No More Curation, Hoorah!
Call me perverse but I think this is a good thing
This new situation is like a game of Monopoly when you pick up that Chance or Community card and you turn it over to reveal a Get out of Jail Free card.
You can stop worrying whether you are good enough and just write what you want, what you think will interest readers and then do everything in your power to attract readers and maybe go viral.
It’s not just engaging and applause any longer — not that it ever was — how many top writers do you see doing either? There are exceptions, they know who they are.
If we want eyeballs, we have to find the best place to showcase our words. It could be your own publication, a friend’s or one of the big ones who’ll keep you waiting for a week or so only to say your piece isn't a good fit at this time but please do submit again in the future. Maybe they won’t reply at all.
You can come on over to ILLUMINATION where providing you do the following:
- your words are strung together using English in a way readers understand,
- you use an interesting title
- and an intriguing header image (captioned)
- write 2–5 sentence long paragraphs
- in an introduction, body, conclusion format,
- sprinkle in a question or two
- add a few key quotes
- and a whole heap of luck
You may very well have a viral winner!
Viral stories
These are what I reckon Medium aiming for. It makes sense because why would a story go viral if it were poorly written and dull?
Why bother curating an interesting topic, which is well laid out and has all the bells and whistles if nobody reads it? Marketing is key here. It’s the next step for serious writers.
The founder of ILLUMINATION, and in many cases aided by skilled senior editors, has already given us the tools and the paths to follow.
All we have to do is walk these paths, learn how to market our work, make it a routine, and sit back and wait for that viral story to make us rich.
Erm, no. Most of us will never achieve a viral post. But we can dream. Or read this and find out how to stand a chance.
On hearing all the topic labels had disappeared from everyone’s curated stories my initial reaction was joy. I checked and it was true of curated stories. I poured my heart out and researched my backside off to get mine.
But wait! All is not lost for those who value being curated. The topic or topics for curation are now hidden even deeper than before the latest changes. You can trawl through the curated topics to find your or other writer’s curated articles on Medium. Top writers are still listed. Or you will have to dig into your own stats to unearth the status of your article. You can find out how to find them in this article.
Dew Langrial highlights in detail the possibilities of the changes made by Medium.
Personally, I say we don’t need curation, maybe we don’t even need the names — I hear writer’s names will return, but viral stories as a result of views, now that would be refreshing. It’s all about the readers and whether they think your stories are worthy of support.
I may sound as though I don’t care about curation, believe me, I did and still do. What I found I had to do was not make it the be-all and end-all of everything I wrote. Placing curation on a pedestal and relentlessly chasing it is not a healthy activity. Writing for the pleasure of readers does make me feel good. How about you?
If you are an unknown writer who publishes a story and does nothing to promote it, it is highly likely nothing will happen to it. Your work will languish on your profile page waiting to be discovered.
Marketing on every social media platform available to you, and that you have time for, is the way to go, as I see it. We’ll just have to put the effort into learning how to do it if we want a chance at success. Dr Mehmet Yildiz and B. A. Cumberlidge. have the tools for this too.
Thanks for reading.
My blood, sweat, and tears are below.