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Advice For Medium Newbies

From a Medium friend

Mark Starlin
4 min readSep 11, 2019

Medium can be a bit overwhelming for new writers. So I will offer some practical advice in this story. These are my opinions. Some may disagree, but I hope you will find much of it useful.

You can clap more than once for a story — up to 50 claps. If you hold down the clap icon (it looks like a pair of hands) the clap counter will advance until it reaches 50. Or until you stop holding it. There is no standard or universally accepted procedure for clapping. No fixed value assigned to each clap. No right or wrong strategy for clapping. Everyone has created their own system. So clap however you feel. You have plenty of time to come up with your own theory later.

Don’t ask for claps at the end of your story. It is annoying. Anyone who has been on Medium more than a day knows you can clap for stories. It’s as lame as saying “Don’t forget to tip your waiter” from the bandstand. We all know.

Respond to stories. Clapping is nice, but responses help you build connections. Interaction with other writers is one of the most enjoyable things about Medium. And interaction creates a connection. Claps rarely form connections. Responses do. Tell the writer what you think of their story. Or how it made you feel. Respond.

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Mark Starlin
Mark Starlin

Written by Mark Starlin

Old bones. Young heart. Uniquely arranged words.

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