Summary

An author on Medium learned the importance of not altering content after curation when their title change resulted in the article being removed from curation, impacting its exposure.

Abstract

The author of a Medium article recounts the experience of having their story un-curated after changing the title. Initially thrilled by the curation of their fitness-related article titled "How to Force Yourself to Run and Achieve Your Fitness Goals," the author made the mistake of changing the title to "How to be a Consistent Runner" in an attempt to optimize it. This change led to the article being removed from topic distribution, which the author realized was due to the curators' reevaluation and subsequent de-selection of the story. The incident highlighted the significance of being satisfied with curation as a sign of relevance and quality, and the author cautions against making post-curation edits that could jeopardize the story's distribution and success.

Opinions

The author values the curation process on Medium as a form of validation and a mechanism for increased exposure.
Changing the article's title after curation is seen as a critical mistake that led to its de-curation.
The author emphasizes the importance of selecting a title and sticking with it to avoid undermining the curation process.
Perfectionism and the pursuit of better SEO can be counterproductive if they tempt the writer to alter content that has already been curated.
The experience of being un-curated was disheartening and served as a momentum killer for the author's writing.
The author advises writers to appreciate the achievement of curation and to avoid making changes to their work after it has been selected by curators.
There is an underlying frustration with the need for self-satisfaction despite the pursuit of perfection in writing.

I Got My Story Un-Curated: Don’t Make This Mistake

How changing my title got my article booted from curation

Getting curated is one of the best writer’s high you can get on Medium.

After six months of writing, I’ve gotten in the groove of getting curated at a much larger scale than before.

Writing with high hopes of getting curated is extremely empowering because it means that my article I worked so hard on has a better chance of getting exposure.

After getting that notification saying, “Curators selected your article” is an incredible feeling. Curation gives you the belief that it can take off to the moon.

But I messed up. One of my best looking stories (in my eyes) was uncurated two days after it was curated.

I Changed The Headline

Your headline is one of the spiciest features of your writing and is what makes people click to read in the first place.

Here’s how the switch went:

At first, my title was “How to Force Yourself to Run and Achieve Your Fitness Goals.”

Then I changed it later to “How to be a Consistent Runner.”

When I felt like checking the stats to see how it was performing, I noticed that the story was “not distributed in topics.”

What do you mean?

After not even two minutes of thinking, I realized that the curators must have seen my edit on the title and didn’t think it was worthy.

I had been on a streak of curation and felt like I needed to optimize my writing to the max just because I was becoming a perfectionist.

If you get a story curated, that means you did everything right, and your article is exceptionally relative to your topic! Be proud of yourself, and don’t change anything!

The Reason I Changed It

I’ve gotten a writer’s high from the total view count on certain stories because a significant reach excites me.

I saw that one of my stories has 13,000 views on Google alone, and I was trying to optimize my story’s SEO, which ended up biting me in the ass.

When writing up a story, pick a title, and stick to it!

You’ve got to be happy with the content you put out and know that you’re going to continue improving in the future. So getting too knit-picky with one story isn’t going to make or break you.

But you can lose your curation, and that’s scary.

Don’t make the same mistake I did, and believe you can improve everything after already being curated.

The Curation Endgame

Being uncurated was heartbreaking and a bit of a momentum killer.

I was mad at myself for being an overachiever who got greedy with his work and wanted more.

If you can’t even be satisfied with the achievement of curation, then you’re going to make the same mistake I did and earn yourself the curation boot.

When you do something right, just leave it alone and let it do its thing.

Clearly, there’s a reason it was selected in the first place.

Don’t give the curators a reason to dismiss your well-deserved curations.

The worst thing about being a perfectionist is that everything you do might look amazing in someone else’s eyes, but in your heart never truly satisfied.

Here’s a link to the story that lost its curation :(

How to Force Yourself to Run and Achieve Your Fitness Goals

Try some of these ideas to help you get and stay motivated to run

medium.commm