Interview with the Chief Editor of ILLUMINATION
How ILLUMINATION Publications Support the BOOST Program
An interview with Dr Mehmet Yildiz to understand the process and gain insights to increase the chance of boosting on Medium
New writer inquiries and applications for Illumination Integration Publications are through the registration portal. Please review the onboarding pack before submitting your stories. I look forward to supporting your stories on Medium.
Dear Writers and Readers,
In this post, we share a summary of our interview with Dr Mehmet Yildiz, discussing how our publications participate in the BOOST program and how writers can leverage our publications to enhance the chance of boosting by writing well-crafted, impactful, and memorable stories for our readers.
We’re excited to announce that our special publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, has been selected for the BOOST program and officially added to the list on October 1, 2023. We’re eager to see your contributions to this publication. We’ve updated our submission guidelines to align with the BOOST program.
Please enjoy this insightful and inspiring interview with the owner and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publication on Medium, who is now a boost nominator.
Hello, Dr. Yildiz! Could you please introduce the BOOST program to those who may not be familiar with it?
Certainly! The BOOST program started last year around November, as far as I remember, but gained more popularity in August 2023, when Medium made significant changes to prioritize quality over quantity.
This was a major shift from writers focusing on quantity to reaching a broader audience. Now, Medium rewards high-quality content to achieve writers’ goals and please readers. Boost program is one of the recognition attributes of well-crafted and impactful stories.
Medium has a documented process for boosting. Unlike previously algorithmic selection, Medium now allows the community, selected boost nominators, mainly publication owners, to nominate stories to a portal with justification. But curators of Medium also boost stories.
In essence, human curators review stories, and if they concur with the quality, impact, and alignment with Medium’s standards, they boost the story by programming it in the distribution system. This strategic move leverages the platform’s automation power to amplify the story’s reach.
My understanding is that boosted stories gain exposure not only to the writer’s followers but also to the followers of the publication hosting the story and those interested in the relevant topics covered in the story. This broader visibility ensures that well-crafted and impactful stories reach a broader audience, making the most of the platform’s distribution capabilities.
Why is boosting important for writers, readers, and the platform?
Boosting matters for writers because stories selected for boosting gain much more visibility and bring in more income. It’s a fast track to building an audience on Medium.
For readers, it’s crucial because boosted content is curated by humans, validated by experienced editors or subject matter experts, and approved by Medium’s official curation team.
Stories selected by the BOOST program meet stringent criteria, similar to the approach of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals. So readers get curated content and don’t have to worry much about the quality of content.
It’s vital for the platform because more boosted stories create a higher-quality content ecosystem with trusted and valuable information. This boosts readers’ confidence in consuming valuable content and rewards writers with increased visibility for their valuable work. So, it’s a win-win-win for readers, writers, and the platform.
What are the critical requirements for a story to be considered for boosting?
In a nutshell, writers can ask these five questions while self-editing their stories to increase the chance of curation.
1 — Is my story impactful and constructive?
2 — Is my story original?
3 — Do I write from relevant experience?
4 — Is my story well-crafted?
5 — Does my story feel memorable?
In July, I wrote a detailed article about it explaining the criteria.
Medium published the details in this guide.
Can you briefly explain these criteria items?
Certainly! Let me break down these criteria items for you. While analyzing boosted stories, I found clear patterns in selected stories. Based on the review of the criteria published by Medium, you need to consider the following points.
The story’s effectiveness is determined by its influence on personal growth and transformative experiences for the reader.
The story’s impact is derived from its originality, achieved through exploring uncharted territories, providing fresh insights, or presenting a unique perspective on familiar subjects.
The story’s impact is rooted in the author’s authentic and credible viewpoint, driven by firsthand experience, subject matter expertise, thorough research, or a combination of these factors.
The story’s impact is attributed to the high quality of writing, characterized by a solid narrative structure, clarity of presentation, meticulous attention to detail with nuances to important aspects of the story, and compelling content.
The story’s impact can be measured by its ability to leave a lasting impression on readers, evoking deep thoughts, emotions, and a sense of value. The best stories linger in readers’ minds, prompting continued contemplation and inspiring them to share the story with others.
By engaging readers on various levels, provoking thoughtful contemplation, and eliciting emotional responses, the story becomes a memorable experience that reinforces the value of content subscription.
