New Curation Service by ILLUMINATION — Volume 1
Chosen stories from passionate writers for avid readers
Dear Readers and Writers,
We’ve been quite busy since August. The last collection was posted on 20th July. We appreciate your understanding of being unable to curate stories. Changes in Medium’s distribution strategy led to a heavy workload, and we had to adapt our processes and submission guidelines to fit the new strategy. And now, reviewing stories takes longer than before.
Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers, we’ve updated all our submission guidelines to benefit our writers and provide engaging, memorable, and impactful stories for our readers. We encourage writers to review them as there are significant changes. For example, ILLUMINATION does not publish every type of story anymore. We explained the reasons.
We’re thrilled that our special publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, got recognized as a boost nominating pub. However, Medium currently limits us to nominate only 20 stories per month due to the beta stage of the boost program. Considering we serve over 24,000 writers and publish around 1,000 stories weekly, this limit poses a challenge.
You can learn about our boosting services from the attached interview scripts that we conducted with with Dr Mehmet Yildiz last week.
Why We Have a New Curation Service
Boosted stories are doing well, but 99% of great stories hardly gain visibility. Understandably, it is impossible for Medium to boost all great stories. However, writers pour their hearts and souls, and stories don’t have any views, even from the followers of writers or publications. We don’t know the reasons.
But September’s income drop seems to relate to fraudulent activity on Medium, as discussed in a story by Mike Broadly titled Here’s What Seems to Happen to Medium Last Week.
To address the visibility of stories, out of 142 volunteer editors, our team of around 50 volunteer curators came up with a new service idea. Each nominates a few stories from their reading list daily, and our lead ILLUMINATION-Curators compile them into collections like this one for our readers.
Additionally, our lead curator includes them in a LIST, a fantastic Medium feature. Feel free to save, share on your social media, link to your stories, and comment and like the list for increased visibility. These lists will be created monthly, and here’s our first list for your engagement.
The entire curation process takes up a significant amount of our volunteers’ time, so we will appreciate your support as your time allows.
Many editors, including our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz, also create a list of the stories they read from our publication. We will compile lists in these collections. Here is a sample list created by Dr Yildiz.
We noticed that engagement rates have been low. But Medium now rewards writers based on engagement. Therefore, we encourage our readers and writers to engage meaningfully with the stories we curate.
We understand everyone has different tastes, and you can’t read every story. However, if each reader selects a few stories, shares them, and engages with them, we can significantly increase views and reading times for these stories that usually get minimal visibility and delight our writers.
Collaboration among writers and readers is crucial on Medium, making it a great place for both. All our editors and administrators are volunteers, dedicating their time to give a voice to every writer. They review and publish stories daily without any payment. Let’s recognize their contributions and use this service graciously.
Our curators, editors, and administrators are committed to this duty. However, if they don’t see acceptance, they might stop. We highly encourage you to support this new curation service by choosing great stories, meaningfully engaging with them, and supporting your favorite writers.
Leaving comments, giving claps, sharing on social media, and following profiles will delight these writers. In an upcoming bulletin, we’ll share more information on how we use our Slack workspace to expand this service to all writers to be part of the curation process.
For example, we created a channel for writers to nominate their own stories and another channel to nominate stories of their favorite writers.
We hope you enjoy this service and look forward to your support for these beautifully written stories. Please leave a comment about these nominated and chosen stories you enjoy, the writers you follow, and any recommendations to improve our services.
With this opportunity, we also introduce new writers joining us today. Let’s give them a warm welcome and explore their profiles. We add their profiles at the end of the collection.
Please note that these stories are nominated by volunteering editors who are also writers and readers on this platform, so the collection reflects their collective taste. As a publication, ILLUMINATION keeps a neutral position for all published stories and it is impossible to feature over one million punished stories.
Selected Stories from ILLUMINATION Writers Today
How Ketosis Positively Impacts Our Emotions, Moods, and Behaviours Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Things You Won’t Give a F*ck About in 5 Years Tim Denning
How You Can Still Achieve Life Success When You’re Chronically Unwell Dr Ruth Miller-Anderson
Better and Better and Better Humans Moshe Sipper, Ph.D.
