Let a thousand programming publications bloom.

We are putting “Better Programming” on hiatus to make space for other programming publications.

I Given that I recently switched to a new editor, this proves to be a major turning point. But things are changing on Medium, and I think this will ultimately benefit everyone: authors, readers, and publications.

I’d like to encourage some of you (but not all) to start publishing and provide some guidelines for doing it successfully. If you’re an author, there are plenty of other publications you can write for, and we hope to see more coming soon (check the comments for suggestions).

Medium has always had publications that act as a cross between a group blog and a sub-Reddit. Editors at publications help set quality standards, provide feedback on submissions, and build readership. Publications are a pillar of the Medium experience.

But the exciting (I think) publishing opportunities are changing. It used to be that the way to succeed in publishing was to publish about everything. As a result, Medium was dominated by a wide range of high-volume publications. Better Programming was one such pub, publishing on topics that might not have much of an overlapping audience. How many people are currently programming in all of the following languages: Go, Rust, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, Swift, Kotlin, and Dart?

Better Programming has been publishing articles on all of these topics and more, often publishing articles that, by definition, many people don’t want to read. The direction Medium is headed is to optimize publications with a greater focus than Better Programming.

There are two types of focus that I am personally interested in. One is that the publication is effectively a community of enthusiasts. Another is that publications bring a level of expertise to Medium’s boost program. Note: These are just things I’m excited about. Maybe you have more creative ideas than me.

In both cases, focused publications are required.

If you want to build a passionate community of people who love Kotlin and want to write about Kotlin projects and learnings, you also don’t need authors writing about Swift in their publications.

Similarly, Medium leverages the expertise of its publishing editors to serve as nominators in the Boost program. If your focus is too broad, it’s difficult to bring in reliable expertise. Most recommenders also have first-hand expertise beyond publications. So if I were to run Better Programming myself, I’d definitely name it in Rails (I’ve built several companies on that stack) and regular expressions (I wrote a book). but ignorant about almost everything else.

Running a publication isn’t something everyone can do, and it’s not like you can get rich quick. The best publications are those that come out of genuine interest in the topic, nothing more. For technical topics, there may be financial rewards, but that’s what I’m going to do. But primarily, it’s best to think of this as a way to tap into any passion you may have. I’ve seen how many people have started publishing on Medium over the years, and I know the urge to build a community is strong in many of you.

If you’re interested, here are some tips to get started with publishing. This is not a recipe, but I will list them in order.

1. Pub is easy to start and at least you have yourself as a potential author filling Pub with stories. Here is the link.
2. If you want to accept other authors, you need to set up procedures. Almost all publications that accept other authors set up a “write to us” page with instructions, make it a tab for the publication, create a style guide, and process new author requests. Create a Google Form for Please copy ours.
3. Do you want to focus on inclusivity? If so, your role will likely be more about support and encouragement than setting high editorial bars. People hate being judged, but what I’ve realized for years is that all writing is beneficial to the writer, and often to at least a few people, but Reddit This means that very few articles trend on HackerNews.
4. Do you want to focus on exclusivity, or finding the best ideas and information on a topic? Medium’s Boost program gives publishing editors the tools to recruit authors. “We can help you promote your article to more readers.” You can’t make anything stronger. It has to be the best. So focusing on that is a very exclusive approach. This often reminds me of Runners publications, where editors use their access to Boost to collaborate with professional running coaches, professional runners, and former editor-in-chief of Runner’s World. is. That will be so much fun for him! I’ll use an example from the language I started with, since the programming equivalent is different for each programming language. If I were starting a Perl publication, I would use boosting as a way to recruit Larry Wall.
5. Consider becoming a Boost Nominator. But also consider that this requires a strong sense of smell for the best. Of course, all stories on Medium are “high quality,” but some stories are important, accurate, useful, and sometimes even more so. This is not an official policy, but unofficially, it makes sense to submit an application to become a Boost nominator once you have published a publication with three authors and her ten stories.
6. To start publishing, you need to recruit authors. I’m sure you already know a few that aren’t posted on Medium. If you don’t know enough about a subject and already know other people with similar enthusiasm and expertise in the subject, I think starting publishing is not for you. This is not a hard and fast rule, but I speak from experience. After recruiting from your own network, just like nearly every other publication recruiting authors, monitor relevant tags on Medium and use the Private Notes feature to highlight recently published articles. Invite to publication.
7. Let’s talk about money. Any publication that promotes an article will receive an honorarium. Plus, your own stories can generate more revenue if you can build an audience. But if this is the most important thing to you, you’re missing the big picture. Writing and editing is a form of portfolio building. In the field of software engineering, you get paid a lot of money, far more than what Medium pays for writing. Therefore, focusing on getting rewards from Medium is the ultimate example of a local maximum. Because he can earn a thousand times more by building a reputation and using it to get a job or get a raise. This is just a fact.

If you are launching a programming publication that is seeking authors, or have already launched such a programming publication, please post a link in your reply along with a link to the submission guidelines.

Author: I looked at the statistics for Better Programming. 46,000 authors have published his 16,8,000 stories on Better Programming. These articles generated 151 million page views for him. Not all of them were behind paywalls, but the one that earned the author $999,000. It was a great honor to play that role, and I would like to thank the editors who made it possible and everyone who wrote the articles. Medium is still a great home for you, it’s just that you need to find a new place to publish.