I want to start getting my creative writing out there and I'm wondering about publishing it on Medium. What are the pros and cons of putting my creative writing on Medium, considering that my goals are to be traditionally published?

There’s only one thing that needs to be borne in mind for anyone contemplating of being traditionally published:—

Avoid posting or publishing anything online that you would contemplate for traditional publishing — because nearly all traditional publishers won’t take on such “prepublished” online material.

That means you keep your online creative work separate from your other work.

MEDIUM

Medium is basically the writerly version of Facebook, LinkedIn or (indeed) Quora. It’s for those who want a blogging platform with a large pre-built audience (like Quora). It has settings or mechanisms to circulate your posts to Medium’s general or targeted user populations.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING

Let me say from 40+ years of publications work across 20+ countries that:—

Traditional publishing is a complex business process of commercial decision-making that most writers barely understand.

That’s all anyone needs to know, to be honest.

I don’t want to explain the ins and outs or the wherefores of traditional publishing — there’s no point in most cases.

If anyone ever contemplates traditional publishing, I say:—

Get a copy of the publishing bible:— Writers & Artists Yearbook 2024 (117th edition, July 2023, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, £26, US$30 — contains thousands of contacts and dozens of informative articles by industry players.

Join your nearest Writers Guild or the equivalent. Many run writing surgeries as well as publishing-and-pricing Q&A sessions. The world’s ranking ones are:—

Writers Guild America (WGA)

Writers Guild America West (WGAW)

Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB)

Subscribe to Writers Digest magazine, which runs publishing news aimed at writers as well as articles on the latest publishing and printing scam outfits.

Those three things would answer most matters that any writer would want to ask.