3 Tips to Simplify Writing a Literature Review Dr. Hector Vasquez
Understanding Ischemic Heart Disease and How to Stay Heart-Healthy Mike Broadly
The Day I Officiated at a Lesbian Wedding Cedric Johnson, PhD
Serendipity on rainy day walk Dr. Seema Patel (PhD)
What is Blue Zone Living? Perhaps my New Way of Living Dr. Tracy Davis
Press Reset Buttons to Transform Your Life With Second Chances Dr. Preeti Singh
Dealing with Unintended Embarrassment in the Aging Years Mark Sanford, Ph.D.
The FDA Fast-Tracts Another COVID-19 Booster While Preparing to Take Away Your Favorite Cold… David Mokotoff, MD
The YouTube TV App Might Display Fewer Ads Soon Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
AI-Songlines for Corporate Data Dr John Frederick Rose
The Risks of Prematurely Pedestalizing in Dating Eleni Stephanides
Welcome to My Day at Work Elin Melaas
The Remarkable Thing That Happened When I Stopped Blaming My Dad Kelly Crawford
Can I Connect with My Transgender Daughter as I Connected with My Son? Tony Leo
The Day I Gave Up on My Hometown Jack Kammer, MSW, MBA
Homophobia: The Fear of Skeletons Inside Our Own Closets Kensu Fetsani
What Will It Cost You to Get Published as a Book Author? Alison McBain
The Island Odyssey: A Weeklong Adventure in Rhodes Jozsef Kovacs
Why I Was Destined to Be a Medical Doctor in Nepal Dr.Ramesh Chaurasiya
How Cholesterol Levels Impact Your Heart Health Dr. K P Vasudeva Rao
5 Hidden Costs Associated with Amazon FBA Hardly Anyone Talks About Rishav Jain
The Unsung Heroes of Hollywood Seda Anbarcı
More Meaningful Than Any Degree Gail McNulty
How Survivorship Bias Colors Our World and Causes Dissatisfaction and Frustration Sridhar Pai Tonse — Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups
How Ōura Got the Fitness Geeks and Insomniacs Around Its Little Finger Jussi Luukkonen — your curiosity guide
Four Ways to Balance Your Content Creation Obsession Clayton Moulynox
There Is No Such Thing As A Holy War Steve QJ
We’re Again Confronted with a Choice of “Nonviolence or Non-Existence” Guy Nave
My Favorite Medium Writing Tips I’ve Learned Over The Years 𝑨𝒌𝒉𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒊
The Unusual Adventure Ahsan Cheema
The Addiction You Didn’t Know You Had Alex Parker
In the Middle of the Fire Amy J Garner
How to Make Small Improvements That Lead to Big Results Anup kotur
Asparagus — Nutritional Riches, Delicious Flavors, and Fascinating History Ashllyn T.
Two Reasons You May Not Have A Soul Asshole a.k.a Greta Room
Sand Maidens and Glass Crones Block Wife
Crafting Your Legacy: The Great Debate Between Job Stability and Job Hopping Bryce Barrows — Career & Transformational Coach
Swing! Swing! Swing! Carol Townend
Happiness is the Key to Success, Not the Other Way Around. Catherine Louise
Conversations of Kindness Cathy Joseph
Potpourri for Twenty-Three Cathy Strine
Are Potatoes Truly Couch Potatoes Charlene Ann Mildred
Mismatched Socks & Social Norms Chloe
At What Age Can You Lose Your Memory and Why? Christina Sponias
Vanishing in the Virtual: The Dark Grip of Social Media Obsession CJ Coop
What Separates You from the Divine is Attention Cosmo Zen
How We Subconsciously Choose Heartbreaking Relationships Craig Youngkrantz
Give Yourself a Hug D. Sahaya
Financial and Personal Well-being Don Martin, storyteller
Dear Brain: This Poem is For You Emily is typing…
“The Nutritional Powerhouse: Are Fruits Food? and Their Benefits in Culinary Creations” Part 1 Eseoghene Abushe
100 Mind-blowing Things You Need To Know About Brain Machine Interfaces Fahri Karakas
