Editorial Bulletin
Not Captioning and Using Copyright Photos Will Lead to Rejection of Stories
If writers, after rejection, continue breaking photo handing rules, we will remove them from our publications.
New Policy for Image Handling in Stories
Dear Writers,
We are delighted to support all levels of writers as diverse and inclusive publications on Medium. However, we need the support of our contributors to meet our publishing goals and serve all writers fairly.
One of our biggest problems causing publishing delays is not captioning photos and using copyright photos without the owners’ permission.
This serious issue consumes the significant time of our busy editors.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy workload and this problem, we are recently behind the publishing schedule. Therefore, many writers complain and get upset when their precious stories get delayed.
We have empathy and compassion for them. Thus, our editors generously spend valuable time publishing stories on time to make our contributors happy. But, unfortunately, despite all our efforts, delays happen.
Since our inception, we have provided guidance documenting our policy and communicating it in the onboarding packs.
Unfortunately, despite our efforts, some writers still avoid captioning their photos and persist in using copyright photos.
Our editors wasted their precious time dealing with these two issues, which contributors simply can address by taking responsibility for images in their stories.
Since more than 15,000 writers contribute to Illumination Integrated Publications, our workload has substantially increased.
Illumination, our largest publication, is not manageable with 30 editors anymore. Unfortunately, Medium does not allow us to add more editors even though we have over 90 volunteer editors.
We have to juggle daily to meet the workload. Therefore, we decided to take some practical measures to address the growing workload.
New Measures
We decided to take several measures to address this constraint beyond our control.
As a first measure, to prevent delays in publications, the editorial team decided to reject stories including un-cited and copyrighted photos.
However, writers can resubmit their stories after fixing their stories.
Nevertheless, as a second measure, if the same writer re-submits un-captioned or copyrighted photos, we will remove them from publications.
As a third precaution, from now on, reading the attached articles in the next section is mandatory for all new writers who plan to submit their stories to Illumination Integrated publications.
2022 Update
All images require provenance in every post submitted. We highly recommend for our writers make good use of the free image sites listed in this policy note.
Those that are on other sites require hyperlinks that the editor can visit to verify provenance. If this is not possible because the image is behind any kind of wall, the author must post under each image the following disclaimer:
‘The author assumes responsibility for the copyright of this image.’ Be aware, that our editors have the choice to reject the story from publication in Illumination; or, take other measures.”
The Copyright Law
Some writers attempt to take photos from commercial sites, newsletters, and magazines.
Unfortunately, we cannot use those photos on Medium.
They are protected by copyright laws.
We want to protect our contributors as there are heavy penalties for breaching copyright rules in many countries, especially in the United States.
Practical Solutions to Address the Issue
Captioning a photo is a straightforward process. You only need to copy and paste the citation of the image from the source under your story photo.
The simplest solution to address copyright issues is to use stock photos from free sites such as unsplash.com and pexels.com. There are more sites listed in the policy document. These sites collectively include thousands of free images.
We are concerned about why writers take the risk of heavy fines despite these opportunities.
Illumination had many viral stories. Interestingly, all those stories use stock photos. So using a stock photo does not affect the distribution and visibility of your stories.
If you take your photos or create images, you are welcome to use them. However, you need to point out that they belong to you. Unless you cite, our editors will not know. So simply, you can add a brief note saying, “Photo by Author.”
Image Handling Policy Documents
We explained the details of copyright rules in the attached documents. We also guided captioning your story photos.
Handling Story Photos — Main Policy Document
Why Image Copyrights Matter for Writers and Editors — [2022 Addendum for fair use]
How To Caption Wikipedia Images by Michael Nagy
Thank you for reading these documents and complying with our policies.
We look forward to publishing and promoting your stories.
Other Helpful References for New Writers
These stories are developed to guide new writers to increase their readers and reading times on Medium.
Copyright Matters: Zero tolerance to plagiarism on ILLUMINATION
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
7 Tips for Freelance Writers Dealing with Chronic Stress Effectively
The Joy of Selling 1,000+ Books In A Month With Minimal Investment
What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories on Medium
Short-Form Stories Not For Income But For Visibility. Think Of Them As A Tripwire
Invitation to “ILLUMINATION on YouTube” Publication on Medium
Invitation: Join ILLUMINATION Gaming Publication as a Writer
Invitation to New Writers
We would be delighted if you could join us. 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 point out the publication name with your Medium account ID in the request. If you are new to Medium, you can join via this link. Readers can read thousands of stories, and writers can monetize self-published content.