Leadership
Conduct Guidelines for ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
Rules of engagement, success roadmap, and cross-pollination at four levels
Introduction
Almost one-third of active Medium writers contribute to ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications comprising ten publications serving different purposes in an integrated way.
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, and the personal publication of our chief editor EUPHORIA.
Every business must scale to sustain itself. ILLUMINATION integrated several publications for scalability purposes
Let me share how I create scalability using the concept of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications.
Ground Rules
Every writer needs to read these policies before posting their articles to our publications. They are non-negotiable items.
A quick background on our publications
I started the journey with ILLUMINATION in March 2020. This publication grew so fast that Medium’s publication capabilities couldn’t scale its growth. We couldn’t see our writers and followers. Worst of all, Medium restricted editors to a maximum of 30 even though we have 95 editors.
1 — Why a mirror pub
The number of contributors and followers dramatically increased, but Medium still did not remove restrictions, informing us they are working on a better publication system. We are holding our breath.
Instead of waiting passively, I created a mirror version of ILLUMINATION to address the pain of the growing workload. ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR helped a lot by allowing our prolific writers who submit multiple articles a day.
2 — Why a curated collection
When I surveyed our readers in the first three months of our publication, around 30% of our readers wanted to read curated content from experienced and accomplished writers.
But they did not want to have heavily edited articles at the clinical level, which lost touch with reality. They want to read articles reflecting the values and culture of ILLUMINATION.
To this end, I designed ILLUMINATION-Curated, which contributors and readers received well.
Now, this publication is followed by over 31K readers from contributions of around 1K experienced writers.
3 — Why a pub for freelance writers
Since we serve thousands of writers, we received a substantial request from writers to add a writing amplifier to ILLUMINATION. Again, the limitation of Medium stopped us from achieving this request. Medium does not allow more than seven headings on the banner page of a publication.
Instead of getting upset with this constraint, I created SYNERGY to address the needs of a large group of writers. Many contributors embraced the idea, and now SYNERGY is proliferating.
Since contributors are mainly experienced writers, most articles are curated by Medium. We also created visibility for these stories in different ways.
4 — Why a tech pub
Another large group of readers asked about articles combining technology, entrepreneurship, tech news, future, science fiction, digital art, and technical breakthroughs.
My solution was to create Technology Hits.
It is rapidly growing and receiving great attention from tech readers.
5 — Why a pub for book chapters
Reader and writer requests never end. I found out that some readers want very high quality and lengthy content from accomplished writers. As a gold mine, ILLUMINATION met this criterion.
I identified many accomplished authors and asked them whether they would be interested in contributing their books in story format. They unanimously agreed.
Hence I created ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, which is growing fast.
6 — Purpose of ILLUMINATION Blog
Since we create many guiding and featuring stories for our writers, we decided to transfer them to a publication called ILLUMINATION’s Blog.
This pub gave more space for actual articles of our writers on ILLUMINATION.
Creating and managing these six publications allowed us to scale better.
We introduced the rest of the publications on the onboarding pack that each writer needs to review before submitting their stories to our publications.
What does this mean to our contributors?
Now supporting more than 15,000 writers and 150K+ readers, we must have better governance to scale further and serve better-growing stakeholders.
In this post, I want to summarize some rules so that writers can produce more efficiently and benefit from our services.
We owe our success to diversity, inclusiveness, and service excellence. However, diversity, inclusiveness, and excellence come with a cost. A big one!
With constant growth, new challenges emerge. To address these challenges, I want to provide some guidance to writers starting with fundamentals.
Fundamentals
As mentioned before, 90% of our challenges are caused by very basic and straightforward issues. Unfortunately, there is no training manual when people join Medium. It is lovely to allow accepting everyone into Medium so they can self-publish, but without giving them guidance on how to survive and thrive on Medium, many new writers get lost and lose motivation.
With excitement and great hopes, they join publications like ILLUMINATION, but since they don’t know the rules, they cause our editors a lot of time to educate them. As you know, these editors are volunteers.
Medium does not pay anything to my publications. Our editors provide free community services. We educate these writers to contribute to Medium to be better writers. However, Medium does not acknowledge or seem to appreciate the contributions of publications to its ecosystem. That’s fine by us. We receive appreciation from writers and readers, which energizes our editors.
We embrace every ethical new writer. We enjoy giving them a chance to grow. However, some recent writers take privileges for granted. In the worst case, some attempt to submit plagiarized materials to which we can have no tolerance. As soon as our editors validate this misconduct, they remove offenders. https://readmedium.com/fight-against-plagiarism-7b83f9613392
Some new writers do not understand the importance of copyright rules and even add overtly stated copyrighted photos and other materials. We don’t remove them from contributing, but we educate them.
The problem is some writers don’t even know how to check their private messages. They are not contactable, and when we reject their stories to resubmit, they get offended. This consumes a lot of time for our editors.
Some new writers don’t understand that publication services are privileges for writers, not default rights on Medium.