3 Reasons Why I Find iPhone 15 A Worthy Upgrade Francis K
Exploring Lisbon: Walking around the Santa Maria de Belém Parish Gabriela Trofin-Tatár
3 Reasons Why Your Content Isn’t Getting Read Harsha Gurnani
Beyond the Veil Harvey Ross
14-year-old Chinese teenager have developed a web version of “WIN12” Imdodd
7 Inventions Will Save 2 Million Moms and Babies by 2030, According to Bill Gates Ivylockewrites
What If Your Life Was A TV Series? JamieWrites
Steve Jobs Would Be Ashamed At Apple’s Prerecorded Covid-Style Keynotes Jano le Roux
Life Was a Bad Dream Until I Mastered This Jasbeer Singh
Lying to Job Candidates Is a Very Bad Idea! Jeannette Seibly
Fall is Close, We Will All Be Spending More Time Indoors At Home Now John Whye
Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Men’s Mental Health. Jonathan Isbill MS, RD, LD
Falling from grace of TV News India: Hopes left for While we Watched movie Ravish kumar Kallol Mazumdar
Why True Prosperity Is Measured in Experiences, Not Possessions Kay Yoon
A Nostalgic Exchange Kevin Byrne
In Pursuit of Wellness Dee
I Opened A Time Capsule From 2003 — Here’s What I Found Lacey Dearie
Caregiver Laurie Perez
Create Your Own Writing Retreat Laurie Wolt
It Was Quite a Shock When the “Mamasan” Wheeled Her Cart into the Boy’s Restroom When I Was in… Lawson Wallace
I Didn’t Want the Stupid Change, Then This Happened K. Joseph
The Illumination of Albert Camus, Zen, and the History of Absurdism Lewiscoaches
Muslim Women’s Veiling Lisa Spray
If You Really Want to Help Someone, Keep Your Thoughts and Prayers to Yourself Lucas Hawthorne
An Update On My Current Journey Luke Tarling
Discovering Ignorance: The Key that Unlocked Human Progress Mashrur Arafin Ayon
Don’t Make Reading An Extreme Sport Menes
How to Know if You are The Exception Michael Zwierzanski
At the Grave of a Medieval Minstrel Nicola DiSvevia
Debunking Market Saturation Fears: Dive In, The Water’s Fine. [Timeless] Priyashaa Ghos
It’s Monday. . . The Favoured One! pst tomowo
The Voice Of Freedom Quentin Plume
4 Keystone Habits Your Future Self Will Thank You For Starting Today Raghunathan Srinivasan
3 Things That Can Erase Chronic Unhappiness For Good Real Self-Caring
Superpowers of Fruits and Veggies — You Won’t Believe Rma Kaushal
From Jungle Secrets to Laser Insights: The Maya’s Untold Tale Sage Pen
How I Got 2,100+ Views In 1 Day — It’s Stupidly Easy [Proof] Sami Ullah Shahzad
“7 Questions to Ask Yourself,, Samshe Alam
My Mother is Trying to Kill Me Sanjay Singhal
Patience and Perseverance Shameem Anwar
“Name Game: Its Like Peeling An Onion Shanté Nixon
Fear And Anxiety Can Transform Into High Performance Spiritualfreak
8 Ways to Have Fun with Food Suresh Sangwan Saru
As, because, since, for — What should you use? SURYASH KUMAR
Would the US Democrats be a conservative party in the EU? Transatlanticism
62 Candles To Blow Tyler Woden
Saving Money Won’t Make You Rich (Here’s Why) Umar Stelvio
A Mother’s Love: My Guiding Light Ungureanu Madalin Marin
Russia And Its Violent Society Veronika Kaufmann
Three Fundamental Things That I Am Doing, Hoping To Have A Guilt-Free And Regret-Free Future Vivek Naskar
Why Writing is ‘Pumping Iron’ for Your Brain Wesley van Peer
The Road, A Poem About Road Safety writingelk
Lessons from the Grave Sara Fellers
Elеvatе Your Daily Routinе Zashira Irizarry
Now, Time to Meet New Writers Joining Today
Let’s welcome writers who joined our publications today. This is an excellent opportunity to explore the stories of these writers and follow them if their content resonates with you.
