How’d it Happen?

It happened quickly and unexpectedly to be honest. I had no intention of becoming a top writer on Medium. In fact, if you could believe it I didn’t even know top writers were even a thing on medium until I got the email! I was surprised my posts did well at all and was viewed by even a few people.

I posted A Possible Home on the 21st of April 2018. Six days later on the 27th I posted both How to Begin Streaming as well as Refute after Listening. These two posts were the meat and potatoes of my stats when I was awarded top writer in education.

It’s unclear why my posts had a decent amount of popularity especially since they weren’t the same topics. One was more about empowerment and motivation and the other was a beginner’s guide to how to begin streaming video games on twitch. Two totally different topics. Both had really strong first days with a lot of views it seemed like. I didn’t think the quantity of views it received were enough to do much or anything aside from maybe getting a few followers and some claps hopefully but I got a lot more than that.

Medium is a Social Media Outlet

Though it may not seem like it Medium is a social media outlet! Youtube and Twitch are both social media outlets even if it even if they don’t seem like it either. As most people know you need to grow an audience on all social media platforms to earn more attention, impact, and makes the relationship more personal between the influencer and the viewer.

What it’s All About

When it comes down to brass tacks social media is about content. Quality content rises to the top while the vapid, overproduced and oversaturated content sinks to the bottom of these sites as you can imagine. It’s logical when you think about it. Conventional content is typically written often and most people don’t have the attention span to consume it on any platform. A retweet on Twitter doesn’t get the retweeter’s account followers usually. This is because it’s not original content. Put a spin on conventional content or come up with something brand new.

Did you get Paid?

In short; yes, I did.

One thing I will say about getting paid for writing Medium articles is if you’re going to write for the money then don’t write. It’s simple! Write for passion, write for the love of it, and write because you want to grow as a writer; don’t write because you want to get rich and famous. This goes for any social media platform. If you put content out for the sake of growth you’re doing it for the wrong reason(s)

Patience & “Perfection”

A few tips and conventions I’ve subscribed to when I write especially on Medium are as follows:

Take the time to design your post so it’s not a wall of text. Break it up using pictures, titles, lists, and line breaks
Check your wording twice to make sure things flow
lists are great because they break up text, they’re easy to read through, and usually contain useful information
First picture and summary picture should both be original and not stock images. (I got this from a guide I read about becoming a better medium writer).

A few simple tips but a few you won’t hear very many places. When I say “make sure things flow” I mean make sure when you read through it the feel of it is natural and smooth. You don’t want to read something that goes from one topic to another then back to the first. Any piece an author writes shouldn’t jump around it should feel like it has a flow to it. Don’t force it just let it flow.

What’s This Change for Me?

Being a top writer changes everything!

Not really…at all. It changes nothing as far as I’ve been able to tell. As far as I can surmise being a top writer in any tag isn’t life changing. It does bring more attention to you as a writer in general but it doesn’t mean you can go from nothing to the largest writer on the site overnight. It helps, don’t get me wrong; but it’s not a massive life changing.

Final Thoughts

After getting a top writer award in a tag it’s further infused me with passion for my writing. I want to write as much as ever and continue putting my information on Medium along with figuring out better designing tactics for my posts. I’m always interested in analytics & outcome of design techniques when it comes to social media; especially YouTube, Twitch, and Medium.