These criteria collectively emphasize the importance of delivering meaningful, original, and well-crafted content that resonates with readers on both intellectual and emotional levels.
If writers follow the Medium guidelines and meet these stories, will their stories be boosted?
In short, boosting is not guaranteed, even if you diligently follow the rules. Let me explain.
I liken the Boost program to an art appraisal, much like a painter crafting a beautiful composition that might not universally resonate with every buyer. So, even though objective criteria play a vital role, we must accept the program’s subjective nature. I realized this when participating in the appraisal of creative non-fiction competitions as a writer and evaluator.
Boost nominators play a vital role in the process. These editors nominate stories in line with the guidelines. In my case, for instance, I nominated excellent stories, but only around 70% were selected for boosting by Medium curators. The remaining 30%, although meeting guidelines and undergoing meticulous editing before nomination, were not chosen.
The program is currently in the beta phase and operates with limited resources. This limited capacity might contribute to the number of boosted stories. As the program advances beyond the beta phase, there’s an expectation of increased resources and potentially more boosters, enhancing the overall boosting power on the platform.
In essence, while adherence to guidelines significantly increases the chances of boosting, it’s not an absolute guarantee due to the selective and subjective nature of the process and the current constraints of the program in its beta phase.
As a boost nominator, how do you nominate stories?
As a boost nominator, my process for nominating stories involves primarily selecting from the ILLUMINATION-Curated publication, which is now officially recognized as a boost-nominating publication on Medium.
Additionally, because I manage multiple publications, I review drafts across my pubs. When I come across exceptional stories, I invite writers to submit them to ILLUMINATION-Curated as drafts, where I review and perform line edits if necessary.
Subsequently, I seek the opinions of senior editors or subject matter experts to assess the story’s impact. Only when all criteria are met do I proceed to nominate the story, summarizing the reasons for its selection.
I’m mindful not to waste nomination credits, considering that Medium allows only 20 monthly credits. I reserve these credits for stories that align well with the guidelines.
My goal is to provide opportunities for as many great writers as possible to enhance their audience, recognizing the increasing significance of boosting on Medium.
How can writers write original, authentic, memorable, and impactful stories?
It depends on the writers’ expertise, background, and niche.
But from my experience, I use two powerful tools to understand the requirements and desires of my readers. They are design thinking and ethnographic research.
I explain both approaches in recent stories. Interested writers can check those stories to learn about them.
There are many other ways, of course.
How can writers apply to ILLUMINATION-Curated, and what are the key acceptance criteria?
As we announced previously, unlike our other publications. ILLUMINATION-Curated is an invitation-only publication specifically designed for experienced writers capable of producing high-quality, impactful, and engaging stories.
Acceptance is based on invitations extended by our editors. When editors come across exceptional stories on ILLUMINATION or identify talented writers elsewhere, they inform me, and I assess their stories.
If a writer’s stories align with our criteria, I grant them writer access and invite them to contribute to ILLUMINATION-Curated. For some writers, I also provide mentorship.
We recently updated our submission guidelines, and interested writers can review them. If they believe their work meets our criteria, they can contact me on Slack. I’ll be delighted to give them writer access and offer mentorship, all as part of a free service, contributing to the writing community as a giveback activity.
Can you give us a few sample boosted stories from your nominations?
Yes certainly. I want our writers to analyze these stories and learn from the content and presentation of them.
Four Ways to Balance Your Content Creation Obsession by Clayton Moulynox
How Ōura Got the Fitness Geeks and Insomniacs Around Its Little Finger Jussi Luukkonen – your curiosity guide
How Survivorship Bias Colors Our World: Impact and How to Overcome It Sridhar Pai Tonse - Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups
I am also happy to share my boosted stories to help new writers gain insights. My personal stories were nominated by others as I didn’t nominate my own stories and was not a nominator when they were boosted.
Here’s How I Train My Brain Daily for Mental Clarity and Intellectual Productivity.
Meditation Can Boost the Cortical Thickness in the Brain and Prevent the Thinning of It
Here’s How to Make the Nervous System More Flexible and Functional
A New Clinical Trial Found a Low-Carb Diet Better Than the Dash.
How Writers Can Attract More Readers by Using Design Thinking Principles
Here’s Why I Focus on Nutritional Biochemistry Rather Than Diets
Queer Organisms: Nature’s Lesson for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality
Soulful Connections: Finding Meaning in Mammadou’s Childhood Letters
We know you wrote many stories guiding writers. How can they find your stories?
