How to Quickly Find Interesting Writers on Medium

Over the past month Ive been really throwing myself into Medium.In addition to writing a new article every weekday, Ive been trying to spend at least an hour each day reading on Medium, leaving thoughtful responses, and generally trying to participate in and embrace the platform.One of the benefits of this is that Ive gotten pretty good at finding interesting writers on Medium, and doing it quickly and efficiently.

Which is important because while Medium is pretty accessible and friendly compared to other platforms, it can still be a little overwhelming, especially for newbies.What follows is my best advice for systematically seeking out interesting, high-quality writers on Medium.The Benefits of Actively Seeking Out Interesting Writers on MediumWell get to my method for how to find interesting writers in a second, but first I wanted to throw out a handful of the unexpected benefits I got from doing this myself.

You start to build friendships. I know it sounds crazy in the days of online trolls and #FakeNews, but there are still a lot of genuinely kind, interesting people online, especially on Medium. And by taking the time to seek them out and strike up a connection, you can actually start to build relationships from scratch.

In only a few months of being on Medium, Ive already started developing a handful of really cool relationships and friendships. Cool!You gain new ideas for your own writing.

If youre serious about writing on Medium, you know how important it is to have a steady supply of interesting and valuable ideas for articles. This can become a problem if youre not exposing yourself to a decent variety of information and people on a regular basis. By actively seeking out new people on Medium you not only find new and interesting ideas and topics, but the very act of deliberately looking for new ideas seems to put your mind in a more creative and generative stance.

You learn how Medium really works. Im no Medium expert by any means. But over the past few weeks of proactively exploring Medium and searching out interesting writers, I feel like Ive gotten a much better sense for the place and how it works.

For example, I found a writer the other day who used a GIF for their header image. I had no idea you could do this and I instantly had a couple ideas come to mind for how I could use that in some upcoming articles of my own. Its a small thing, but I really think that nerding out on a platform is key to both enjoying it and being successful there in the long run.

How to Quickly & Efficiently Find Interesting Writers on MediumHeres my best, most succinct advice for finding interesting writers on Medium. Anytime Im feeling like my home page is getting a little stale or Im seeing the same things over and over again, I do one or more of these three strategies.Note that these are especially directed toward people who are newer to the platform, although I think theyd be helpful even if youve been around for a while.

STRATEGY 1: Following the Leaders FollowsTake a handful of your favorite writers on medium and spend 20 minutes looking at the profiles of people they follow. In particular, look for people they follow who have interests outside of your favorite writers niche. For example, one of my favorite writers on Medium is Nicolas Cole.

He writes in a similar vein as I do about a lot of personal development type stuff. But after a few minutes of browsing whom he follows, I stumbled upon Zat Rana who writes really fascinating stuff in the philosophy/science realm, and has a killer writing style which Ive learned a lot from.STRATEGY 2: TagLatestWhen you search Medium, look by tag first, then by latest stories within that tag.

Full credit for this one goes to the excellent Tom Kuegler from his post:My Powerful 1-Hour Routine For Quick Success On MediumIm actually going to give you a completely reasonable goal, here. medium. comWhat he recommends doing is searching in topics youre generally interested via Mediums search by tag function.

Then within a given tag, search by Latest stories rather than top stories.While Tom recommends this as a way to quickly and genuinely build an audience and network on Medium, I think its just a really great way in general to find interesting writers who havent achieved prominence yet. One tip is to pay attention to a writers style over and above their content.

Look for people who write well, format their articles nicely, compose good headlines, research their content appropriately, respond well to their readers responses, etc. This will tell you a lot more about them as a writer than the content of one article. STRATEGY 3: Your Favorites FavoritesPick a few of your favorite writers and simply ask them who their favorite writers on Medium are via a response to one of their articles.

If you like a writer enough to follow them, chances are they problably have some good recommendations. So why not just ask?While similar to Strategy 1, this one can be useful in a couple situations where the first is difficult:When your favorite writers dont follow many people.

For a variety of reasons, some folks just dont follow many people. But that doesnt mean there arent writers out there whom they respect and enjoy but just dont happen to follow.When your favorite writers follow a TON of people.

Ironically, the same problem can come about in the opposite directionif your favorite writers follow a lot of people, going through all of them can take a long time. Asking directly is obviously more efficient.This strategy really speaks to what I love about Medium as a platform.

Even very successful and popular writers on Medium tend to be for whatever reason surprisingly friendly and willing to reply to your responses. And I think this is especially true if you leave a really interesting and thought-provoking response thats easy to answer.What type of response could possibly satisfy all three of those criteria?

Try this:Hey Indiana Jones, loved the article and especially the part about cultivating a nose for adventure. Just out of curiosity, Whos your favorite writer on Medium?Or this:Han Solo, you mentioned the writer Lando Calrissian as someone you really admired.

Im just wondering, Whos a writer you follow on Medium who you think is underrated?These are questions that dont get asked a lot, are inherently interesting, and require minimal time and effort to reply to. Which means you much more likely to get a response.

Wrapping UpBesides the obvious, there are several benefits to knowing how to seek out and find intersting writers on Medium, including building relationships, getting new ideas for your own writing, and learning how Medium as a platform works on a more detailed level. Ive found that an effective and efficient method for doing this involves browsing the profiles and articles of people your favorite writers follow, searching via latest reads within specific tags, and asking your favorite writers dirtectly which writers they really enjoy.Did you enjoy this article?

You can find more like it, plus other guides, books, and resources for working smarter at your personal development goals at my website: NickWignall. comThis story is published in The Startup, Mediums largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 317,238 people.Subscribe to receive our top stories here RELATED QUESTION I didn't get Google Glass Explorer Edition.

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