Frequently Asked Questions
How to Benefit of ILLUMINATION-Curated
A comprehensive guide for contributors of ILLUMINATION-Curated
Purpose of ILLUMINATION-Curated
We created an innovative publication called ILLUMINATION-Curated based on the feedback from readers and writers. This publication offers high-quality content to our readers while allowing us to meet the needs and aspirations of our writers. This is a strategic initiative designed for writers and readers. ILLUMINATION-Curated hosts outstanding stories covering over 100 topics.
The inclusion process for ILLUMINATION-Curated
We established a process to publish stories in this publication. There are four ways for articles to be included in ILLUMINATION-Curated.
The first one is for Medium-curated articles published in ILLUMINATION. Our writers can remove their articles and add them to ILLUMINATION-Curated. We also give our writers the flexibility to move their articles back to ILLUMINATION, if they so choose.
The second option is related to articles published in ILLUMINATION but not curated by Medium. If these non-curated articles meet our submission guidelines and Medium curation guidelines, they can be selected by our editors using a set of criteria. The editors approve the article for publication in ILLUMINATION-Curated and inform the writer. The writers can then transfer their article from ILLUMINATION to ILLUMINATION-Curated. Writers will need to request access to the new publication.
The third option is the direct submission by approved writers for ILLUMINATION-Curated, meeting all submission guidelines and approved by our editors. We have already selected over 700 top writers as part of this pilot implementation, and we are eager to extend our offering to more writers.
The fourth option is self nomination. We allow writers to self-nominate up to 10 articles per post. These stories don’t have to be curated by Medium, but they must meet Medium curation guidelines.
The value for writers of ILLUMINATION
This new publication is a tool to encourage our writers to grow their writing practice on Medium. Cross-pollinating writers at all levels is a primary purpose of ILLUMINATION-Curated. We are committed to featuring our writers and putting their high-quality stories to spotlight of readers.
Though we invite advanced and accomplished writers with a demonstrated curation success rate on Medium to write for ILLUMINATION-Curated, we also support writers at several levels. Please see the recent announcement.
Our aim is to give meaningful and realistic goals to our writers, for the purpose of elevating the skills of our writers at all levels. For example, as part of our pilot project, aspiring writers can make a commitment to follow Medium curation guidelines and improve the quality of their stories for a promotion to write in our new publication.
We use several external tools and social media sites to amplify stories of our writers and enable more visibility to their content.
Some important ones are Flipboard, Quora Spaces, Pinterest, and Facebook.
You can check step by step guides for submitting your Medium stories to Quora Spaces and Pinterest boards.
https://readmedium.com/how-to-get-started-with-quora-and-amplify-your-medium-stories-969f309b0967
How can Top Writers benefit
ILLUMINATION-Curated is home for high-quality and outstanding stories aiming towards giving the best reading experience to our advanced readers. We only publish articulated and edited content with a clear purpose. The stories of Top Writers have the potential to find a new audience, because we are promoting this publication to readers who enjoy reading high-quality articles with important content for society.
ILLUMINATION-Curated aims to bring Top Writers under an umbrella and encourage collaboration among them, having writers support writers because they know the challenges they face. As a bonus, networking with top writers from different backgrounds can increase synergy and create serendipity.
For ILLUMINATION-Curated, we set the benchmark and raise the bar for producing and sharing quality content in over 100 topics. Stories submitted to ILLUMINATION-Curated must adhere to Medium curation guidelines at a minimum to qualify the contributors as permanent writers for this publication.
We understand the challenges of the curation process on Medium. Even the most experienced Top Writers feel the pain of rejection. This pain is a natural consequence of subjective assessment.
We discovered that even if many Top Writers religiously followed the guidelines, their stories still might not be curated by Medium. The Medium curation guideline clearly states that the curation process is subjective and we acknowledge this fact. We also understand this constraint undermines the quality stories submitted by Top Writers, if not curated.
We came across remarkable stories not distributed to topics. With this insight in mind, editors of ILLUMINATION-Curated are determined to evaluate articulated and outstanding stories by using our rigorous and objective process, leveraging Medium curation guidelines. If these outstanding stories match the set of criteria, even if we disagree with the content, we still qualify them for ILLUMINATION-Curated.
We know that each reader is unique. We respect the choice of our readers and do our best to meet their expectations. Undoubtedly, one person’s rejection could be another person’s curation as far as content is concerned. This is why impartiality for content is one of the core values of ILLUMINATION-Curated editors.
Value for readers
ILLUMINATION-Curated is a reader-focused publication and service excellence is our strategy. ILLUMINATION-Curated aims to provide high-quality and high-impact content to our esteemed readers, representing a wide variety of domains.
