Content Marketing Strategy
Importance of Self-Presented Collections for Increasing Reading Times on Medium
A guide to creating annotated stories on ILLUMINATION-Curated
2023 Update
New writers, please review the updates regarding increasing the visibility of your stories. I documented the changes and the requirements of boosting on Medium.
In addition, we created a new editorial series called Make Invisible Stories Visible. Please contact me on Slack to engage you in this new initiative.
The Importance of Content Visibility
Believe it or not, marketing content is as critical as creating it from my experience and observations of successful writers on Medium.
Finding relevant content on the vast ocean of Medium is not a trivial task.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, there are millions of stories on Medium. Unless we purposefully make them visible, our stories will be buried, and our readers will not have a chance to review them.
Effective organizational and information management skills are essential for the success of Medium writers.
We know that many masterpieces receive fewer than ten views and less than five minutes of reading time. Yes, even the curated ones!
The best approach to address this issue is to take responsibility for our content. There is no shame for writers to self-promote their content. Those who criticize writers for self-promotion have an obvious motive.
Yes, as you guess, they don’t want you to become successful. They want you to suffer in mediocrity. They want you to be a follower rather than a leader.
My recommendation is to acknowledge and respect the criticism without actively engaging in it. The sensible approach is to take responsibility for the visibility of our content. Why should we give unnecessary and undeserved weight to the opinions of those who don’t want us to succeed?
We need to be mindful of our motives and rise above mediocrity. Life is too short to live the dreams of others and too precious to worry about what others think about us. Besides, it is not feasible to make everyone happy.
We need to re-frame self-promotion. By promoting our content, we are giving an opportunity to our readers for potential content that may be important to them. Considering the power of words, who knows, our content may change one’s life one day.
Since I established ILLUMINATION, I have kept emphasizing that writers need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Some writers took this advice on board, made significant progress, and they succeeded. They keep shining with joy.
Those who took the advice of critics, unfortunately, keep suffering. It is a matter of choice. I don’t judge; instead, I point out my opinion, invite those who deserve it, share my expertise, and respect the choices of people.
When I am talking about the entrepreneurial mindset, I don’t necessarily mean focusing on the monetary and financial aspects of writing, though these factors may be important to some of us.
The main focus is creating visibility by engaging meaningfully and showing leadership in our expertise to reach out to a broader audience.
Believing in our content and displaying confidence is a critical leadership attribute for writers.
The purpose of this post is to introduce and highlight the recent initiatives I started for ILLUMINATION writers. I invited writers to self-assess their content, refine them using Medium curation guidelines, and package them in a collection format.
I coined the terms “self-nominated curation” and “self-presented collection.”
What is the difference?
Self-Nominated Curation is for ILLUMINATION writers who want to showcase their content to a new audience on ILLUMINATION-Curated. We will assess these nominations and include them in our curated content if they meet Medium curation guidelines and our enhanced criteria.
The self-Presented Collection is for ILLUMINATION-Curated writers who want to create further visibility of their high-quality content by packaging them under topics and themes.
These are two avenues for publication-level curation.
Rather than complaining about our stories not being curated, a better viable alternative is taking responsibility for our content and creating curation alternatives with these possible avenues.
These avenues may surprise you nicely.
My vision for ILLUMINATION-Curated is to create an avenue for writers to showcase their best content by taking personal responsibility for their success and give more options to our readers offering curated content. Our editorial team members volunteer their precious time to improve the content and find new readers for our writers. These are fundamental values that we introduce to our writers and readers.
Writing is a skill that we develop. Remember, no one was born a writer. Those accomplished writers of them arrogantly criticize others; once, they were aspiring writers too. They seem to forget their past quickly and dare to judge others harshly. Worst of all, they discourage aspiring writers and attempt to kill their dreams.
Based on experience, I can assure you that if aspiring writers take personal responsibility by learning the rules of writing, applying them, modeling the behavior of accomplished writers, and improving iteratively, they can achieve the goal of being an accomplished writer.
We need to recognize our strengths and weaknesses first. Once we establish this fundamental, the next is to take opportunities mindfully.
As a fellow writer, I have strong empathy for aspiring writers and genuinely want every aspiring writer to be an accomplished writer one day. This aspiration was the main objective for me to establish ILLUMINATION. It has a proven record now.
