Writing | Tips

Things I Learned as a Newbie

When I first became a writer for Medium, there was a lot of information to process. I hit the ground running and picked up a few tips along the way. Here are some I found to be useful — and a few surprising ones.

Why is it taking so long for my story to be published?

Image accreditation

• First, it’s important that you have the rights to use the image. Credit the author of the image with a caption underneath.
• If you took the photo or created the image give yourself credit as well.
• While Medium notes under the images — “Type caption for image (optional), Medium’s Terms of Service states:

“By posting content you didn’t create to Medium, you are representing that you have the right to do so. For example, you are posting a work that’s in the public domain, used under license (including a free license, such as Creative Commons), or a fair use.”

For more information on captioning images, check out this article.

Grammar and spelling

• Please proof read your piece and edit mercilessly. Clean, polished pieces are most likely to be considered for curation on Medium. It’s worth the time it takes to do a good job.

How do I do that thing you do with your story?

How do I put the image credit right below the image?

• If you click on the image, a line appears below it and you can cut and paste the image credits there. Neat, right?

How do I tag my own profile in my article?

• If you type your Medium ID, your profile will come up and you can link it. For example, my ID is @treelangdon and when I type it, my profile comes up. When I click on my profile it changes like this: Tree Langdon ♾️

How do I get the sideways ellipse or three dots page break?

• When you begin a new line, the + symbol comes up. Click on that and choose the double dash on the far right.

---

Whats a Kicker and How do I create one?

• This line is called the kicker. Put your cursor on the Title line and hit enter, which will insert a line above it. Type your topics, with a | between each one. The | is inserted by typing: alt0124. To make the kicker display properly, format it as a subtitle (small T). Cool, right?

How do I prevent myself from accidentally publishing when I’m not ready?

• Use capital TK. If you type TK in your story and hit publish, you will be asked if you want to publish.

How do I single space after a line of text?

• At the end of the line of text, press shift and enter at the same time.

How do I know what tags to use?

• Tags help your readers find your stories so use a tag that is relevant. That said, Medium also considers specific tags when they select Top Writers.
• Here’s a helpful article about choosing tags.

View at Medium.com

How do I get Curated?

First, curation is one goal, but readership is more important in my opinion.

View at Medium.com

That said, if you are focused on getting curated, here are some things I’ve learned.

This is not a complete list. It includes things I hadn’t considered when I first started.

• Go for quality instead of quantity.
• Use relevant tagging. See the ‘Medium Top Writer Tags’ article above.
• Friend links in your article are considered a no-no by Medium and may affect your curation possibilities.
• Don’t ask for claps or likes or shares.
• Stories about Medium aren’t likely to be considered. Stories about your experience on Medium might be.
• Break your text up into shorter chunks so it’s easier to read. Many readers are using small devices and won’t plow through large chunks of text.

Read Medium’s curation policy for more details.

I hope this short list of tips was helpful. Comment on this article if you have any other questions.

New to writing? Create an account on Medium and let’s get started.