We need to provide quality content to our readers. We cannot publish everything. Medium has specific rules for content. We must obey these rules to protect our writers. Some new writers think that our publications are creating these rules. For example, when we decline some hate speech, some writers ask why your publication does not allow me to voice my opinion even though you are diverse and inclusive. Our diversity and inclusiveness are limited to Medium rules. This is a platform with specific rules; hence we must obey them.
Different publications have different additional rules and goals. Our goal is to create an opportunity for all ethical writers to showcase their stories and gain an audience in the shortest possible time.
Please remember that our publication is not commercial. Volunteering editors run it. They follow Medium rules and our publication’s rules and help you gain readers by improving your content to a reasonable standard.
What is expected from new writers?
The first rule is to put yourself in your readers’ shoes. This will help you submit the type of content you want to read yourself.
I explained it in the attached story.
Keep in mind that publications are not content-dumping places. They aim to bring contributors into a place and produce presentable content for readers.
Readers expect content to meet their requirements. They are interested in your knowledge, skills, experience, thoughts, and feelings. We cannot take our readers for granted. Our ultimate goal is to delight our readers.
As a contributor, always ask these two questions
Why would this audience read my content?
What is unique about my content that would delight my reader?
Please use this checklist before submitting your content to any of our publications. https://readmedium.com/checklist-for-quality-submissions-1c54921ad2ca
The most time-consuming issue is not citing photos or adding copyrighted photos. Please check our photo handling policy before submitting your stories to any of our publications. This will save you and our editors a lot of time. Your stories can be published faster, and your readers can start reading them quicker. You can potentially begin to earn more quickly.
We regularly check for duplication and plagiarism.
We help with duplication issues as a lack of knowledge causes them. Medium does not allow duplicated content.
If you are submitting duplicated content hosted in Medium, we have to decline your story. However, if you are submitting a post from your blogs, this is acceptable. We call it repurposing.
However, since your Medium ID and your blog account Id are not the same, you need to provide a link to the original source. This will save you and our editors time.
As a new writer, we recommend you submit one story a day until you cover basic publishing requirements. Considering contributions from thousands of new writers, it is impossible to cater to multiple submissions from each new writer that does not meet fundamental requirements.
We allow our prolific and experienced writers to submit up to three drafts within 24 hours. Since they submit high-quality materials, we don’t have to spend very much time on these quality submissions.
Until you improve your writing skills and meet the fundamentals mentioned in the checklist, please submit no more than one story daily.
Our editors work hard to improve your stories to meet fundamental requirements. Some readers prefer raw content. However, we must adhere to common quality standards, such as no typos, clear language, and suitable formatting.
If you are a new writer but produce high-quality materials, we will support you in submitting multiple stories a day. ILLUMINATION Mirror is one of the alternatives that we use to cater to your needs.
Please check the * sign in your draft story. It indicates a private message. You can find this sign usually on the upper part of your story. Editors may also leave private messages on the body of your story if they require input from you during the editing process.
When editors request you to address issues in your story, please acknowledge and address the problems timely. We are unable to hold stories for more than 24 hours in our submission queue. If we have no response within 24 hours, we will return your story for re-submission. Please don’t interpret it as rejection, and don’t get upset.
It has come to my attention that some writers ignore editor messages or even delete them. This is not a good practice considering these editors are making an effort to help you. I’d appreciate your cooperation with editors as they strive for your success.
Most times, I believe these instances of not replying and deleting are innocent mistakes, yet I have to have a clear policy in place that does not permit the bad apples, like, for example, serial plagiarists, to take advantage of everyone else. I implore you not to deliberately ignore our editors’ private messages, delete them, and resubmit. While every case will be reviewed on its own merits, and all reasonable benefits of the doubt will be afforded to you, deliberate disregard of my editors and our policies is grounds for removal as a writer without further warning.
Medium is a large and complex platform. All writers must understand and learn the rules of the platform.
Writers also need to understand their audience and adjust writing practices accordingly.
Curation matters to new writers to gain a new audience. Please check this guide to increase your curation chance.
If you want to survive and thrive on Medium, I recommend you check this story to learn about the platform’s rules.
In terms of platform rules, many new writers benefited from this story. This story focuses on fundamentals and some advanced topics for writers.
The best investment for new writers is to join our 100-day challenge. Completing this challenge can help you create a good writing portfolio and bring you many followers. Then you can turn these followers into your regular readers. Details are in this story.
I also recommend participating in this one-time challenge which allows you to introduce yourself, your regular readers, and your stories.
Now some guidance to more experienced contributors.
How to improve and make better progress for experienced writers
We are pleased that almost 70% of our writers submit reasonably acceptable stories for our readers. We call them level 2 writers. Our readers enjoy and appreciate the stories of many level 2 contributors.
Improvement never ends in a writing career. Readers expect more interesting, more authentic, and more stylish stories with expertise and a personal touch.
As contributors, we need to introduce new topics and styles to gain new readers and keep our current reader base. We need to adjust our content based on reader feedback.