Since establishing this publication, we communicate with the readers daily using various methods, including Slack groups, social media, email, newsletters, and voice communication tools.
We distribute our stories every day to serve our readers as a daily digest. Readers enjoy our distribution lists, through which they can access many stories from a single article. Recently, we archived over 50,000 articles, easily accessible from a single story.
ILLUMINATION-Curated is designed to serve a special reader group with special reader expectations. We understand that the audience of ILLUMINATION-Curated is not after simple tricks. For instance, this special reader group does not want to read stories about how much money Medium writers earn. They do not want to read about the issues encountered on social media platforms. These readers want to enjoy the high-quality and high-impact materials which matter to them and to society.
The audience for ILLUMINATION-Curated includes professionals in business, science, technology, philosophy, arts, self-improvement and many other interesting domains.
We identified that some readers of ILLUMINATION preferred only content written in simple language that appeals to a broad audience at all levels. However, the primary goal of ILLUMINATION-Curated is to cater to a more specific audience which prefers sophisticated language and complex topics, as is reflected by the feedback during this pilot initiative.
Editing is a game-changer on Medium. Based on our daily interactions with thousands of readers, we know that advanced readers prefer curated stories edited by experienced editors.
We have experienced editors and utilize their capability as curators, choosing the optimal content for our readers. Based on reader feedback, we know the expectations and requirements of our audience. We have accumulated rich and supportive data for our business strategies and tactics. Editing is a primary focus of ILLUMINATION-Curated.
ILLUMINATION-Curated adds exceptional value to writers and readers. For example, we not only select high-quality articles, but we also edit them to meet the requirements of our readers. Editing is an added value we provide to our writers and readers, but editing is an expensive process. However, our experienced editors are willing to perform this duty, free of charge as a giveback activity to the writer and reader communities.
Our editors are not paid by the writers, the publication, or Medium. These editors only do this for altruistic and intellectual purposes, and we are privileged to have a team of volunteers performing the editing function for the success of our writers.
ILLUMINATION-Curated has 41 volunteering editors who can read and vote for stories to curate them for a specific audience looking for a quality reading experience. Our plan is to increase the number of editors to 100. These diligent and committed editors are also willing to undertake the role of curators for the new publication.
Providing edited and curated stories to our readers is an innovative solution and can be considered a paradigm shift for publication services on Medium. This reflects the power of collaboration among readers, writers, editors, and the publication.
Easy transfer between two publications
ILLUMINATION writers can easily move their curated stories between the two publications to receive the benefit of different audiences.
It is important to note that a story on Medium can be published in only one publication at a time. Therefore, you need to remove your curated story from ILLUMINATION and submit it to ILLUMINATION-Curated. Your story will be published and hosted on the new publication, and it should no longer be in the previous publication. There is no duplication. Your story is either on ILLUMINATION or on ILLUMINATION-Curated. Not in both of them at the same time. If you read comments contrary to this on social media, it is an allegation with no facts. ILLUMINATION and ILLUMINATION-Curated are 100% compliant with Medium rules.
Please check this step by step guide for transferring stories.
If you are a current writer, we can add you to the new publication so that you can transfer your curated stories. Please send a request via this link.
How to apply for ILLUMINATION-Curated
Please use this form to send a request to https://illumination-curated.com/.
The most important field is the Medium account ID. Please note that we are unable to add writers without Medium account ID. Even if you are a current writer for ILLUMINATION, you still need to provide your Medium account ID.
Why we value old curated stories
One of the major goals of ILLUMINATION-Curated is to give curated stories a second. We value articles chosen by the Medium curation process as our readers enjoy these high-quality stories. Several old curated storied gained visibility and some went viral. We feature these stories on our publication.
If our writers submit curated stories to ILLUMINATION-Curated, these older Medium-curated stories can also be curated by ILLUMINATION. We call this “dual curation”. This process was developed based on reader feedback.
We offer flexibility for the success of our writers, so even though we recommend draft submissions, as a bonus, we created an exception for older curated articles to be submitted as published. This means that if writers have published articles, previously curated by Medium, these writers can still submit those older articles.
What does self-nomination mean?
We recommend writers to self-nominate up to 10 articles per a nomination post. These stories don’t have to be curated by Medium, but they must meet Medium curation guidelines.
ILLUMINATION-Curated established terms and conditions. Our editors created the platform and will facilitate the process, but the writers need to take responsibility for their success. It is a collaborative effort. One way does not work for success.
We support pro-active, responsible, collaborative, and optimistic writers. Our platform is designed for the success of all participants. It is designed for high performers.
