A great thing about Medium’s open platform is the incredible diversity of voices. Here you’ll find writers sharing knowledge in their fields, from programming to psychology to Gothic literature. (Really.) You’ll find professionals promoting their expertise, and you’ll find writers crafting poetry and fairy tales for the sheer joy of it.

In this month’s Open Thread, we asked, “Who do you write for?” As writers, the very question can chafe, implying that our work only has value if someone else says it does. But we’re not talking about writing just for clicks or claps. We’re talking about writing to connect, writing to communicate with readers. After all, if you want anyone to read your work, it helps to consider who that “anyone” might be, and how you can be useful or interesting or amusing to them.

We got almost 100 responses. Here were some that stood out. Thanks to everyone who participated!

— Amy Shearn, Creator Support @ Medium

I write for new writers and developers, to share information that I have learned and my journey to transition into a freelance content writing career. — Heather Cooper

I try to be as authentic as I can and write about the things that I’m passionate about because I want to genuinely connect with people, and I can’t do that unless I’m true to myself. Even if that means publishing old-fashioned fairy tales in the age of the smartphone. — E. Ardincaple

I most definitely write for myself, and it took me a very long time to do so, to understand that, even though I am writing to others, I can only express what I am so, before anyone can enjoy my writing, I should enjoy it. — Ju Wakabara Romualdo

I write to share the gained knowledge in Programming hoping it might help someone struggling with the concept somewhere out there. — Richardwachara

I write for people who want to learn more about themselves through Gothic literature. — Alicia Domínguez

I have been blogging about psychology for more than 14 years now… I write to share what excites me, and in doing so, I also feel like to spread awareness about psychological issues. — Saif Farooqi, PhD

I write as a way to communicate about shared human experiences. Reading is how I understand myself and life…I would like to participate. — Kit Desjacques

I write to share health and science knowledge with the general public. — Nita Jain

I write for and to 12-year-old me who is still healing. I appreciate writers I can connect with and learn from and hope to do the same for others. — Claudia Koomson

Who You Write For was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There are times when we write simply because we have to. We have something coiled up inside that we want to express, so we scribble it into a journal, or scrawl notes in a notebook, and afterwards we feel better. In these cases, the writing itself was the point. But what about when we want readers?

Writing for readers, however, is an act of communication. Just like in a conversation, you have to think about the other person: what they’re interested it; what they want; what they are ready to hear. This becomes even more important if you’re looking to convince people to follow you on Medium and read everything you write, or sign up to receive your stories via email. Knowing your reader will help focus your writing and build your audience.

So tell us, who do you write for? Beginners in your field who would benefit from your expertise? Experts in your field whose attention you’d love to have? People who are interested in software engineering/health and wellness/cats/whatever? 17-year-old you? 71-year-old you? Let us know in the responses.

— Amy Shearn and the Creator Support Team @ Medium

Who Do You Write For? was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’re always looking for ways to make your ideas easy to share and absorb. That’s why we excited to tell you that readers can now listen to Medium stories both on the website, and on our iOS app. All they have to do is click on the Listen button at the top of most stories to hear them read aloud. It’s that simple.

We’ve heard from many readers that listening to stories has helped them enjoy more stories than ever before — by as much as 3x. We’re not surprised; instead of having to carve out specific times in their day, listeners are able to enjoy your stories whenever is most convenient for them — while walking, relaxing, or taking care of housework, for example.

The Listen feature is powered by AI text-to-speech technology from our friends at Speechify. We aim to continue working with them to expand audio on Medium. That means adding new product experiences, language options, and voice diversity as it becomes available on their platform.

Editing on the web

The Listen feature does more than provide readers a new way to enjoy your stories. We know the importance of self-editing, and we’ve heard from writers that it can be helpful to hear someone else read your own writing before you publish. Audio on Medium.com helps you do just that.

Now you can use the Listen feature as an editing tool to hear your drafts before publishing. Here’s how: Click the three-dot menu in the upper right of your draft (next to the “Publish” button). Select “Share.” Use the link you find there, and you will be able to listen to one of the AI voices read your draft to you.

Writer FAQs

How will this feature affect my earnings?

We’ll factor listen time into the payout calculations for eligible writers with metered stories.

Can I narrate my own stories?

Not currently. We’ve received great pieces of feedback during the initial website launch, including requests for the ability for writers to narrate their own stories. It’s something we’ll consider for future product updates.

Can non-members listen to my metered stories?

