I Made a Big Publishing Blunder Today
Here's how to avoid this mishap
Today, I had my sites set on publishing in a large Medium.com publication called The Writing Cooperative. But I made a big mistake when I tried to submit my hard work. It was a minor error but one that could cost me in the hundreds of dollars.
This is common for us writers. In our field, every T must be dotted and every I crossed…or, wait, that’s – as we’d say here in the south – bass-ack-wards.
Here’s what happened.
Writing for Money
I am a freelance writer and editor. This means I get up each morning, plan my day, and settle in at my computer with a cup of coffee and a whole lot of ambition. I’ve got an extensive workflow plan. This requires daily work, even when I don’t have a client order deadline pending for the day.
Recently, I wrapped up several articles that had me feeling confident:
An article on toxic relationships which was welcomed into Publishious.
What Happens When You Get Too High? – a good piece for the 420 week, right?
A poem for Scrittura.
I was feeling good about my week until I made a rookie, forehead-slapping goof.
I’d been working on a writing topic piece for the past several weeks. The article was completed so I began researching publication opportunities for it. This was one of those occasions where I’d written on a topic of my choice, without a destination publishing avenue already in mind.
I had my eye on The Writing Cooperative, a Medium.com publication with over 250 THOUSAND followers. It’s not an easy publication to get your work into due to their extensive rules about topic angle, writing quality, presentation, and formatting.
So, I gave this article hours of my time today—just for the proofreading, review, and to be sure it met all of the requirements for submitting to this prestigious publication.
And then…I screwed up the submission.
On Medium.com, writers must submit a completed piece to a publication by selecting it from a drop-down list inside the editorial screen. Then, we hit a button, add a few tags, and submit. Then, the publication’s staff takes a look at the piece and decides whether or not it fits their editorial needs.
I selected “The Writing Cooperative” from my list of publications, hit Apply, and added my tags—then thought of one more thing I wanted to double-check in the article.
I did my double-checking—then hit submit.
Congratulations! Your piece is published!
Wait…what? Oh, no.
I’d not double-checked that the article had been submitted to the publication.
In fact, the selection of The Writing Cooperative had not actually been applied. This means it wasn’t submitted to the publication, but instantly self-published.
Which, if you work on Medium.com. you know this permanently disqualifies the piece for submission to nearly any publication on Medium. At least to all the prestigious ones.
Let’s just say that I had to remove my headphones and step away from the office.
I was flummoxed, vexed, and honestly, rather upset with myself.
What Does This Mean?
This means that my article will be sent out to my few hundred subscribers, promoted to my 6K followers, and maybe happen across the feeds of a few other people.
And not promoted more widely to 250K potential readers of The Writing Cooperative.
The cost of this blunder could be in the hundreds of dollars.
In addition, self-published articles on Medium.com are far less likely to be Boosted. Boosting is a feature that allows Medium.com pieces to be more widely distributed. Writers depend on publication editors to recommend well-written pieces for Boosting—but as a self-published piece, there’s no editor to recommend the piece for Boosting.
Again, potentially hundreds of dollars lost due to one small error. Please, learn from my embarrassing error and avoid it for yourself!
When you go to publish a piece on Medium.com, double-check that it is added to the publication’s roster for review before you hit that publish/submit button.
Errors can occur on any platform, so it’s best to be triple-sure. Check and re-check before you hit publish.
If you make this mistake, it’s ok. Take a deep breath and just keep writing.
If you want to read the piece to show your support or because the topic interests you:
Title: Your Rejected Writing Deserves a Second Chance
Topic: Writing and publishing
Advice: How to use a R.E.S.T. method to review and resubmit work that’s been rejected
Final Words
We all make mistakes. Even seasoned writers like myself. If you got up and went to work today and caught yourself in a blunder; remind yourself that you are human.
I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite writing teachers – Ray Bradbury:
“And when a man talks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry.”
― Ray Bradbury, Zen in The Art of Writing
That’s all for now my friends. I think I’ll take a walk outside to visit the Amaryllis that bloomed yesterday. Flowers have a way of calming the soul.
Christina M. Ward
Fiddleheads & Floss Writing Services
Oh no!! That sucks!
Sorry, Christina. I’ve done the same thing.