We established prerequisites to qualify for submitting self-nominated stories. Writers need to have at least five quality stories on ILLUMINATION. A writer request should be sent to access ILLUMINATION-Curated. Writer quest to ILLUMINATION-Curated via this link.
Nominated stories must meet Medium rules and Medium curation guidelines.
How to submit self-nominated stories
To submit your ILLUMINATION stories for curation assessment and inclusion for ILLUMINATION-Curated please consider the following points.
We recommend writers to self-nominate up to 10 articles per post. These stories don’t have to be curated by Medium, but they must meet Medium curation guidelines.
To create your collections, you can follow these steps:
Step 1
Select your best stories
Step 2
Update your stories to meet Medium curation guidelines.
Step 3
Add your story links to a story using the syntax provided in the next section.
Step 4
Provide an abstract of the story describing the purpose, impact, and audience of the story.
Step 5
Explain in a few sentences why your story is to be curated and added to a special collection.
Step 6
Submit the story to ILLUMINATION-Curated.
Template for self-nomination
Please use the following template to nominate and submit your best stories.
Title for Nominated Story
Self-nominated Stories by [Insert your account name].
Subtitle for Nominated Story
My best stories selected from ILLUMINATION
Format for Nominated Stories
Please use the following format for each nominated story.
Title of your story to be in heading one format
Name of the nominated topics for distribution. E.g. #technology #science. You can select up to three topics. More information for topics please see the topics list at the end of this story.
Provide an abstract of the story in italic quotes around 100 words
Provide an embedded link to the story.
Check the syntax used in this sample collection.
Tag ILLUMINATION and Dr Mehmet Yildiz ate the end of your nominated stories. This will enable us to be notified and add your nominated stories to our assessment process. We have 41 editors dedicated to review and curate your stories on ILLUMINATION-Curated.
Once your story is nominated, our editors will review, discuss, and vote for the inclusion of your story. We will host selected stories in a particular landing zone as featured articles. The landing zones are currently being developed and will be announced soon.
Once we publish your story, our editors will leave a brief private message on your story. If you turned off your private messages, you won’t be notified. If your story is high-quality, but requires minor updates, editors may also leave a private message requesting your work on the story for improvement.
ILLUMINATION offers a Slack group for writers to collaborate and get their self-nominated stories to be peer-reviewed by fellow writers. We created a functional platform with supportive writers and readers to help our writers for success.
Please take responsibility and take advantage of our platform, readers, and process, so that you can gain new followers, turn the followers to fans, and get more visibility to your stories.
How to improve the quality of stories
We recommend five practical approaches.
Read the Medium curation guidelines.
I recommend creating a checklist of the points in the guidelines. You can review these points before drafting your story. You can also use the checklist after completing your draft and before submitting it to the publication.
Learn from the experience of other writers.
We developed several references to improve the quality of your stories. Reviewing these stories can give you practical points reflected from the experience of other writers.
Here are three important guidelines developed for you.
Curation Guidelines for ILLUMINATION Writers — In Simple Words
99% Bulletproof Curation Methods That Can 4x Chances of Your Success
How to Transfer an Article From Illumination to Illumination-Curated
Read curated and high-quality stories to learn from their style.
We created multiple volumes covering hundreds of high-quality stories covering many topics. You can use a keyword search to find stories from these collections.
You can access all curated stories in volumes from this link.
https://readmedium.com/stories-on-illumination-curated-627b289571b4
Conduct peer reviews.
One of the best approaches to improve content quality is to obtain peer reviews. As the owner of the content, you may be biased, but your peers can provide different perspectives wearing a reader’s hat.
You can join our Slack to find peer reviewers. Please request access.
Peer reviewers can identify your blind spots.
For example, they can find typos which may be overlooked by us and not noticed by language tools.
This point brings us to the next important step.
Use language and editing tools.
I recommend the use of spell checking and grammar tools such as Grammarly.
It can be useful to use some editing tools such as Hemingway Editor.
Another consideration is applying a plagiarism check to ensure your content is not duplicated on Medium or other content platforms.
There are many tools on the market. The full version of Grammarly has a feature of plagiarism checker. In addition, there are several other tools, such as Chegg, Copyleaks, PlagTracker, Plagiarisma, Grammarly.
How do accomplished yet new writers start?
Please consider the following steps to start your submission process.
Apply to be a writer
First of all, we need to add you as a writer to the publication. You can request access by sending a request with your Medium ID.
As an alternative, you may leave a public comment on this story showing your interest in being a writer for ILLUMINATION-Curated. From our prior experience, private comments can be difficult to monitor.
