be useful to subscribe to Medium. For only $5 every month, you can keep an eye on what your competition is doing. Plus, if you’re writing is well-read, you’ll quickly earn your money back! So, if you want to try and earn some money from your writing, Medium may be worth a try.
Who Can Write on Medium?
Anyone can write on Medium! There’s no vetting process involved or criteria to meet to become a Medium writer. Many amateurs, expert bloggers, politicians, companies, and journalists use Medium as their preferred writing platform.
The only thing you need to do as a writer is stick to Medium’s content guidelines and rules. Medium forbids any threats, hateful content, harassment, promotion of controversial or extreme content, or other types of potentially harmful content.
If you want to write on Medium, the first thing you’ll need to do is set up an account.
How to Write on Medium — Making an Account
1. Create an Account
To create an account, go to Medium’s homepage and click on “Get Started”. You can then choose to sign up using Twitter, Facebook, Google, or your email address.
Signing up with a social media account is usually quickest, as it allows Medium to pull information from your existing profile. You only need to provide your email address, name, and preferred username.
Another advantage of signing up with Twitter or Facebook is that any of your connections that subscribe to Medium will automatically start following your account. This means you don’t have to build an audience from scratch!
2. Verify Your Email
Once you’ve signed up, Medium sends you a verification email. Click the link and you can continue setting up your account.
3. Choose Your Interests
After verifying your account, Medium prompts you to choose some interests. Based on your selection, Medium curates a collection of top writers and publications for you to follow.
4. Set Up a Profile
Next, Medium prompts you to set up your profile. Your profile needs to be descriptive and catch potential readers’ attention. You can choose a profile picture and write a short bio of up to 160 characters. If you signed up using Twitter, Medium automatically pulls your Twitter profile picture and bio.
You only have 160 characters to work with. So, make sure you keep your description clear and simple. For example, you can list the topics you write about, add your credentials, and a link to your website or social media account.
And that’s it! You’re now ready to start writing.
How to Write on Medium
1. Select “Write a Story”
From the Medium homepage, open the dropdown menu by clicking on your profile picture. Then select “Write a story”.
2. Write Your Story
The editor itself is extremely intuitive and easy to use. Medium wants its writers to focus on creating quality content, so it offers a minimalistic editor that allows you to write, edit, and publish a story quickly.
Choose a title for your article and then write your article underneath. To improve the readability of your article, you can add H1 and H2 headings. You can also format your text with some basic options like bold and italics, and you can add bulleted/numbered lists.
Need some help choosing your article title? Check out my 250+ article title ideas for some inspiration.
3. Add Media
You can also add images, videos, and other media (like embedded Tweets) to your story. To do this, simply copy and paste the URL. The editor usually recognises the media format and renders it correctly.
Alternatively, click on the + icon on the left of your text and upload media from your files.
Once you’ve finished writing your story, you have a few choices before hitting publish.
4. Select Additional Features
Clicking on your profile picture displays another dropdown menu with some useful features:
- “Add to publication” allows you to add your new story to any other publications you write for on Medium.
- By clicking on “Share draft link”, you can send your draft to someone else. They can then read and add notes to the draft.
- Selecting “Change featured image” allows you to choose the image in your article that readers will see in their feeds or search results.
5. Publish Your Story
Once you’ve finalised your story, click on “Publish”. Medium then asks you to review some final details and add relevant tags to help readers find your story.
By clicking on “Publish now”, your story goes live on Medium! Note that if you opt to add your story to a publication, you may have to wait for them to approve it before it goes live.
A Great Alternative to Setting up Your Own Blog
And that’s it! You’ve published your first story on Medium.
You can write about anything you want on Medium, as long as it complies with the guidelines. Writing about topics that interest you or that you know a lot about makes it easier to come up with article ideas and build up a loyal readership.