Jared Gibson, Poulami Sinhamahapatra, Kurt Dillon, Naeem Nadir, Steve, Taimooreducates, Dr. Barbara Christie, Laura Ann, Thomas Morison, Manuel E. de Paz Carmona, Orbital Escape, Alain A, Devon Allary, Dennis litner-Johansen, ASAD EDUCATE, Erica Cramer, Sana Fayyaz, Emerzi, Nikita Singh, Scout Barrett, Zsuzsanna Agocs, Rose Smith, Ifeoma Ahuna, A X I X A, Divya Iyer, HyaenaDad, Chloe G, AILMS, Daniel Andrew Boyd, Sangeeta Kalsi, Courtney Cloud, Nujood K Almulla, Dan Kadlec, Alexandra, Francis Everett, Cecilia Hollmerus, Doc Dream Bigger, Karolina L, The Pearl, Amine Mankai, Wayne Ince, Kevinn Chan, Kevinn Chan, Shana Young, Jodes Wiltshire, Niklas Föltz, Kat Davis, Clair Maison, Happy life is good, Kathy Stephanides, christina hughes babb, Tricia, Nidarshana Sharma, Dr.Ramesh Chaurasiya, Fiona Lim | UX Designer 🇸🇬, Chrysa stergiou, & her ocean, Arsh, — All Interests. InkQuill Adventures, Dr.S.S., Rimsha saeed, Kory Becker, Satendra Baghel, Waynelet, Sarita Bisht, Sana Eman, Alcax Marketing, Ben Worrall, W., PhD, Confessions, Spoorthi, Oleg Deem, Shivani Dangwal, Enebeli Kelvin, ManOnAMission,
Please remember to submit only one story daily, preferably as a draft. We don’t accept multiple stories as our focus is on quality to increase your chance of being boosted by Medium.
Change of Perceptions for Expectations
Unlike perceptions, ILLUMINATION editors don’t publish every story. Your stories must be well-crafted and valuable for our readers. Our focus is curatable and boostable stories.
How to Increase Earnings from Content Creation
Apart from the boosting opportunity on Medium, which can increase your income, our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz, recently answered this frequently asked question by many writers on how to increase income from writing engagement.
Many writers desire to make a living from their craft. Using Medium as a single source is not a viable option. There are other opportunities that you need to consider. We believe this story will give you valuable perspectives.
Collaboration and Promotion
You will receive an invitation to our Slack workspace to collaborate with other writers, share your story links, and contact editors and our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz. It is a free and moderated service. You may meet some of our editors from the attached collection.
Introduce Yourself in a Story
Please consider introducing yourself in a story and post it to ILLUMINATION or our other publications. This might bring you new followers and expose your profile to new readers.
Our editor Aiden (Illumination Gaming) compiles and distributes these bios to our subscribers. You may get bio ideas from the attached collection.
You may also self-curate your stories to gain visibility. Aiden provided a sample example, as attached. You may follow a similar format by categorizing your stories based on topics.
You may also enjoy a recent story from one of our new writers and editors, Mike Broadly — Healthier Lifestyle, who made significant progress in the last two months. You may contact Mike on our Slack workspace, who volunteers to support our new writers.
Writer Introduction
We enjoy introducing writers to our community and subscribers. We recently introduced a few writers like Thomas Allen Moon , Omni Essence, Sneha Nagre, Zondra Dos Anjos, and Sridhar Pai Tonse — Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups
You might also check recent editorial introductions from our team.
You can learn about our other editors’ backgrounds from this collection curated by ILLUMINATION-Curators.
Recent Announcements for Connection
You may check the following two announcements to meet other recently joined writers, including links to their profiles. This is a good opportunity for new writers to build their audience, as writers are great readers. We enjoy enabling collaboration on Medium by encouraging meaningful engagements.
Welcome to our writing and reading community, and we look forward to the meaningful and high-quality stories.
When you have questions, please feel free to contact our owner and chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz, on our Slack workspace. He is also happy to speed up publishing your stories if they are delayed 48 hours or more.
Critical Policy Documents for Our Writers
Every writer contributing to our publications must review these guiding policies before submitting their stories. We are tolerant, but these are non-negotiable rules.
Writing Challenges and Prompts for New Writers
Helpful Resources for Beginners
Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
Five Tips to Become a Prolific Writer Despite Full-Time Work
You may find more helpful stories from the content management collection of Dr Mehmet Yildiz typically written to help new writers joining Medium.
Sample Curated Collections for New Readers
We curate and feature stories from multiple editorial accounts.
Here are our latest curated collections by ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION Amplifiers, and ILLUMINATION-Curators for your enjoyment.
Invitation to New Writers
To join our vibrant publications, please send a request via this link.
We will help you gain visibility and succeed as a writer on Medium. Please mention the publication name with your Medium account ID in the request.
ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications include:
ILLUMINATION ILLUMINATION-Curated ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR ILLUMINATION Book Chapters The Lampshade of ILLUMINATION Technology Hits SYNERGY Readers Hope Illumination on YouTube Illumination Gaming ILLUMINATION’s Blog EUPHORIA by Dr Mehmet Yildiz
