Publishing on Medium as a medical writer
Medium offers a hosted outlet for medical writing that can contribute to a portfolio and reach readers beyond an existing professional network. Using it involves balancing visibility and ease of publishing against control of a website and its branding.
Purpose and audience
Medium publishes articles as “stories”, which individuals and companies can group into topic-based “publications”. It can provide a starting point for a writer or small consultancy without the time or confidence to build and maintain a website or blog. Its publishing tools offer a relatively straightforward introduction to blogging.
Writing about a medical specialism can demonstrate knowledge and writing ability to prospective clients and add work to a portfolio. Exchanges with interested readers can also develop communication skills, and contributing guest articles to an existing publication is an alternative to maintaining an individual blog.
A medical writer reported in 2021 that three of her stories were curated by Medium and received good views without promotion on her part.
Story preparation
The following practices can help writers prepare stories for Medium:
- Use a clear, catchy title that makes the subject obvious.
- Choose a niche based on expertise or sustained interest, targeting an audience without becoming too specialised. Health, clinical trials, medical devices and healthcare innovations are possible subjects.
- Consider story length alongside the reading time displayed to readers.
- Add relevant tags to help readers find stories.
- Use images, illustrations, cartoons or drawings to make the story engaging. Credit Creative Commons images appropriately and consider horizontal images for easier scrolling on phones.
- When republishing material from a writer's own website, add a canonical link identifying the version intended to remain the master copy.
- Publish regularly and engage readers through responses and sharing to support audience-building.
Earnings, branding and control
A writer whose main aim is readership or promoting a website should prioritise that purpose rather than expected earnings.
Hosted publishing creates dependence on the platform: if the service closes, the copy published there can disappear. It can also draw traffic and business opportunities away from a writer's own site, while giving more prominence to the platform's brand than to the writer's business.