The same paywall rules apply to listening as to reading. Only members will be able to listen to stories that are behind the paywall.

Can I disable this feature for my stories?

Because we believe that text-to-speech will help more people gain access to great writing and ideas on Medium, disabling the feature is not possible at this time.

Will I be able to see how many people listened to my stories, or who listened?

Not yet, but as we advance this feature, we may provide more listening insights so you can learn more about your audience.

Now Your Audience Can Listen To Your Stories On The Go was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Gillian May built an enthusiastic following with her writing on health and wellness

Every month here at Creators Hub, we feature a creator we admire on the platform. Next up is Gillian May, who has launched her writing career right here on Medium. She writes regularly on topics like mental health, addictions, trauma, and alcoholism.

Gillian May has a unique perspective — she’s both a former nurse and a recovering alcoholic, so she knows a lot about her subject matter. While she was an expert in her chosen topic when she first started on Medium, she was also a fairly new writer. And, as she notes below, Medium was useful to her as “a space to just start the process without feeling too pressured to make my writing perfect.” Now she has over 64,000 followers, and has become an authority in the health and wellness space.

We asked Gillian a few questions via email.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

If someone only read one of your Medium posts, which should it be and why?

Well, my most popular post is “The First Signs of Alcoholic Liver Damage Are Not in the Liver,” and I am very proud of this story even though it was emotional for me to write. It contains the story of my father’s death along with critical education about alcoholic liver disease, a condition that I write frequently about. But I wrote this story rather quickly and looking back, there’s probably a lot more I could have done with it to provide more clarity and education for people. So I think my best work is represented in the post “Why Alcohol Is More Dangerous for Women.”

This was a collaborative effort between myself and editor Kate Green Tripp who really helped me get clear on the vision of the story and the research. Kate helped me tease out the facts and encouraged me to find experts to interview, something I hadn’t done before. I feel like I really found a more journalistic and confident voice in this article. I also think the message is super important even though it’s slightly controversial. I’m committed, as a former nurse and recovering alcoholic, to help others learn the deeper health facts about alcohol use. For this post, I wanted to understand how alcohol affected women as I had been finding some startling facts in the research. Even though this post centers women (who often don’t get any spotlight in health research at all), I do feel strongly that anyone who uses alcohol should know more about its effect on our health. However, this article represents, for me, my best and most polished work.

How has writing on Medium helped you develop your voice as a writer?

Medium has been a major springboard for me in my writing career. I started reading Medium posts back in November 2018, then began writing in January 2019. I used Medium to start my freelance writing career. I wanted a safe space to just start the process without feeling too pressured to make my writing perfect. Medium is a great place to stretch your wings with actual published writing that anyone can read. I felt better knowing that my posts wouldn’t get seen too much right away because I was new. It gave me a safe place to experiment and try things without the pressure.

However, I quickly warmed up to the process and began writing frequently. It took a long time for any of my posts to really get seen as I needed to develop my voice, my message, and my goals. It was interesting to see how certain topics did better than others, but chasing algorithms was never my desire. Instead, I wanted to write about things that I knew would contribute something to others. I knew I had many stories to tell but it took a while to figure out how I wanted to tell them and what my ultimate message was.

Eventually I settled on promoting health and preventing illness through education around alcohol, addiction, and mental health. Being a former nurse, I have a lot to say about health promotion and illness prevention in these areas because our health care systems often don’t provide enough accessible education. There is also a serious lack of health promotion and prevention within the mental health and addictions industries. Writing on Medium helped me find a simple way to convey this education using my personal background and real-life stories. It was fascinating to me to see my combined experience as a nurse and recovering alcoholic (who also lost her own father to alcoholism) come to light in my voice. This voice was essentially birthed here on Medium and I’ll never forget that.

What are the last three profiles you’ve followed on Medium?

If I may, I’d like to tell you the last three profiles that I have followed that have impacted me the most. The first is Adeline Dimond, who always gives me comfort in her humorous take on middle-aged female life through the time of Covid-19, wars, and everything else going on. Even though she and I are so different, I still find myself in her writing and it entertains and calms me.

The second is indi.ca, who is an exceptional writer and thought leader living in Sri Lanka. I absolutely love his posts even though I find them sometimes shocking and unsettling. He is documenting all the world events from his lens in Sri Lanka and I am learning so much from him about how global events reverberate around the world. I think we’re all so stuck in our own bubbles that we rarely look elsewhere to see the different experiences of our fellow humans. I think this interests me even more as a Canadian woman now living in rural Colombia where I am also witnessing a totally different view of global events.

