ILLUMINATION in the Top 100!

ILLUMINATION Continues to Amaze

Congratulations to ILLUMINATION, its writers, and editors for more than nine months of strong dedication and amazing effort. According to TopPub, ILLUMINATION is now in the Top 100 largest publications on Medium. More specifically, ILLUMINATION currently stands as the 87th largest publication on Medium.

Not a bad accomplishment for being so new to the publication game. You can see from the screenshot above that we currently have 61,333 followers, and are averaging about 221 new followers per day. That number puts us in the Top Ten Fastest Growing publications on Medium. Congratulations to every contributing writer, editor and follower that has made this possible!

Small beginnings.

Back in mid March of last year, ILLUMINATION came onto the Medium scene with a purpose, “aiming to create a new collaborative content culture with cross-pollination.” As an early contributor to ILLUMINATION, I saw an opportunity to become a part of something great. On, March 23rd, 2020, I submitted my first article about its startup in which I wrote that ILLUMINATION was “a publication with phenomenal potential.”

Here, nearly ten months later, I believe we have only begun to tap into that potential. Our strategies in managing the growth of our publication have evolved over time, but our underlying foundation and purpose for it have remained consistent.

Our publication founder and owner Dr. Mehmet Yildiz believed that a viable future for humanity would require growth and reinvention. So, presented with the opportunity to create his publication, he chose to establish it in a way that would foster those things for the publication’s writers. Creating a place where writers can grow, be heard, and most importantly, learn from each other.

Dr. Yildiz has taken incredible measures to connect with other writers on Medium as he seeks to elevate each new writer to their next best level. He knows, like a true leader, that bringing out a person’s best doesn’t come through force, but only through sincere connection. I believe this is one of the secrets to ILLUMINATION’s ongoing success.

A successful beginning continues.

In my first article about the launch of the publication, I attributed its early success to the efforts of dozens and dozens of people. On April 27th, 2020, just a little more than a month after its start, ILLUMINATION had 4,258 followers and we celebrated an all-time, one day high of 7,561 visitors to our publication.

We have come a long way since then, and as of today we are averaging over 10,900 visitors per day for the last 90 days. Amazing job everyone!

Volunteer editors.

ILLUMINATION began with an incredible team of editors, individually recruited by Dr. Yildiz, who sought out those who shared his ideals — a passion for writing, a servant’s heart, and a desire for innovation and continuous improvement. The first editors that volunteered brought all of their skills to create the foundation that ILLUMINATION stands upon today. Without their initial help and tremendous effort, ILLUMINATION would not have experienced that early success. A heartfelt thank you, to all those who were there in the beginning.

As editors have swapped out, balancing participation in our publication with their own personal goals and responsibilities, one thing has kept the gears of ILLUMINATION turning — the diversity of our editors, teaming up and publishing articles from many parts of the world, twenty-four hours a day. Many thanks to the efforts of those editors who shoulder the incredible workload each day. ILLUMINATION wouldn’t be what it is without our editors.

The excitement never stops.

It isn’t easy to get a new publication off the ground and running. Skills, talent, manpower, drive and competition will all come into play. But the dreams of night become fuzzy in the daylight, and the morning’s strength dissolves into evening procrastination. And yet, in a publication with writers, editors and behind-the-scenes players from all over the world, the fatigue of night is always fleeting, and morning resolve is constantly refreshed. — from Why Illumination Is #1

It is incredible that after nearly nine months, the above description still holds true. This is just another secret of ILLUMINATION’s continued success. Where once it was the efforts of dozens and dozens of people that shot it to the forefront, ILLUMINATION is now sustained by the efforts of thousands. And what a truly incredible accomplishment for one publication!

Creating opportunity and visibility.

Because of ILLUMINATION’s incredible success it has allowed us the opportunity to branch out and create multiple publications. ILLUMINATION-Curated is a publication for the more experienced writers of ILLUMINATION.

In addition to Curated, Dr. Yildiz has created Technology Hits for the publishing of important, high-impact, informative, and engaging stories on all aspects of technology.

Our newest publication venture is ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR. As a smaller, faster version of ILLUMINATION, writers are encouraged to submit their stories to MIRROR for faster publication, more one-on-one help from editors, and the opportunity for a new audience.

Apart from the creation of new publications, ILLUMINATION continues to post its content across other social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Quora Spaces, LinkedIn, Flipboard, Pinterest and several others. The idea is to create further visibility for ILLUMINATION’s writers, giving them greater opportunities for individual success.

Keep it going.

With so much effort on the part of ILLUMINATION, is it any wonder why we have experienced a bit of success? This publication couldn’t possibly do more could it? If you only knew Dr. Yildiz!

Dr. Yildiz continues to be a strong advocate for the other publications of the Medium landscape. He encourages our writers to write for other publications when given the opportunity. With his mind set on collaboration and cross-pollination, Dr. Yildiz understands that in the long run, this is what is best for all of our publications and ultimately the Medium platform itself. While some publications may try to own their writers, Dr. Yildiz understands that writers should be allowed to manage their own success, and he does not hesitate to allow our writers to make the their own choices about when and where they wish to publish. If your current publication doesn’t allow you to do this, it may be time rethink your writing strategy.

Thank you.

The bottom line here is that ILLUMINATION has enjoyed amazing success because of the efforts of thousands of people over the last ten months. It is no fluke. ILLUMINATION is a publication that takes your success seriously, while actively staying away from taking itself too seriously.

We encourage our writers to improve their skills, and understand that they can only do that through practice. We offer you a place to do just that. And for the more experienced writers, we give you the opportunity to publish your articles alongside the very best writers ILLUMINATION has to offer. If that opportunity encourages even our experienced writers to improve their skills, then the world is a better place for it.

For writer inquiries to our publications, please send a request via this link.

From Dr. Yildiz and all the editors of the ILLUMINATION publications, our sincerest thanks to our writers and readers for making our journey an honest and wonderful pleasure.

Thank you.

ILLUMINATION-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, Dipti Pande, 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, Agnes Laurens, EP McKnight, MEd, CR Mandler MAT, The Maverick Files, Sumera Rizwan, Liam Ireland, Neha Sandhir S, Desiree Driesenaar, Stuart Englander, Ntathu Allen, Thewriteyard, Haimish Mead, Maria Rattray, Cristo Lopez, PhD, Dr. Preeti Singh, Holly Kellums, Kristina Segarra, Yohanan Gregorius, The Dozen, Audrey Malone,janny’s heart, Sabana Grande, Jennifer Friebely, Zen Chan, Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀, John Cunningham, [arlie] PEYTON