Curated Collection for Valuable Stories
Let’s Make Invisible Stories Visible #01
Amplifying valuable stories of engaging writers whose content is disadvantaged by possible distribution constraints
Purpose of this Unique Collection
Dear Readers and Writers,
Writers pour their hearts and souls into their valuable stories. When those beautiful pieces get no readers, it hurts them deeply and discourages them from creating more.
This potential problem might deprive avid readers of finding quality content.
This is a new and unique collection for avid readers who miss valuable stories due to possible distribution problems on this platform. Our goal is to create visibility for informative, engaging, and well-written pieces on any topic.
The collection will be open to nominations and self-nominations to be evaluated and composed by our volunteer editors. This is a sample version.
Why do we start this initiative?
First, we’d like to give a context for this unique collection, as our goal is to address the pain of creators on this platform that we listened to and analyzed.
Then, with guidance from the owner and chief editor, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, as the leadership team of Illumination Integrated Publications, we want to take affirmative action to alleviate this pain within our capability.
As this is the first version of this series, we’d like to provide relevant context so that our next episodes make sense to the readers and affected writers. This is a visibility initiative for disadvantaged content.
This post is not a criticism of this platform. We respect the choice and approach of the platform decision-makers. The medium platform comprises partners such as writers, readers, editors, and administrators.
As caring partners (readers, writers, and editors), we aim to create visibility of valuable content needing deserved recognition.
Readers also deserve to find and read insightful and engaging stories on this platform. Our goal is to delight our readers and empower our writers within our capacity. We only focus on what we can control.
Summary of Problem Statement
Over the last few weeks, we received hundreds of emails and thousands of messages on our Slack workspace from the contributing writers of Illumination Integrated Publications on Medium. 16,000+ writers contribute to our publications. Since our inception in 2020, we have published 300,000+ stories.
All writers unanimously mentioned that their stats significantly dropped.
Using diversity and inclusion principles, we support all levels of writers, from the absolute beginners to the most accomplished ones. Naturally, therefore, thousands of writers prefer to host their stories in our publications.
300,000+ stories in the last three years might sound like a massive number to new readers. However, compared to the size of Medium, the number of stories we publish looks like a drop in the ocean. For example, just in 2021, over 534,000 writers published 2.3 million stories on Medium, as mentioned in the official blog.
The problem is some writers gain remarkable visibility, and some cannot even get a handful of views. To give you an idea, for example, a story about a celebrity figure written by a writer gained over 500K in one of our publications; however, another well-articulated story about a significant world problem written by an expert in the field received fewer than 20 views.
When we checked with the author, these views belonged to only shared links. So the algorithm did not seem to distribute the story at all. We have no idea why some stories do not get any views on this platform.
Medium has a complex distribution system that we haven’t figured out yet despite our thorough analysis of stats using insights from experienced data scientists.
We understand that Medium curates content based on a set of criteria. The points in the criteria make sense. However, the choice seems to be subjective of curators. We respect their choice as it is their platform as a private company. So writers have cannot do anything about it.
However, beyond curation, many writers do not care anymore, thousands of creators are concerned about their content not getting enough visibility even from their followers, possibly due to how the algorithm was programmed.
Some stories get thousands of views, and some get only a few. When we analyzed the best and worst-performing content, the pattern was not clear. Most of the disadvantaged stories have nothing to do with quality in this situation.
We received hundreds of emails from top writers. Some top writers publicly raised their concerns. For example, recently, Kristina God posted an article titled It’s The End of Medium as We Know It (and I Feel Fine): The good, the bad, and the ugly about Medium’s current state and future.
We can assure you that quality is not necessarily the main reason for the visibility. For example, we witnessed stories written in raw content and even having language issues gain significant visibility. In contrast, some stories written with rigor get no visibility.
Furthermore, while some stories gain thousands of views from external readers, they get only a few from Medium members. So creators cannot get the monetary value for their content.
This confuses readers as they publish their content on this platform, but external readers see the content multiple times more than internal readers.
Topics play an important role in visibility. Medium curators and algorithms seem to give priority to some topics. We believe it depends on the readers’ interest. This is a good practice.
However, stories on some popular topics do not get chosen for further distribution. And some valuable stories are de-curated for unknown reasons. Writers do not get feedback for un-curation or de-curation.
By the way, our definition of un-curated is not chosen for further distribution. And de-curation means chosen stories are removed from further distributions. Dr. Yildiz wrote about de-curation in 2021 in an article titled “De-Curation” Is a Thing Now.
