Writing on Medium

A Comprehensive Guide to Write, Format, and Submit a Story

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Photo by John Jennings on Unsplash

As an editor for two different Medium publications, I have seen both new and seasoned writers on the platform struggle with various aspects of formatting their work. While there are many formatting articles available on Medium, none of them seemed to have everything I was hoping to communicate to our writers. So I decided to create this comprehensive guide to writing, formatting, and publishing articles here on Medium.

I have designed this with both new and seasoned writers in mind. So hopefully most everyone will find a helpful tidbit or two. I will update it periodically as changes are made to the platform, our needs evolve, or helpful suggestions come in.

So without further ado let's jump in and get started!

Step 1: Click Write

Step 2: Add a Title

A few things to keep in mind when composing your title:

1. Utilize Title Case Capitalization (poetry is the only real exception to this rule). When in doubt, use an online tool, like the free title case converter.
2. Try to avoid asking questions or using periods in your title (poetry is an exception).
3. Keep it concise but engaging.
4. Tell the reader what to expect. Don’t over-promise and under-deliver.
5. Format your title using the Medium formatting tool (aka format bar). The format bar will automatically pop up when you select the text you want to edit

The big T indicates Title Formatting

Step 3: Add a Subtitle

A few things to keep in mind when composing your subtitle:

1. Subtitles should utilize either Title Case Capitalization (see earlier topic 2.1) OR Sentence case capitalization wherein only the first word is capitalized. Title case capitalization is considered the more standard and formal approach, whereas sentence case capitalization is less formal (poetry is the only real exception). Here’s a great resource to learn more about title and subtitle capitalization for blog posts.
2. Try to avoid asking questions or using periods in your subtitle (poetry is an exception).
3. Do not repeat anything already stated in the title, the subtitle is an opportunity to expand on the title and offer up a little more to draw the reader in.
4. Format your subtitle using the Medium format tool. The format tool will automatically pop up when you select the text you want to edit.

The little t indicates Subtitle Formatting

Step 4: Add a Kicker (optional)

A few things to keep in mind when leveraging a kicker:

1. A kicker is a theme or collection name for the article summarized in a few words.
2. Here’s a great Medium article by Casey Botticello on what a kicker is, and how to use it, with some examples.
3. Format it the same way you did your subtitle (select it by highlighting it and use the little t on the Medium formatting bar).

Step 5: Add a Compelling Image

Medium has a host of options for embedding images, videos, code, and page breaks with their onboard image and file embedding bar.

Before we dive into using each option, let’s first cover a few very important things to keep in mind when adding images:

1. Copyright infringement is a real risk for Medium writers. To avoid getting yourself into a costly lawsuit it's important that you only utilize images you have the rights to use or that are available for use under the public domain, or Creative Commons license. All images must also be properly credited, including the AI source if AI generated. Medium’s onboard image tool has a plethora of royalty-free images for use and will even automatically credit the source. You can also use photos you’ve taken or royalty-free images from resources like Pexels, Pixaby, or Unsplash, just remember to properly credit your source as they won’t auto-populate them for you.
2. Images are a powerful way to draw readers in. It’s important to take your time with image selection. Most publications require one compelling and relevant image for each article submitted to them. Some publications will allow more than one image per article provided they are thoughtfully placed and don’t overshadow the piece.
3. Image placement is a personal style preference. Most authors will place their image immediately after the title and subtitle. Those daring for a little more flair may choose to place their image above the title.

Now we will show you how to add images and embed files using each of the buttons from Medium’s onboard image and file embedding bar.

Click the plus sign on the left side of your screen to open the image and file embed bar:

Once clicked, a pop-up will appear and you enter a topic to search for images.

A code block allows for code to be copied and is not just an image of code. This is great for developers or programmers who write how-to’s on coding.

Step 6: Now It’s Time To Write Your Article

A few things to keep in mind when writing your article:

1. All articles must comply with Medium rules.
2. Medium distributes articles according to their published quality standards.
3. Medium Curators and Publication Boost Nominators are looking to showcase the very best work on the platform. Articles that are deemed to have the potential for negatively impacting an unsuspecting readers' feed are limited in their distribution channels.
4. Medium is very clear in that it wants all articles on the platform to be written: “by humans, for humans”. Thus, AI use is limited strictly to image generation or editing/grammar checks.
5. Undo — If you make a mistake or accidentally delete something you didn’t intend to delete in a Medium draft, you can hit control then z to undo the very last action.
6. Headers — you can use the same little t from the format bar that you used to make a subtitle to create section headers as well.
7. Remember that your article will be read across multiple devices (phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops), so shorter paragraph lengths with lots of white space make for an easier mobile reading experience.
8. Spacing in Medium isn’t intuitive, so let’s cover the two types of line spacing to help you produce the best formatting possible for your articles:

Option I: Press ENTER to create a double-line spacing that looks like this:

This is great for poetry

prose, haiku, or other short

form writing.