I highly recommend level 2 writers utilize peer reviews. Feedback from peers can be valuable. They show us our blind spots. We can also learn by teaching and sharing our experiences. Connecting with other writers is vital for our success. We have a #draftfeedback channel in our Slack workspace.
I created a virtual platform to help our writers. You can collaborate using our mentoring initiative. In our communication platform, you can collaborate with other writers. Our Slack group can be helpful in meeting other writers and developing supportive relationships. Please see the #mentoring channel on Slack.
For level two writers, the next important point is to amplify your stories and find a new audience. I invested substantial time and effort in amplifying the stories of our writers using various communication and social media tools. Please see this resource to understand how you can use social media wisely.
Accomplished Writers
Like other editors, I love working with experienced and accomplished writers. I categorize them as level 3 contributors.
Working in the queue of ILLUMINATION-Curated is delightful for me. I hardly see any issues. I not only enjoy reviewing these stories but also reading them for personal pleasure.
Writers contributing to ILLUMINATION-Curated submit outstanding stories delighting our readers. Many of these stories gain significant visibility and reading times. Some of them go viral.
I created and grew this publication with the contributions of top writers. I share their stories with confidence and pride in my network.
To help our level 2 writers to transition to level 3 , we established a program and provided the necessary guidance. Many top writers started submitting their drafts to ILLUMINATION-Curated. Yes, You Can Now Directly Write For ILLUMINATION-Curated.
To improve the cross-pollination among our level 1, 2, 3, and 4 contributors and our level 4 book authors, we created several initiatives. We implemented them in our Slack workspace. I am pleased that at least 7,200 contributors joined our Slack. Some are nervous about using Slack, but I can assure you that it does not take long to learn Slack. Once you understand the basic mechanics, you will love it and get addicted to its features. It opens a new window to a new world for you.
To level up our experienced writers, we created a new initiative and a publication to implement it. This is for our accomplished contributors. It is called ILLUMINATION Book Chapters.
Accomplished Role Models
I created ILLUMINATION Book Chapters to serve our level 4 contributors. They consist of accomplished and published authors.
Even though the primary purpose is to showcase their book chapters, this publication also serves as a roadmap for the growth of our level 1, 2, and 3 contributors.
Recently I also invited indie authors to join our new initiatives.
There are eight unique values to traditionally published and indie authors.
1 — They can earn income from their published content on Medium.
2 — They can gain new readers via repurposed book chapters.
3 — They can gain new followers on Medium.
4 — They can find beta readers who can provide feedback for manuscripts.
5 — They can start creating manuscripts derived from published stories.
6 — They can update and transfer published stories on Medium into the ILLUMINATION Book Chapters.
7 — They can obtain reader reviews and testimonials about themselves and their books.
8 — They can convert stories to new manuscripts and publish them as books later.
There is tremendous interest in this initiative from traditionally published and indie authors. As one of our editors, Britni Pepper points out, this will be really big. You can read the views of other editors and writers in this bulletin.
Conclusions
I gave you an overview of our challenges, services, and plans for beginners, experienced, accomplished, and role model contributors.
A majority of our issues occur at the fundamental levels. They consume our energy and substantial editorial resources. We address the fundamental problems with more rigor.
They are low-hanging fruits and do not require extensive skills from new contributors. They are common sense and can be learned by reading our guidelines.
Our readers are happy with our Level 2 writers. We help them grow fast and reach the next level using our integrated roadmap. Your role is to have a willingness to cooperate and collaborate with our team. Our editorial team takes the necessary measures and guides you to success.
Contributors of ILLUMINATION-Curated delight our readers and make our work joyful. The only recommendation to these level 3 writers is to invest in turning their stories to book chapters and become published authors soon.
We never stop improving our services. I am working on a new initiative to scale our services further. I plan to enhance vitality in an extended platform.
Cross-pollination is our primary strategy for the sustainable growth of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications. We value our contributors and strive for their success. We are not just another publication. We are a distinguished writing and reading community serving on Medium and going beyond.
I will share our next milestone in another post soon. Stay tuned.
Thank you for your contributions. I feel privileged to serve you.
Addendum — 15 May 2021
Policy on controversial topics for ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications (IIP)
Regarding content that propagandizes or fosters the continuation of stereotypes based on race or creed or gender beyond what Medium guidelines may deem to be hate speech, the editors of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications (IIP) will reject any work that is written primarily to demonize or diminishing the value of another group of people. We will not tolerate such speech whether blatant or implied — whether couched as fact or opinion. We believe that our message of inclusiveness is furthered by erring on the side of excluding a piece that some but not all may find to be hate-filled. The editors of IIP are all from a diverse background of people, and though we occasionally disagree, we recognize we are all human, regardless of our cultural history. Having an argument against a governmental or philosophical policy is appreciated when discussed in a thoughtful and respectful manner but we have zero tolerance for content that targets a specific group, gender, or creed. Unsubstantiated claims or attempts to make broad assumptions against an entire culture will not be tolerated.
About the Author
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
I aim to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal as a creator to find your voice, reach out to a broad audience, and monetize your content.
You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
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