My Exact Formula for 80% Curation

T + T + F = curation

I figured out how to get at least 80% of my articles curated.

Studying my analytics recently, I stumbled across a pattern — a formula, if you will — that explains my approach.

Here’s the abbreviated version: T + T + F = Curation

Now I know that “formula” doesn’t mean anything to you yet, but that’s my mental shortcut for remembering it. Don’t worry, I’m going to completely explain it and break it down.

Curation is important but it’s not everything

Just because your article is curated, doesn’t mean that it will make you a lot of money or be successful by any other metric.

On the flip side, you can certainly make money with uncurated articles.

Long-term, curation does typically make you more money, though. When I look at my data, all of my highest earning articles are curated.

Curation can also indicate the quality of your article.

Not getting curated, however, doesn’t automatically mean that your article is bad or that your writing is subpar. Far from it. There are many variables that go into curation.

My formula focuses on what I believe to be the most important factors. Namely, the ones you control.

If you look across Medium, you’ll find many articles on the topic of curation. All of them offer valuable information, but many of them repeat virtually the same ideas over and over again.

I know, because I’ve read them.

My hope and belief is that my article adds fresh insight written for easy understanding and application.

Important points to remember:

• Curation is important but it’s not everything
• Curation doesn’t equal high earnings
• Curation doesn’t equal quality

Ok, now let’s jump right into the specifics of the formula!

My exact formula

My exact formula for 80% curation: Topic + Title + Format = Curation.

That’s the basic framework, grossly simplified. There are certain details that make or break each part of the formula, and you’ll definitely want to master them.

We’ll cover all of the details in this article.

For my formula to work, there are a few prerequisites:

• You must understand and follow Medium’s curation guidelines. Hopefully, that’s a given. I review them monthly.
• You also must be a decent writer who ruthlessly edits your articles. You don’t have to be Hemingway, but you do need a basic grasp of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

With that said, you don’t have to be perfect. Thank God, because then I would never get curated.

While I don’t think luck has anything to do with curation, there is an element of subjectivity. After all, at least some of the curators are actually human.

So, if you follow the guidelines, write well, eliminate obvious errors in your writing, and pass the subjectivity test, you increase your odds of curation.

The only thing left to do is to apply my formula.

Topics that get curated

In my experience, the topics that get curated most are popular topics with an original twist.

Therefore, you could say: Popular + original = good topic

My article, “The Science of Better Blowjobs,” is a perfect example of my approach to titles that get curated.

Sex is a popular topic, “blowjobs” is a popular keyword, and I used science as the original twist.

Another successful article of mine is about gaslighting. Gaslighting is a popular topic under the larger topic of relationships. My original twist is to focus on seven gaslighting phrases.

A more recent article that has been curated is my article on how “Tinder Made Me Believe in Love Again.”

The popular topic is love and the original twist is the somewhat surprising contrast between Tinder and true love.

In summary, the two steps of choosing a topic that gets curated:

1. Identify a popular topic
2. Add an original twist

Choosing a popular topic is pretty straightforward. But you might have some questions about how to add an original twist.

Here are some ways to inject originality into a popular topic:

• Tell a personal story.
• Combine seemingly unrelated topics, as I did with science and blowjobs.
• Apply the topic to a certain population, such as parents, couples, readers, etc.
• State a controversial opinion.
• Write from a unique perspective, as I did with my article, “Your Cat is Your Best Life Coach.”

Titles that get curated

The next step in my curation formula is to craft a title that gets curated. Simple, short, and clear titles get curated the most.

When I craft titles, I think of the three C’s: Clear, concise, and clickable.

Clear doesn’t mean that you give all of your information away about your article. It does mean that a reader has some sense of what the article is about and what they will get from reading it.

“Titles should be as short as possible and as long as necessary.” — Christopher Kokoski

Clever, clickable titles definitely get the most views and reads. Of course, you want to avoid clickbait by not over-promising or using any manipulative language tactics.

But, if your focus is entirely on curation, shoot for clarity over clickable.

Here are the titles of some of my curated articles:

• The Science of Better Blowjobs
• Your Cat is Your Best Life Coach
• The Interracial First Date Questions that Stunned Me
• 7 Gaslighting Phrases Manipulative Partners Use Against You
• How Tinder Made Me Believe in Love Again

As you can see, not all of my titles are short, but I think all of them are pretty clear and straightforward. Readers know what kind of article they will get. But they don’t know everything.

I would humbly add that some might even be clickable.

The holy grail, of course, is a curated title that is also clickable. To get as close as possible to the holy grail, remember the three C’s — clear, concise, and clickable.

Formatting that gets curated

Formatting is the final part of my formula.

When I study my articles, I find that articles with short paragraphs, regular divisions, and subheadings get curated the most.

Formatting that gets curated includes the following properties:

• Clear title and subtitle
• Relevant image with proper citation
• Short paragraphs
• Regular division using the “three dots” (just like in this article)
• Several subheadings to break up the article
• A logical flow of ideas that all connect to the topic and title

For me, the length of the article and the nature of the topic often determines the number of divisions and subheadings.

What I mean by “the nature of the topic” is that some articles come pre-built with a structure. My article on seven gaslighting phrases is a good example.

Since my article covers seven phrases, I will naturally have at least seven divisions. I typically also include divisions between the introduction, the body, and the conclusion of my articles.

I think it’s always a good idea to make sure your article reads well on a desktop computer and mobile device — short paragraphs and lots of white space.

This is something I picked up from Aigner Loren Wilson.

Lastly, read your article to make sure that each idea naturally flows into the next idea. A strong narrative flow and a good reading experience are part of Medium’s curation guidelines.

A case study using my best performing curated article

I thought it would be helpful to provide a concrete example of the topic, title, and formatting in my curation formula.

Let’s look at my best performing curated article, “The Science of Better Blowjobs.” This article was curated 24 hours after it was published.

So far, the article has made me over $600. As of today, it’s also my best performing article for the second month in a row.

You already know the topic and title:

• Topic: Sex
• Title: The Science of Blowjobs

For formatting, here are some stats from my article:

• 1,765 words
• 106 sentences
• 93 paragraphs
• 8 Divisions
• 7 minute reading time
• College student reading level
• 3% keyword density (the word “blowjobs” is in the article 18 times)
• 2% related keyword density (the word “blowjob” is in the article 10 times, as is orgasm)
• As I mentioned, this article has made me over $600 so far, has reached 9.7K views, and has a lifetime member reading time of 321 hr 3 min.

To get a deeper sense of the format and narrative flow, I highly recommend reading the actual article:

Takeaways

If you want to give your article the best chance of being curated, follow the formula.

Topic + Title + Format = Curated

Quick Takeaways for each part of the formula:

• Choose a popular topic with an original twist.
• Craft a simple, short, and clear title and subtitle.
• Format your article with short paragraphs and regular divisions and subheadings.

Every part of the formula must be clear, original, and interesting.

Final thoughts

My formula is pretty simple but it has worked wonders for me. I’m not saying it is the silver bullet to all of your curation woes. I’m certainly not saying this is a fool-proof plan.

There are many variables that go into curation.

According to an article by J.J. Pryor, your profile matters:

Veteran writers encourage publishing your articles in big publications such as Better Marketing, PS I Love You, The Writing Cooperative, Better Humans, etc.

In my experience, they are right. My curation rate in big publications is very high.

I think you’ll find that following my formula will help you increase your curation rate, get published in bigger publications, and earn more money long-term on Medium.

I can’t wait to hear about your success! Thanks for reading. 😁