Second Wave of Readers on ILLUMINATION-Curated

Oh my, how the money rolls in!

I could barely believe my eyes. My most popular story on Medium was riding a new wave of glory.

After being curated two months ago, this story — a saucy little tale of sexual desire on a Californian road trip — had brought me in a little over nine hundred dollars and had gradually wound down to a soft sigh of foam over the golden sands.

End of the line, I figured.

ILLUMINATION opens up a second wave

Dr Mehmet Yildiz, the extraordinary Editor-in-Chief of ILLUMINATION, commenced a new initiative a few days ago. A new publication where not only stories curated by Medium could be showcased, but one where ILLUMINATION’s editors could internally curate the very best stories from thousands of writers. Human curation, instead of an algorithm.

A guaranteed feast for readers.

Not that ILLUMINATION isn’t a great experience. I’ve often likened it to an ongoing 24/7 writer’s conference, where there is a continuing discussion, ideas are exchanged, writers spark against each other and everybody learns how to improve their skills.

But ILLUMINATION is now so big and busy that the best stories get swept along on the tide, and it can be a bit of a hunt and a lot of scrolling to find them.

So now we have ILLUMINATION-Curated, where it’s a portfolio of officially guaranteed quality.

My cheeky little story finds a new home

I was invited — as is every writer here — to submit my curated stories. So I went through my stats, pulled out one or two, and sent them in.

Here’s my best:

I check my stats daily, entering the numbers into a spreadsheet to see where I’m doing well, and (far more likely) where the wheels have fallen off.

See for yourself. There’s a new wave of readers enjoying my story, and it’s actually doing better — in earnings and reading time — than when it was first curated!

This is amazing. I’ve never made a thousand bucks for anything I’ve written before. I won seventh prize in a travelwriting competition once, but this is something different. Not just glory, but money in my bank account.

Come on in, the water’s fine!

Now, if I can do it, anybody can. Do you have a curated story or two? Yes, I know it’s already published, but for curated stories that’s how it goes. Check how they are performing in their current home, and if you want to get new readers, withdraw them from their current publication and submit them to ILLUMINATION-Curated.

You’ll have to ask to be added as a writer there first, but if you come knocking with a curated story in your hand, the door will be opened for you.

And please, please, let us know how your story goes.

As usual, there will be daily listings of new stories, social media support, featured boosts and whatever it takes to link good stories with happy readers.

As a writer, I’m pleased that my story is doing well, but as a lifelong reader, I am thrilled to have a great stock of excellent stories, and I expect the curated writers of ILLUMINATION to keep adding to my reading pleasure.

Got a story that hasn’t been curated, but you think it should be?

We can handle that. If Medium hasn’t supplied official love, then the ILLUMINATION editors will read your story and vote on it, according to our own criteria of quality. Of course it will have to meet all the curation standards, of having the correct format, images captioned correctly and so on.

And we’ll even curate great stories about how to succeed on Medium.

So, catch the wave of success right now!

Britni

Another curated story. You like coffee?