The last profile is Annie Tanasugarn, PhD, who writes candidly about PTSD and trauma and how these issues affect our health and relationships. This is a topic I am also committed to and because she is a therapist, I am learning a lot from her. I like the way she takes complex psychological terms and makes them accessible to any reader. That is something I am also committed to in my own work.

Is there a specific feature of Medium you really enjoy?

It’s taken me a while to get used to the new desktop and mobile app functions, but now that I have a handle on it, there are some definite positives about it. I think the main thing is seeing new writers on my homepage, in the side bars, and in recommended reading that all write about topics I’m interested in. I have found several new writers over the past few months, including those I mentioned above, which has been a cool experience for me. I think the new features of Medium are beginning to help us find interesting writing even though it took a while to get going.

What do you wish you’d known before starting to write on Medium?

There’s lots of advice people can give to other writers about what to consider before writing on Medium, however, I really feel that overthinking the process isn’t helpful. The best part about my start on Medium is that I casually heard about it through a writing coach and just decided to start writing knowing it was a free and open platform. So, I think “not knowing” can be helpful if you know what I mean? Because sometimes we push our creativity too hard to “produce” something that we don’t take the time to just experiment and see what interests us, what lights us up, what gives us passion.

For me, just the process of writing and trying things was the real learning, so long as I didn’t put excessive pressure on it. I think if I had tried so hard to “know” everything about Medium and writing ahead of time, it may have stunted my process. I think too many people come to Medium with dollars in their eyes and don’t come with a true desire to hone a writing voice and craft a passionate message that others can learn from. Since I didn’t know a lot about money making on Medium ahead of time, it helped me relax and write better. So I’d say to anyone who just discovered Medium, forget about the money part and just create first.

What’s the best piece of writing and/or creativity advice you’ve ever gotten?

I think the best writing advice came from my wife, who isn’t a writer. Many years back I was struggling so hard with getting words on the page because I felt so fearful of failure that I just couldn’t start. She was a teaching assistant for kids with disabilities and they had put a butterfly sanctuary in their classroom. I still tear up when I remember her using her elbows to mimic the flapping of wings from the newly emerged butterflies. She said that in order for the butterflies to learn how to fly they need to flap and flap for a while. It all looks like wasted time and energy but they actually need that struggle to learn and grow. So she reminded me that I likely needed to struggle too, because I was just learning and growing as a writer. Every time we put a word on the page, we’re flapping our wings. It may not look like much, but in that challenging and somewhat directionless process, we are figuring out how to fly with our words.

More creators to follow:

Management strategist Roger Martin
Humor writer Kyrie Gray
Personal development specialist Amardeep Parmar
Community creator Allison Gaines
Blogger-to-book author Elisabeth Ovesen
Technology thought leader Camille Fournier

Tell us in the responses who you think we should be following!

The Nurse With a Story to Tell was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Did you know you can control what stories you see on Medium?

You have a say in what stories and writers Medium recommends to you.

You can fine-tune your feed by clicking on your profile picture and then selecting “Refine recommendations.” Adjust the writers and publications you’re following. Remove stories from your reading history that don’t reflect the stories you typically want to read.

These are small changes that can have a big impact on the stories and writers we recommend to you.

To learn to write, you have to read. A lot. And when it comes to finding your readers on a platform like Medium, reading widely is a great way to get to know what resonates with readers, what writers you might be in conversation with, and what you appreciate as a reader — which can help you to develop what you do as a writer.

As a bonus, reading widely can also help you come up with new ideas for what to write about.

How to Medium: Fine-Tune Your Recommendations was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One of the best parts of browsing Medium is discovering new voices — writers whose perspectives make you think, laugh, learn, or just feel less alone. Every month, we’re highlighting a few stories by writers who’ve hit “publish” for the first time.

This month: a retired science journalist remembers his father; a UX designer applies lessons from their MFA in poetry; and an essayist leaves New York City for greener pastures. Read, highlight, and clap for their words — and give them a follow so you won’t miss their next story.

— Harris Sockel and the Creator Support Team @ Medium

“In America, We Were All ‘Russian,’ but Soviet Jewish Identity Has Always Been Complex” by Yulia Khabinsky

My family came from Moscow, Russia, which, because it was the seat of the Soviet empire, conferred assumptions about your education level (high) and attitude (snobbish). The city (versus country) distinction felt like the most notable one, and I’d be judged differently compared to, say, someone like fellow Soviet Jew Mila Kunis, whose family is from the smaller city of Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Still, most of us had relatives across the region. Because of this Soviet flattening, my family’s background didn’t really feel specifically Russian, not in the way most people understand nationality.