Yes, I wrote over a hundred stories guiding writers of my publications covering the different aspects of writing, mainly sharing my personal experience. I compiled them in a list so interested readers can easily access them.
Many writers asked about earning decline on Medium. Do you have any ideas why it is happening? Did it affect you as well?
Yes, since 25 September, my email inbox and Slack private messages got flooded with inquiries from writers contributing to my publication. My publications now support 24,000 registered writers.
I discussed the issue with the editorial team, and we posted an article encouraging writers to calm down and focus on the positive aspects of Medium. Here is the bulletin as a reference.
Some writers speculated that our pubs did not perform well in September. Ironically, when we checked the monthly stats, we were pleasantly surprised as all metrics significantly improved in this month. So, it had nothing to do with publications. We provided an update on our monthly newsletters.
During that period, the causes were unknown. When I checked my stats on the first of October, I was astounded by the significantly reduced income across my 2,200+ stories. Never before had I encountered such a stark decline from all perspectives.
Intuitively, I sensed something was amiss, especially since I had followed the boost guidelines by posting an additional 30 stories. Given the size of my audience, these statistics seemed inexplicable.
Eventually, one of our editors discovered a noteworthy comment from Ariel Meadow Stallings, the Director of Publication Relationships at Medium.
Our editor, Mike Broadly, took the initiative to inform our writers. However, Mike shared that his story received only a handful of views, so our writers did not get a chance. so please amplify it and perhaps send it to our subscribers so that they stop blaming themselves or our publications.
Here is the link to Mike’s story so that writers can read Ariel’s update in it. We anticipate that Medium will provide more information soon.
In summary, a massive-scale fraud significantly impacted writers’ income in September. We believe Medium will resolve this issue timely.
Finally, writers keep asking how to increase income on Medium. Any advice on this?
My perspective on Medium is a bit complex. Unlike the advice offered by influencers who market books and educational programs about Medium, my personal experience contradicts the notion that the more my audience grows and the more compelling stories I write, the less I earn.
This makes me believe Medium isn’t a lucrative money-making platform. However, despite the financial aspects, I hold a deep appreciation for Medium because of the numerous intangible benefits it brings.
I’ve shared a case study before about a serendipitous encounter, and I know several other writers who have had similar experiences. This is not an exclusive phenomenon to me.
In my experience, the most effective strategy involves diversifying content and repurposing it. As a seasoned content strategist, I’ve detailed my approach in a story, hoping it provides valuable insights to aspiring writers and authors, inspiring them to grow their audience and writing business.
I don’t give advice to writers on Medium because writing isn’t my primary source of income. It serves as a side hustle and a giveback activity to the community and my readers to share my life lessons. My main business is full-time consultancy in emerging technologies and scientific research as a postdoctoral researcher.
Thank you for your time, Dr Yildiz. You gave us a lot of helpful information.
Writers, if you have any questions, please write them in the comments section so we can follow them up with Dr Yildiz. You can also directly contact him on Slack. He usually responds within 48 hours. Please don’t expect immediate answers as our Slack has around 18,000 active members, all Medium members expecting timely service.
Practical Guidance for Absolute Beginners
If you are a new writer on Medium, please check out the following five points every new member keeps asking us. Medium is a unique platform and not very intuitive for beginners. It has its idiosyncrasies, like self-publishing versus adding drafts to publications. They produce different results for the visibility of your stories.
1 — How to submit your stories to publications
Now that you joined Medium and wrote your first story. Please follow these simple instructions. Once you do it a few times, it will be second nature. Not knowing this feature caused many new writers to wait for days.
When you draft your story, please click on the … (3 dots) on the top right side of your screen. Click on the add to publication, choose Illumination or other relevant pubs, and submit your story. When the story arrives in the publication queue, editors will review and publish it if your story qualifies. If not, they will leave a private message and return your story to fix, resubmit, or transfer to one of our other publications if it does not suit ILLUMINATION.
We no longer publish certain types of stories on ILLUMINATION and ILLUMINATION-Curated, so please review the new submission guidelines.
2 — Use Copyright-Free Images and Remember to Caption Them
A crucial issue is some new writers forget to add captions to photos and use copyrighted images. Violating copyright rules can lead to substantial penalties imposed by legal institutions.
