Ok Medium, I’ll Resume My Membership
Alright, Medium, you win.
There’s so much content that I want to read on here, which I haven’t been able to without a proper membership. (Note: I used to be a medium member, but then grad school got in the way.)
It’s remarkable how many writers — seriously great and renowned writers — have been attracted to Medium. Mark Bittman and the ‘Heated’ publication for one...a favorite of mine. Though we also have mega-media-outlets like the New York Times and the slew of incredible writers that come along with that!
…As well as lesser known authors producing great content all the time — like myself, sort of (but also not really if i’m being honest at this moment).
No, this blog post isn’t an ad for Medium’s membership program — which you kind of have to join anyway at this point, if you want to regularly read articles on here — but if Medium wants to pay me for my troubles I wouldn’t be upset.
Anyway, as I’ve made clear recently, I’d like to get back into a writing routine on Medium. But I don’t think I can do that successfully unless I also have a reading routine on Medium too.
I mean, it’s not a profound thought. You can’t become and/or stay good at writing without also reading a lot.
Though more than that even, I want to peruse Medium articles more often specifically to better understand the landscape here.
(Because, you know, I could technically consume written content anywhere, or just go read a book.)
But, what are other people already writing about? What isn’t being written about?
To find my own niche as a Medium writer (blogger), I need to figure out the areas where more content and more value can be added; and I need to do so in a way that’s not already being done.
Already in the little I do read on Medium, I see a lot of the same hackneyed advice, style, and click-bate-y attention grabbing headlines.
Even if my titles are a bit click-bate-y at times — got to get the audience’s attention somehow, right! — I’d at least like the content inside to be unique. I’m not going to hand you a paper bag with burger and fries only to have you open it and find a Big Mac and a french fry container with a yellow ‘M’ on it.
Medium is also, at its core, a community of ambitious writers and content creators. The key word there being ‘community’.
If I’m going to write often on here, then I want to feel involved in the larger community. To do that I need to check out what other people are up to. It just feels selfish to publish something, have it be read, and then not return the favor by checking out others’ work.
You get what you give, as the saying goes.
At any rate, that’s all I’ve got for you today — maybe in a month I’ll update you on my progress as a dedicated reader on Medium.