“How an MFA in Poetry Prepared Me for a Career in UX Design” by kimmy kemler

The problem with writing the best thing you’ll ever write is that you still have to revise. If you fall in love with a line of a poem you’ve written, you must also understand that someday, after a dozen drafts, that may be the one line that doesn’t work anymore.

A poem can outgrow its best lines just like a design can outgrow an early prototype’s best features.

“Geisthaben: Some Thoughts on Leaving New York” by Alicia R. Cannizzo

I think I am divorcing New York City because my body needs to be allowed a dormant season. I cannot bloom all the time. That is not the rhythm I learned in the foothills of Colorado. But in that same little house I learned about poetry and art and spent many teenage nights yearning for the culture that is everywhere in New York, that suffuses even the plantings in the parks. I fell in love with the spirit of things, with the man-made and the hand-made, with messy humans and all their brilliant creations, with a sense that what is built will be seen by others and should on some level please them. Outside of New York and a few other urban areas, this care for the built environment is hard to find. It is haphazard and clumsy.

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Score Bugs and the UX of America’s Pastime” by Alaina Zemanick

Spending so much time watching baseball and learning the rules in tandem, I realized that the broadcast’s means of representing the scores and bases was important to my education. Called score bugs, this graphic is a rather new innovation in televised sports. ESPN first began using score bugs during their World Cup broadcast in 1994, an idea implemented in soccer matches in the UK (source). Since then, score bugs don’t just communicate the scores of a game. For example, football viewers can also see the number of downs and number of yards needed before a first-down conversion. In sports where possession is a concern, score bugs indicate who has the ball at a particular point in the game.

In baseball, the score bug has evolved to show vital pieces of data about the current state of the game (especially in a sport that relies so much on that data!).

“Russia, My Father and Me” by Arnfinn Sørensen

I want to tell a story about Russia. Not the objective truth about that beaten, abused and abusing land — whatever that might be — but my story. This is the first part. It is about my father, and the way his life and death strangely resonates with the past and possible future fate of the country he loved, admired and maybe lost faith in — Russia. And it is about me — his son, who grew up in Norway with that mysterious admiration for Советский Союз — The Soviet Union, who felt its presence, sensed its shadow in the small things and the harrowing changes of a torn-up childhood.

For more resources, advice, and inspiration for writing on Medium, check out the Medium Writers Starter Pack. And as always, thanks for being here and sharing your perspectives.

April Highlights From Medium’s Newest Writers was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What do you want to know about reporting, writing personal essays, and other aspects of the freelancer life?

Here on Creators Hub, once a month we ask you to share your questions about freelance writing. Do need advice on reporting? Do you wonder how to write personal essays that you can get paid for? How is one supposed to pitch an editor, anyway?

Let us know in the responses what you’re wondering about, and we’ll share your questions with Eve Peyser, a full-time freelancer. Previously, she’s answered reader questions about getting started as a freelance writer and building an audience. What else do you want to know?

UPDATED 4/25/22: Eve’s responses to this round of questions can be read here. But you’re always welcome to ask more, and she will try to address them in her next post.

• How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer, and Other Advice
• How to Build an Audience as a Freelancer, and Other Advice

Ask a Freelancer was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One way to approach your writing — especially when you’re looking for inspiration — is by focusing on service. How are you serving your readers? This requires thinking as much about what people are primed to read as what you’re ready to write.

This is one of the secrets of media websites. They don’t come up with an entirely new slate of stories each week or month. They have an editorial calendar full of slots that they fill. They look at holidays and upcoming events and they come up with new twists on certain subjects that people tend to want to read about. They know that January means people are ready to read about personal reinvention. September means rebooting your professional life. And April? They’re ready to read about these topics:

Professional advice for graduates (and anyone else wanting to break into your field)

What unexpected or unusual advice would you give to people who want to break into your field? What advice do you wish you’d gotten before you graduated?

“Spring cleaning”

We’ve taken a look at how we’d like to spring clean our writing lives. What other tidying up do you need to do, or do you suggest others do? Think beyond regular old decluttering projects (although those can net some interesting stories, too). Share a fresh approach to inbox management, a new way of timeboxing your calendar, or something you’re looking to sweep out of your professional or personal life.