Several writers got hefty fines; our editors don’t want this to happen to you. Therefore, our editors are diligently working to safeguard our writers. We kindly ask that you honor their requests, as they have your best interests at heart. You cannot use every image on stories behind the paywall.
If you are a new writer on Medium, please review the Photo Handling Policy before starting, as it is the most time-consuming issue for our editors and causes delays in publishing. Writers failing to meet our photo handling policy will be removed from publications.
3 — We don’t accept AI-generated content per Medium’s new strategy except for one dedicated publication [the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION]
Our publications do not accept content written by artificial intelligence tools, but we have a viable solution to make writers and readers happy.
Those writers who use generative AI tools like Jasper or ChatGPT can send their stories to our new publication, the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION. Details are attached.
4 — What is Slack, and why should our writer join this group?
Slack is a collaboration and communication tool. Unlike social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, Slack is a private tool. Therefore, it is not just another social media platform. We use Slack because Medium lacks a chat tool, making it challenging to communicate with writers, editors, and publication owners to address issues. For instance, when your stories encounter problems or when you have questions, you can easily access our editors, who can help resolve your concerns. Our Slack is free and moderated, boasting over 18,000 members. Additionally, you can share your story links and garner more views. Joining our group can provide numerous benefits. It is a valuable tool to build your audience easily. Furthermore, it is configurable; for example, if you prefer not to receive notifications, you can simply turn them off. You can learn more about Slack from this story.
5 — How to access updated submission guidelines
Please review these guidelines before submitting your stories to relevant publications. ILLUMINATION does not accept all types of stories anymore.
ILLUMINATION Videos and Podcasts: Submission Guidelines 2023
Publishing and Conduct Guidelines for the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION
Please remember to submit only one story daily, preferably as a draft. We don’t accept multiple stories as our focus is on quality to increase your chance of being boosted by Medium.
Change Your Perceptions
Unlike perceptions, ILLUMINATION editors don’t publish every story. Your stories must be well-crafted and valuable for our readers. Our focus is curatable and boostable stories.
Collaboration and Promotion
You will receive an invitation to our Slack workspace to collaborate with other writers, share your story links, and contact editors and our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz. It is a free and moderated service.
You may meet some of our editors from the attached collection.
Introduce Yourself in a Story
Please consider introducing yourself in a story and post it to ILLUMINATION or our other publications. This might bring you new followers and expose your profile to new readers.
Our editor Aiden (Illumination Gaming) compiles and distributes these bios to our subscribers. You may get bio ideas from the attached collection.
You may also enjoy a recent story from one of our new writers and editors, Mike Broadly — Healthier Lifestyle, who made significant progress in the last two months. You may contact Mike on our Slack workspace, who volunteers to support our new writers.
Writer Introduction
We enjoy introducing writers to our community and subscribers. Today we introduced Zondra Dos Anjos, who is a new member of our publications.
We recently introduced a few more writers like Thomas Allen Moon , Omni Essence, Sneha Nagre, and Sridhar Pai Tonse — Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups
You might also check recent editorial introductions from our team.
You can learn about our other editors’ backgrounds from this collection curated by ILLUMINATION-Curators.
Recent Announcements for Connection
You may check the following two announcements to meet other recently joined writers, including links to their profiles. This is a good opportunity for new writers to build their audience, as writers are great readers. We enjoy enabling collaboration on Medium by encouraging meaningful engagements.
Welcome to our writing and reading community, and we look forward to the meaningful and high-quality stories.
When you have questions, please feel free to contact our owner and chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz, on our Slack workspace. He is also happy to speed up publishing your stories if they are delayed 48 hours or more.
Critical Policy Documents for Our Writers
Every writer contributing to our publications must review these guiding policies before submitting their stories. We are tolerant, but these are non-negotiable rules.
Writing Challenges and Prompts for New Writers
Sample Curated Collections for New Readers
We curate and feature stories from multiple editorial accounts.
Here are our latest curated collections by ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION Amplifiers, and ILLUMINATION-Curators for your enjoyment.
Invitation to New Writers
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 The Lampshade of ILLUMINATION Technology Hits SYNERGY Readers Hope Illumination on YouTube Illumination Gaming ILLUMINATION’s Blog EUPHORIA by Dr Mehmet Yildiz