Based on my experience, I am happy to guide and give the opportunity; however, the critical success factor is taking the personal responsibility to recognize and seize the opportunities.
I only invite. Accepting and rejecting the offers are optional.
Remember, as writers, our goal is to delight our readers, not to make our critics happy. Besides, we can never make our critics happy, even if we are the most accomplished writer in the world. Critics will always find an excuse to criticize us. Even hypothetically, if you make them happy, what do you gain?
If we become mindful of these facts, nothing can stop us from reaching our goals. It is a conscious choice between delighting the reader and critics.
Do you want to please your readers or your critics? The choice is yours. If you are a new writer, you may check my views on how to survive and thrive on Medium.
I trust you will make a wise choice.
By the way, when I mention critics, I don’t mean those who provide feedback to improve our content, but I refer to those who try to stop us from promoting our content and trying to kill our dreams. The former offers a value; the latter does not.
I am pleased that several writers accepted my offer and created their collections to create visibility for their content.
What did they lose?
Nothing.
They gained a lot because these collections will gain visibility to new readers.
The views and reading times for their stories will most likely increase.
They will gain new followers. They may even turn these followers into their fans. They seed and expect the plant to grow. This is a sensible approach.
In this post, I want to introduce the initial collections submitted to ILLUMINATION-Curated. I highly recommend all writers to consider this offer. It is also essential for writers to read the content of other writers and connect. Writing and reading go hand in hand.
We are tribal creatures. People thrive in supportive communities. Therefore, collaboration is a critical success factor for writers.
Here is the initial list.
Enjoy
Collection of Curated Stories on ILLUMINATION
Staring with my sample collection for this invitation.
Joe Luca
Phil Truman
MaryJo Wagner, PhD
Tree Langdon, CPA, CGA
Britni Pepper
Liz Porter
Drama Llama
Kiranjeet Kaur
Liam Ireland
Mythili Iyer
Myriam Ben Salem
Øivind H. Solheim
Self-nominated stories by ILLUMINATION Writers
Invitation to self-nomination to ILLUMINATION-Curated
Jan Vajda
Mr.M (Muthu Raja)
Karen Madej
Kristina Segarra
I look forward to your self-nominated stories.
Here is the instruction on how to create your collection by ILLUMINATION
Thank you for reading.
I wish you all great success in your writing practice.
Meet Our Editors
We are grateful to our editors who reviewed and published these stories on their own time. Our editors are volunteers who help writers succeed on Medium. They are also contributing writers. You can check their profiles from the following links.
Meet Dr Mehmet Yildiz — Dr Mehmet Yildiz Chief Editor and Owner
Editorial Profile of Dr Gabriella Korosi Dr. Gabriella Korosi
Meet Dr. Yogesh Haribhau Kulkarni PhD Yogesh Haribhau Kulkarni (PhD)
Editorial Bio of Surekha Chandrasekhar Surekha Chandrasekhar
Thank you for reading the profiles of our editors.
Please join our YouTube channel, where we introduce our writers and create informative videos. Illumination YouTube Coordinator introduces Dr. Preeti Singh on the Illumination YouTube channel.
Helpful References for New Writers
How To Triple Your Writing Income Methodically
How To Become A Top Writer In Three Months
8 Proven Tips to Build a Rock-Solid Reading Audience
6 Easy & Proven Tips to Increase Followers
Five Questions To Increase Curation Chance and Reading Fans
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
100 Day Challenge For New Writers
Invitation To A Writing Challenge
Conduct Guidelines for ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
No Defamation, Discrimination, And Hate Speech Published
Copyright Matters: Zero tolerance to plagiarism on ILLUMINATION
Why Image Copyrights Matter for Writers and Editors
Use of Affiliate Links On Medium
A Compelling Passive Income Stream For Freelance Writers
How to Survive and Thrive on Medium
How Writers Can Use YouTube Creatively and Productively
How To Create A 30,000 Words E-book In A Month
The Joy of Selling 1,000+ Books In A Month With Minimal Investment
Curated Writer Bios
Learn about contributing writers of ILLUMINATION written by their pen
medium.com
Here is an inspiring video by Illumination YouTube Coordinator posted.
Invitation to Potential 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 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.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on cellular, mitochondrial, metabolic, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 22K writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
