Writing — Travel

Exciting News About the Boost Program

Plus, attempting to answer the question of what makes for a quality story.

Remember when Wayne and Garth would do the ‘I’m not worthy’ bit in Wayne’s World. That’s totally me right now.

I was recently invited to join the boost nomination program here at Medium. So excited to announce that I’m a booster now!

To be selected as one of about 75 (so far) out of all the people on Medium… wow!

Then again, I’ve always tried my best to underscore the importance of publishing quality over quantity, like in this post I wrote a while back:

And I 100% stand by what I said in that story:

“As writers, we should never forget about our readers and providing them with quality and not quantity.”

That being said, Medium has gone through many changes over the last couple of years I’ve been writing on this platform. At times it’s felt like a true rollercoaster ride. To be 100% honest, I’d gotten to the point where I’d thought seriously about just giving up on the platform.

Not proud to admit.

However, I couldn’t ever quite tear myself away. Reason being, I’ve met so many wonderful people and read so many awesome stories during my time here on this platform. It’s the people and the community that make Medium what it is.

The engagement, the wonderful comments, getting to know people through their stories, words, photos and the things in life they care about — there’s simply no other place like Medium out there, is there?

After the success of Medium Day, and Medium’s recent announcement of welcomed changes beginning in August by Tony Stubblebine and Buster Benson, I feel like the old Medium that I knew and loved is finally coming back:

Oh but wait… that’s not exactly true… it seems even better now!

Friggin’ fantastic. So excited and happy about the future of Medium once again.

Exciting times!

For more information on the boost program check out :

• Ariel Meadow Stallings, Director of Publisher Growth for Medium wrote: A nosy FAQ about nominating stories for our Boost.
• Also, consult this helpful guidance by Medium: Medium’s Quality Guidelines: How real humans review stories for Boost.

So, What Makes for a Quality Story Anyway?

I’ve had many questions in this regard over the past year or so that I’ve been the owner/editor of Globetrotters and In Living Color. So, here is my attempt at answering this deceptively complicated question.

It is true that quality can often be subjective. It’s also true that not every quality story that should be boosted will be boosted. We just do not live in a perfect world.

However, I do believe there are some things that will greatly increase your chances of writing a quality story that just may have the chance to be boosted.

1. Make sure you are following Medium guidelines

The very first thing anyone on Medium should do before they even write their first story is read through platform guidelines and best practices.

When I first started at Medium, I spent gobs of time learning how the platform works. Why wouldn’t anyone do this? Not sure.

For the essentials on how Medium works, I would start with the Medium help page.

Yes, I realize this is a lot of info, and I’m not saying you have to read every word or every single topic, but I promise if you spend some good quality time going through it and educating yourself on how the platform works, you will feel much more at ease with the fundamentals of writing on Medium.

I mean, if you’re going to do something, why not give it your best effort, right?

Go ahead, be a boss!

To tell you the truth, and just allow me to be a bit of a diva here for just a few moments, but my patience wears a bit thin when people ask me questions that could clearly have been answered by simply reading through Medium’s guidelines and advice on best practices.

2. Make sure you are following our publication guidelines

Ditto for pub guidelines. Our requirements do go beyond what is required by Medium in many ways.

I’ve tried my best to explain what we are looking for as far as content and images in these articles:

• Write For Globetrotters! 🚢✈️🚗. Traveling — Writing — Sharing
• Photo Policy for Globetrotters
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Writing on Globetrotters

I update these often in an attempt to ensure information is as clear as possible. If something isn’t clear, I give two enthusiastic thumbs up for letting me know in a respectful way.

Additionally, editor Jillian wrote these awesome guidances as well:

• 2023 Tips to Help You Write a Great Travel Story For Globetrotters
• How To Properly Use a GoogleMaps Screenshot In Your Medium Article

3. Globetrotters quality standards

Beyond the basics, what more narrowly defines a quality story?

A quality story goes beyond merely conveying facts or telling a narrative. Quality stories form a connection. They may make us laugh, cry, relate, question or maybe even argue.

Perhaps all of us, me included, should ask ourselves the following questions of any story we submit for publication:

• Am I conveying that I have relevant direct experience on whichever topic I’m writing about?
• Am I merely writing for myself or am I writing for the benefit of my readers as well?
• Will my story help readers stay informed, entertained and/or inspired?
• Am I working to form a connection between myself and my readers?
• Do I offer something unique that will be of interest to readers?
• Is the writing I’m offering my readers polished, edited, vivid, enticing, etc.?

And here are some additional questions… loved this advice from Medium’s Quality Guidelines: How real humans review stories for Boost:

“Does the story have impact? We’re looking for the kind of stories that you’re still thinking about days later. Are you compelled to share this with your network? Did this story get you thinking? Move you? Make you feel good about the value of your Medium subscription? Are you glad you read it?”

Sounds pretty good to me.

And, from Ariel’s A nosy FAQ about nominating stories for our Boost.

“We encourage nominators to amplify stories that feel like feature stories: constructive, well-crafted, memorable, original, and written by a credible author with relevant experience.”

Nice!

Another smart thing to do is to look at previous stories that have been boosted/curated and try and figure out why they were chosen, like in these previous story recaps I’ve compiled. Note that a good number of these stories were not boosted/curated by me, but other boosters on Medium, so this should serve to lend a well-rounded perspective to things:

What do you think? What makes for a quality story in your eyes?

As always, I welcome all constructive comments, and thank you so much for reading and being here with us as readers and writers of Globetrotters.

Follow The Midnight Garden on Medium.