Here is a sample visual representation of stories within the last three hours, from a publication followed by 60,000 readers on Medium. This does not make sense to us.
We used to have views like in the following diagram. So we believe that there are thousands of readers on this platform. The problem is finding those readers.
About this Collection
In this collection, we will choose engaging and insightful stories that might interest a broader audience, either not curated or de-curated.
Initially, we started with our chief editor, who volunteered to be the first in this initiative and shared a few of his un-curated and de-curated stories with us. With his permission, we share his disadvantaged stories.
If you are interested in your stories being in these collections, please leave a message on this story or contact us via our Slack workspace so that we can feature your relevant stories to create further visibility.
We will only publish and feature stories meeting Medium’s policies and our publication guidelines. As long as your stories meet Medium policies and our guidelines, we don’t censor them. Please check the following guidelines to understand our editorial process.
In the following section we provide a list of de-Curated and un-curated Stories by Dr. Mehmet Yildiz which lost visibility on this platform. We plan to keep similar format for other writers in upcoming collections.
1 — Sample De-Curated Stories
In this section, we selected five stories of this author removed from further distribution for unknown reasons.
We reviewed these stories before publishing and did not see an issue from the platform and distribution rules’ perspectives. These stories reflect the author’s experience and perspectives and comply with the platform rules.
Readers also left positive comments on these stories, and as publication editors, we had no complaints.
Here’s How I Defeated Brain Fog with Six Lifestyle Habits Decades Ago.
This article defines brain fog as a type of cognitive dysfunction and provides a holistic approach to addressing its symptoms and root causes with healthy lifestyle habits. This article does not provide health advice. It offers perspectives from the author’s experience, observations, and reviews.
Here’s How I Tamed Overactive Immune System and Lowered Arthritis Symptoms in 5 Steps.
This article introduces rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition, and documents his tacit knowledge and experience in dealing with symptoms with takeaway points. His goal is to pass along his hard-learned lessons. As he used both mainstream and alternative therapies coupled with lifestyle improvements holistically, he’d like to share his experience to give perspectives to those who live with arthritis symptoms.
Eating 200g Fats Daily for Decades Helps Me Thrive
This story reflects the author’s personal experience. It does not provide advice. Instead, it shows there are alternatives for different people. Diet is a personal and health matter. Healthy fats are not enemies but friends.
Here Are the Benefits I Gained from Performing Long-Term Fasting.
This story highlights the value and health benefits of fasting for healthy individuals based on his experience and reviews. This is not health advice. His goal is to create awareness and give perspectives to interested readers by sharing his findings for the last few decades. Fasting sounds controversial to some people, but there is no controversy about it. Throughout history, billions of people benefited from fasting.
Julia Lost 30 Pounds After Quitting Five Habits
In this story, the author provides a high-level perspective of Julia’s transformation with critical points to reflect valuable takeaways from her life. Julia’s story was close to his heart as it resembled numerous other friends who ended unnecessary suffering by taking personal responsibility and seeking help from others.
2 —Sample Un-Curated Stories
In this section, we selected some stories that were not chosen for further distribution for unknown reasons as the author follows Medium’s distribution rules pedantically. According to Medium’s topic page, this author is the number one top writer on health and lifestyle topics. The author has his own publication on health and well-being and has thousands of followers on this platform and many subscribers externally.
Lower the Risks of Having Nervous Breakdowns in 3 Steps.
This article defines and introduces a behavioral crisis, publicly known as a nervous breakdown or mental breakdown, for a common understanding. This article aims to create awareness on reducing the risks of having nervous breakdowns via healthy lifestyle habits. This piece is not about diagnosing or treating the related conditions.
6 Tips to Uncouple Mitochondria and Increase the Chance of Living Longer
This article briefly introduces the concept and hypothesis of mitochondrial uncoupling within the mitogenesis context without going into scientific details. I highlight its importance for health and longevity and offer practical ways to benefit from the effects of mitochondrial uncoupling via six healthy lifestyle habits.
Leaky Gut Might Lead to a Leaky Brain: Here’s How to Lower Risks in 7 Steps.
This article introduces the importance of blood-brain barrier permeability, publicly known as the leaky brain. The author’s goal is to transfer his tacit knowledge with practical tips based on his experience in fixing leaky gut and leaky brain conditions with healthy lifestyle habits.
Here’s How to Lower the Risks of Metabolic Disorders or Reverse Them in 5 Steps.
