9th December 2019
How to Increase Your Chance of Curation
What analysing your statistics can teach you about writing on Medium.
As with many writers, I am reviewing my goals and progress, as the end of the year approaches. The one area that surprised me was the number of times I had been curated in a year. I never strive for curation, I write my way if the curators like my work then it is a lucky bonus.
If you had asked me whether my curation rate was high, before I started this process, I would have said no. The statistics prove I am better than I first thought.
So what can studying statistics and articles, teach us as writers?
Tips on Curation.
Before we plough into my information there are some common tips and tricks that can help you get curation. As with everything, Medium, these are not set in stone.
The biggest tip is to read everything about curation that Medium publishes. Within these are clear guidelines and factors that they take into account. You can find the article here.
Other factors that help with curation, are learnt over my years on Medium. The first is although sign-ups are okay on articles, these must not include paid sign-ups. Patreon is a big no if you want to get curated. Whether this block will also apply to substack, I have not experimented with. It is probably safer to leave these off. You can always go back and add them to your post when you know you haven’t been curated.
The major factor that curators look for is are you implanting new ideas and information. Have you taught the reader something they didn’t know before? There is no problem writing on the same topics, but have you offered something new to the subject.
For this reason, I always include some statistical information to my posts. This I then hyperlink back to the source to reference. This is another factor curators look for, correct referencing. Your pictures must be cited. Information used, must be referenced, either at the end of the post or using the hyperlink method. If the pictures have been taken by you, ensure you cite this under them.
Many writers believe, that curators, only read the introduction and conclusion. I am unsure whether this is correct. Regardless make these the best paragraphs you write. Whether this has an impact on curation, or not, a good introduction will encourage readers to read on and increase that reading time.
Once you establish yourself and start to be curated, look at the posts that were curated. Try and write more around these topics.
My Curated Articles
I didn’t realise until I looked back on the articles that I have been curated in parenting most. It may be that curators know I write on this subject and look out for my posts. If this is true then it is worth writing more stories on parenting, to reach this niche.
This is my most recently curated post and was curated in parenting. This article is on its third reincarnation. Complete re-works I have to admit, but similar articles on this topic, have never hit the mark.
Curated in world. I expected this would be curated, as I put a lot of time into researching facts and making my points clear. I wrote this post initially for the GEN, but it was not picked up.
October proved to be my best month for curation, four posts. I am unsure what the reason was, I had left my job so was trying extra hard to write quality posts. I also noticed when looking back that these posts were all curated in different topics. I was pleased to see two of my writing tips posts curated. Writing posts are hard to get curated in.
Curated in parenting
Curated in accessibility
Curated in writing
Curated in productivity
This is the most personal piece I have ever written. I believe it was the personal nature of the article that led the curators to like it. This was curated in family, relationships and parenting. It is my only post to have more than one curation topic.
Two posts, both curated in parenting. The first was written about social media, so the curation of parenting was strange.
The last post was the biggest surprise ever. I pride myself on writing some pretty awesome short stories. This is not one of those. Still, it was curated in fiction.
Moving Forward
As a writer, this is an important exercise to try. Until I did this, I didn’t realise that parenting is a good topic for me. It is only after we study our successes as a writer and we analyze what works, do we know how to improve.
Statistics can only tell us so much. What is needed here is a detailed analysis of what worked within the article and what didn’t. Does the writing flow better than others? Was the referencing crisper?
When you look at the statistics for these posts then the reads and views are not as high as you would expect. Curation does not have the initial increase to statistics, as it did. However, it does seem to keep the longevity of the post for longer. These posts will be viewed, months after others are forgotten.
Success has not been instant for me, tomorrow I share with you the five posts I was sure would be curated and weren’t. Keep writing and improving and striving towards curation.
Although some will say curation doesn’t matter, they are wrong. For new writers especially, it increases exposure. Once you have more than 5000 followers then curation may not be so important. As a new writer, who wants to make money, try to master curation.
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