Meeting in person

Reconnection is always an important theme for readers this time of year. After a long winter, spring is a time of professional and personal socializing that can feel both fraught and exhilarating. In 2022, as we enter into a period of the pandemic that allows us to venture back to the office or co-working space, there’s even more at stake. Write about reconnecting after being home and in virtual spaces for so long.

You’re invited to share your Medium stories in the responses to this post. We want to see what you come up with.

What to Write About in April: Renewal was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Great advice is a game-changer. It can lend perspective to a situation, broaden our horizons, and introduce new ways of thinking. And advice can come in a variety of forms — quick tips and tricks, personal anecdotes, constructive feedback, or lessons from a seasoned expert. No matter the format, advice can help you get one step closer to your goals.

We can all learn from each other, so let’s hear it — what’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever gotten? Maybe it came from a teacher, a mentor, a boss, or some unexpected source. Maybe you didn’t know it was great advice until much later. Let us know in the responses!

— Elvina Fan, Operations @ Medium

What’s the Best Piece of Writing Advice You’ve Ever Gotten? was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over the last 40-plus days, we’ve been gathering insightful perspectives on the war in this list. We’re updating it daily with new stories that deepen our understanding about the invasion, whether that’s through personal narrative or sweeping history. The most valuable insights, we’ve found, come from those who are on the ground in Ukraine. These are the stories we haven’t seen anywhere else, and they illuminate the very human side of this invasion.

“The stories of people who are now experiencing this nightmare should be known to the whole world,” writes Mariupol native Tania Rak in a moving essay about losing touch with her family during the height of Russia’s siege. Rak managed to flee Ukraine, but her family (as far as she knows) is still in Mariupol. Her story is just one of the many giving readers a powerful view into how Russia’s invasion is affecting everyday Ukrainian citizens — and how Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, and for each other.

Here are a few of the insights and perspectives we’ve discovered on Medium so far. If you have a story to tell, we encourage you to publish it on Medium — and if you’ve discovered a perspective worth sharing, please let us know in the responses to this post.

— Harris Sockel, Creator Relations @ Medium

I Was Born In Odessa Ukraine

Actor and comedian Alex Dobrenko shares a tribute to his parents, who fled Ukraine as Jewish refugees when he was seven years old. “According to my dad, Odessa is the humor capital of the world,” Dobrenko writes. “The comedy of these people, of my people, runs deep. I wonder what jokes one can make right now to deal with the pain, the fear, the uncertainty that you will see tomorrow. If anyone can do it, it’s the people of Odessa.”

4 Hours on the Ukrainian Border

Author Dominic Carrillo drove to the Ukrainian-Romanian border a few weeks ago to donate food and supplies to refugees fleeing war. While there, he spoke with refugee families and aid workers — and, on Medium, he shares original photography and video. “Being in this refugee welcome tent is to see clearly the duality of war and peace; hate and love,” observes Carrillo. “War has already killed and injured thousands in Ukraine, and millions have been forced from their homes in a matter of weeks. But what is the response here? Pure love, compassion and empathy.”

‘Assassins of the Mind’: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Ukrainian Culture

Ukrainian writer and communications consultant Anastasiia Marushevska chronicles Russia’s systematic campaign to level Russian culture. “The war with Russia didn’t start in 2022 — it didn’t even start in 2014. Ukraine has been fighting with these assassins of our minds for centuries,” she asserts.

The Empire Strikes Back

From the Medium archive, this longread by former Moscow correspondent for The Economist Noah Sneider tells the 1,000-plus-year history of Russia and Ukraine. As Sneider writes: “Two nations riding fundamentally incompatible historical narratives have crashed. The stakes could not be higher, and not simply because Russia fears NATO expansion, but because Russia fears losing its brother, losing its family, and thus losing itself.”

Not That Far from Home

Writer Susie Kahlich, who lives in Berlin, shares scenes from hosting a Ukrainian refugee. Reflecting on a conversation with M., her guest, Kahlich writes: “Her eagerness to re-establish normalcy in her life, to be ready to go back to Ukraine as soon as possible, to try and pick up where her life was so cruelly interrupted, is something I learn that most of the people arriving from Ukraine feel.”

These stories all point toward a common theme: In the face of Russian aggression and propaganda, Ukrainians are fearlessly making their stories known. It’s inspiring to see their perspectives take shape and start conversations across Medium.

For more perspectives on the war in Ukraine, browse this list. We’ll continue updating it as we come across insightful perspectives across Medium.

How the Story of Ukraine is Being Written was originally published in The Medium Handbook on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.