Use Medium curation guidelines
You need to check Medium curation guidelines to ensure the content and formatting of your stories align with the curation guides. If we receive submissions not meeting basic curation guidelines we reject the story.
Please note that if we receive more than one submission not meeting curation guidelines we remove the writer from the publication.
Read submission guidelines
https://readmedium.com/new-submission-guidelines-for-illumination-495f191e5d30
Reader Focus
Your stories must appeal to discerning readers of this publication.
This means, in addition to the quality of stories, our editors also assess your stories for suitability for our specific audience. For example, readers of ILLUMINATION-Curated are not interested in stories on how much money you earn in Medium and how many followers you gained in a month.
Diversity and variety are essential for our readers. We don’t restrict topics as long as they meet the Medium rules. We cover over 100 topics. As long as your story has substance and important messages for readers, we will consider them.
We also don’t censor content as long as your stories meet Medium rules.
Submit as a draft
Since assessment and editing may take a while, we recommend submitting drafts only. If your story is in the draft format, when we publish it, the story will use the date it is published.
If your story is already published and our assessment may take a few days, your story will take the date it was submitted. From our experienced, old dated stories do not perform well on publications as they don’t become visible to the readers.
We consider exceptions for time-sensitive materials. You may point out your circumstance with a private message when submitting your draft or published material.
Consider criteria for ILLUMINATION-Curated
Our editors use a bespoke set of criteria for assessment submissions.
Here is a summary of our criteria.
1. Your story must be easy to read.
2. Your story must meet high editorial standards.
3. Your story must have value for the reader.
4. You must write your content for the reader.
5. Your story must be complete.
6. Your story must be rigorous with facts.
7. You must write honestly.
8. Your story must give appealing reading experience.
9. Your story must be formatted well.
10. Your story must be clean.
11. The images must be appropriate.
12. Too-wide curiosity gap may disqualify your story.
The details are explained in this resource.
The voting system for final decision
In addition to criteria for screening, we accept the fact that different editors may have different expectations. To reduce subjectivity, we use a voting system for selecting the stories.
There are five voting points: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. Editors also add comments for their reasons to choose specific voting point.
Who are the editors of ILLUMINATON-Curated?
ILLUMINATION, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Tree Langdon, Brian E. Wish, PhD, Dr Ron Pol, Dr Michael Heng, Dr John Rose, Paul Myers MBA, Karen Madej, Joe Luca, Sylvia Love Johnson, Dipti Pande, Timothy Key, Kevin Buddaeus, Kate Maxwell, Arthur G. Hernandez, Bill Abbate, Michael Patanella, Aurora Eliam, CMP, René Junge, Geetika Sethi, Ahmed Jamal, Britni Pepper, Selma, Earnest Painter, Dew Langrial, B. A. Cumberlidge. Lanu Pitan, Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.; J.D. Agnes Laurens, EP McKnight, MEd, CR Mandler MAT, The Maverick Files, Sumera Rizwan, Liam Ireland, Tony Young, Jr., Neha Sandhir S, Desiree Driesenaar, Stuart Englander, Ntathu Allen, Thewriteyard
Why do you recommend writer introductions?
As some of you may have noticed, we had a success record for ILLUMINATION writer bios. Hundreds of writers introduced themselves by submitting a story to the publication.
Our readers loved this resource, including bios of our writers. Our writers also enjoyed this resource because it helped them connect. I attach the link to this valuable resource to give you an idea on what we want to achieve for our new publication.
We started the same process for ILLUMINATION-Curated. Our writers are invited to submit a writer bio to provide more information to their readers.
Several writers of ILLUMINATION-Curated have already submitted their writer bios. We received excellent feedback on usefulness of these writers bios from our readers.
View Points from Editors
Additional resources explaining the goals of ILLUMINATION-Curated developed by our editors.
https://readmedium.com/tk-writers-nirvana-67469d304748
https://readmedium.com/a-calculated-risk-with-a-powerful-result-95f359ac8a3b
https://readmedium.com/joining-the-500-a-month-club-65100301ae47
https://readmedium.com/illumination-curated-the-goal-to-create-a-perfect-alchemy-ca3b5cbb6d26
https://readmedium.com/tk-i-c-where-you-are-very-high-b6a9a8171e8f
https://readmedium.com/yes-now-you-can-directly-write-for-illumination-curated-8e9a28bb0e70
Conclusion
This is the first version of our process and procedure guides for ILLUMINATION-Curated. Our publication is only one month old.
We will refine this article and add more resources as they become available.
Please leave your inquiries and comments.