This article briefly introduces metabolic disorders and their root causes. I provide a five-step approach to lowering the risks with healthy lifestyle habits based on his reviews and experience. Metabolic disorders are close to his heart as he suffered from metabolic syndrome in his younger years as a prediabetic and lost many friends, relatives, and colleagues due to these disorders.
Here’s Why and How I Re-Introduced 3 Nutritious and Delicious Foods to My Customized Diet.
This article aims to share his experience introducing three foods to his diet and highlighting their nutritional values. He sees food as medicine in his holistic health approach. He mentioned these specific foods as they initially caused side effects, so he had to remove them from his diet. The readers might customize his method to re-introduce their favorite and neglected food groups to their diets.
How to Create Cognitive Reserves to Lower Risks and Effects of Neurodegenerative Disorders
This article defines cognitive reserves, highlights their importance, and provides five practical tips to enhance them with healthy lifestyle choices. This post is not health advice. His goal is to inform and inspire readers based on his years of professional research and personal experience.
Here’s Why I Grew Heavier on the Scale After Getting Thinner in the Waistline.
This article explains the difference between the concepts of weight and fat loss. He focuses on steady fat loss and healthy weight management with lifestyle choices. These principles are customizable, so they are not health advice. He penned this piece for information, inspiration, and awareness purposes.
Thank you for reading these stories. We appreciate your feedback.
Conclusions
We hope readers enjoy these stories and gain insights from the author’s experience and perspectives. We look forward to writers whose stories need visibility. Our goal is to cover one writer per reader. Please feel free to nominate writers who deserve recognition. We will do our best to include them in these unique collections.
Our chief editor believes that writers must focus on their work while keeping hope and optimism. Instead of what we cannot control, we need to focus on what we can control.
Dr. Yildiz provides guidance on creating visibility using various ways, especially for new writers. You might check out these guiding and inspiring stories from his writing and editing collection.
Here’s What I Learned by Reviewing 100+ Viral Articles in 2021
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories
The Joy of Selling 1,000+ Books In A Month With Minimal Investment
Sample Curated Collections for New Readers
After reviewing and publishing stories submitted to our publications, our volunteer editorial and curation team members also create visibility for them in multiple ways. They do these tasks as a giveback activity. They are not paid for their duties.
By the ILLUMINATION Amplifier.
Hand-Picked Articles #180, Hand-Picked Articles #181, Hand-Picked Articles #182, Hand-Picked Articles #183, Hand-Picked Articles #184, Hand-Picked Articles #185, Hand-Picked Articles #186, Hand-Picked Articles #187, Hand-Picked Articles #188, Hand-Picked Articles #189, Hand-Picked Articles #190, Hand-Picked Articles #191, Hand-Picked Articles #192, Hand-Picked Articles #193, Hand-Picked Articles #194, Hand-Picked Articles #203, Hand-Picked Articles #205, Hand-Picked Articles #206.
Here are the recent collections from ILLUMINATION-Curator.
ILLUMINATION Reading Club, Curated Book Chapters of Illumination #01, Outstanding Stories — Volume 86, Outstanding Stories — Volume 87, Outstanding Stories — Volume 88, Outstanding Stories — Volume 89, Outstanding Stories — Volume 90, Outstanding Stories — Volume 91.
Here are the recent curated collections from ILLUMINATION main.
Curated Collection #132, Curated Collection #131, Curated Collection #130, Curated Collection #129, Curated Collection #128, Curated Collection #133, Curated Collection #134.
Thank you for reading our collections.
Essential Documents for Our Writers
Every writer of our publications needs to review these guiding policies before submitting their stories. We are tolerant, but these are non-negotiable rules.
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
Invitation to New Writers
ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications are inclusive and diverse, supporting 22,000+ contributors. Different levels of writers, from absolute beginners to the most accomplished ones, delight our readers with their educative and engaging content.
To join our vibrant publications, please send a request via this link. We will help you gain visibility and succeed as a writer on Medium. Please mention the publication name with your Medium account ID in the request.
ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications include:
ILLUMINATION ILLUMINATION-Curated ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR ILLUMINATION Book Chapters Technology Hits SYNERGY Readers Hope Illumination on YouTube Illumination Gaming ILLUMINATION’s Blog EUPHORIA by Dr Mehmet Yildiz
If you are new to Medium, you can join via this link. Readers can read thousands of stories, and writers can monetize self-published content.
