Now I Know What Happens When a Story Gets Curated
My 3 “Chosen for further distribution” after 2 months on Medium
I started here on July 3rd with no knowledge of Medium rules or common terms. I submitted my articles to publications without expecting too much because I wasn’t writing every day, unlike many experts here have advised.
But something wonderful happened 5 days after I posted my favorite story, Everybody Wants a Goldendoodle. I was looking at my stats when I saw the label “Chosen for further distribution” right below the title.
I didn’t understand it at first and had to look it up. This article from Medium helped: Medium’s Distribution Standards: What Writers and Publications Need to Know.
When I realized I achieved one of the most sought-after rewards in Medium, I got very excited. I started monitoring my stats more closely. I wondered if it would really increase my reads and how long it would last.
A month later, the story received 2.9k views but earned only $25.
I discovered that non-Medium visits were not monetized, and so most of my views went to waste. What a bummer!
But maybe not. Because I also noticed that my article showed up on the landing page of Topic:Pets (pets was one of my tags for this story). On days when my views were soaring, it appeared on top of the popular list. When low, it moved to the bottom. The position changed based on the views. I realized that although external reads were not monetized, I got extra exposure through the popular list.
I also observed that each time my external reads were high, internal reads grew significantly higher too. I suspected that external activity triggers the Medium algorithm to distribute the article more frequently through email or suggested notifications.
Two of my poems got curated as well: Of Flowers and Travels (Jul 20) and A Flame of Fools (Jul 21). They showed up in Topic:Fiction, but never made it on the popular list. Unlike my Goldendoodle story, the poems have been starving for views up to this date.
So what happened with these 2 poems? How are they being distributed? I found out one of (possibly) many different ways. They appeared at the bottom of my other story, which means that after someone reads your story, Medium will suggest your curated pieces as a “Related Read”.
This confirms the advice of experts — that curation doesn’t guarantee readership. Now that I have experienced it first hand, I won’t be looking for the “Chosen for distribution” flag anymore each time I publish. I don’t deny that it makes me feel a bit special. But after two months here, I get more fulfillment when I receive inspiring comments and interact with great authors. I make sure I highlight the passages I enjoyed and then give feedback. Curation for me is good to have, not a must-have.
There’s still so much to learn on this amazing platform, and I look forward to what awaits me in my 3rd month.
Thanks for reading!
Author’s Note: If you found this story helpful, you may also be interested in What Happens When a Story Gets Curated — Part 2.