Option II: Hold SHIFT and press ENTER to create single-line spacing that looks like this:
This allows you to start a new line or paragraph with single-line spacing.

8. Quotations: In addition to using “traditional quotation” marks, Medium has two additional options available in the format bar. Using these options help bring visual variety and appeal to the piece for the reader:

9. Citing References: Academic, APA, and/or MLA style in-text citation is generally frowned upon in most cases for blogs and other online writing. However, reference citations cannot always be avoided and will be necessary for writing that leans heavily on research or other works. Sohani Sirdeshmukh wrote a great article all about properly citing references on Medium if you want to learn more. Typically though, there are two generally acceptable styles for citing references or other work in your writing:

Option I: In-text link

Option II: Using superscript numbered links

To utilize superscript in Medium you use ^ before the number without a space (“^1” becomes ¹).

If you utilize this technique you can then use the superscript numbers to link out to the texts you are referencing, or you can include a traditional numbered reference list at the end of your piece. Some writers will combine methods by linking the superscript and adding a numbered works cited at the end of the piece.

Step 7: Finishing Touches

When you are done writing and formatting your article it’s now time for all of the finishing touches that give you and your work a polished look. We will go into each one of those in this section.

I. Proofreading:

Always proofread your work thoroughly. There are many tools available online to help you with this task, and the most commonly used here in the Mediumverse are:

Grammarly: It’s great for checking spelling and grammar by way of a free Google Chrome extension. You can buy an upgraded version, but for most people, the free version is more than sufficient.

Hemmingway: Will not check spelling and grammar. However, it is a powerful tool to help with overall writing quality. The web version is free, and for a one-time cost of $19.99, you can download a version of it that won’t require an internet connection.

II. Consider an “About Me” Section:

Now that you have finished everything and are getting ready to publish it, it’s time to think about how you’d like to close out your articles. some authors like to do a call to action for a personal newsletter. Others keep it simple.

Another option is to close the piece with the page divider and then create an “About Me” section after it with a brief bio as their signature used across all of their pieces.

Whatever you decide to do, it should speak to your style, goals, audience, and vision for your blog brand.

Step 8: Publishing Your Work!!

Look how far you’ve made it! You should take a moment and give yourself a pat on the back. It takes a lot of courage to write publically. It’s a labor of love and passion to get here and you are about to publish a part of yourself!

So let’s go through the final steps to making this happen:

I. Submit it to a Publication (Optional):

You will need to be added as a writer for the publication before you can submit to them. However, publishing through a publication can help you gain access to a much wider audience. Each publication will have a niche in terms of what types of work they will publish and what they are looking for in their pieces and from their writers. Please be sure to read their submission guidelines to make sure your pieces comply with the publication goals.

Since publication editors largely work on a volunteer basis and have to read each piece they publish, try to submit work that complies with their goals and has been proofread thoroughly. This will ensure fewer publishing delays on not only your piece, but also for all of the other ones in the publishing queue as well.

You can find Medium’s massive list of Publications that are all accepting new writers with details on how to easily apply to become a writer here.

Then select the Publication you want to submit it to:

II. Submit OR Publish:

If you are submitting it to a Publication it will say “Submit”, if you are publishing it without submitting it will say “Publish” like in the image below.

III. Select five Tags that describe the main topics or themes of the piece

Tags help Medium and Publications distribute your work to people who have an interest in the topics you wrote about. Some publications require pieces to have specific tags for them to publish. This is where you will want to make sure you utilize any required tags. For more information on tagging in general, check out the article by Kathy Jacobs on tagging on Medium.

Then hit publish now!

As you'll see in the image above, if you bypassed submitting your article to a Publication, you will see a “schedule for later” option next to the Publish button. This schedule for later option allows you to schedule your articles to be published at a specific date and time in the future. Publications will use this to time the releases of articles they have edited and approved for publication as well.

A Note on Publication Editorial Processes:

Each Publication will have its own editorial process, submission guidelines, and subject matter niche. Make sure you read them carefully so that you understand what to expect when working with each Publication.

Some editors will correct any issues they see, others will leave commentary for you to fix the issues before they will publish the piece. These conversations are had while the piece is typically still in draft form (i.e. submitted to the Publication, but not yet published publically) via private notes on the piece itself. Make sure you are reading and responding to the editorial comments in a timely manner to ensure publishing of your piece isn’t delayed.

END.

Thank you for reading this. I hope you found some valuable tidbits that will help you further hone your craft here on Medium!

About the Author

I am a student of neuroscience and psychology, a poetess, a former corporate executive, and a future Psychiatrist in the making! I love delving into all aspects of what makes us do what we do and the biological underpinnings that govern those behaviors.

Authors Note: All images without a crediting attribution were created and owned by the author for the purpose of this tutorial.