Music

Sound Advice: Shining a Spotlight on Medium’s Boost Pilot Program

How the program benefits readers and writers both

For this edition of The Setlist, I want to pull back the curtain a little bit on Medium’s Boost Pilot Program: specifically, how it works and how it can help you.

What is it?

You may have seen yesterday’s FAQ from Medium about The Boost Nomination program. This follows on from Tony Stubblebine’s official announcement in February.

From that same post:

Often, the best writing comes from people who don’t want to be audience builders. With the rise of the creator economy, these doers are often left out. Our goal is to find the best individual stories, regardless of who wrote them, and give those stories a wider audience.

That’s our North Star too. If you're a writer, we want you to succeed. If you're a reader, we want this to be your first stop on the platform.

The Riff is part of the Boost Pilot program. That means we are part of a growing team of editors that can nominate stories to be boosted for further distribution, similar to how curation used to work a few years ago.

So how does this all work?

The TL;DR is this:

• A writer submits work, and it is published.
• An editor- and it can be any editor on the team- nominates that same article for further curation, or “boost.”
• A Medium team member either accepts or declines said nomination.
• Stories that are accepted are then distributed widely across the platform. The distribution is further increased if there is a positive reaction to that initial boost (claps, comments, sharing, etc.).

Does this make a difference?

In short, yes. In our experience, boosted stories on The Riff are seeing anywhere from 5–10x the views of those who are not. That’s a huge benefit for writers. That doesn’t guarantee something will go viral, but more eyes on your work is always good, right?

Likewise, as the program scales up, readers will benefit from more quality articles they actually want to read being surfaced in their own timelines.

What are we looking for?

Have we tightened up our standards? Absolutely. Being able to boost someone’s work is a responsibility we take seriously. At a minimum, any submission must meet Medium’s Distribution Standards.

We are also checking for the following:

• A great title. I cannot emphasize this enough. Not much else will matter if your title doesn't knock it out of the park. Don't forget your subtitle. Kickers are pretty straightforward. When in doubt, go for clear, not clever. This headline analyzer came from Eric Pierce at Fanfare. It’s a great tool and easy to use. To make sure your title is in the correct case, check it here.
• Stories that are magazine-style or read like a feature: Would this article be at home in Rolling Stone? Would it look good in print? Could it pass muster on another site?
• Is it memorable? Have you pulled the reader in? If you're explaining something specific, have you done so clearly?
• Does it work overall?

Going the other way, here are a few automatic disqualifiers:

Again, most of these tie into Medium’s distribution standards. They also align with our own recently updated standards.

• Multiple CTAs: Articles with a string of other stories tacked on to the end won't be nominated, even if they check every other box. The good news is that Medium now does this for you. If you scroll to the bottom of your work, you will see your bio, your most recent articles, and a button for readers to see more from you. Note: If you are set up to accept tips, this does NOT count against the cap. Again, we want your time here to be successful and want readers to be able to reward work they find moving.
• Excessive profanity: This is sort of like “quality” and “pornography” in that it can be hard to define, but you know it when you see it. As an editor, I trust you to use your best judgment here.
• Tag bombs: These have all but disappeared (thank you for that!). Just a reminder that stories with those at the end aren't eligible. That said, mentioning someone or giving them a nod (like I did earlier) is totally okay. Everything in moderation. Again, use your best judgment.

To reiterate, any submitted work should have the qualities of a solid magazine article or online feature. Your title, subheads, and even the picture you use matter.

If we nominate your story and it is selected for further distribution, Medium will notify you directly. We will always look at our community first, so you always have a good shot at being boosted. That also means making sure you’re always presenting your best work. We will actively look outside the page for writers we’d like to bring into the fold as well.

We want The Riff to maintain its reputation as Medium’s premier music publication, and we want it to grow, hence some stricter standards on what will/won’t be published. That should be seen as an opportunity, not a hurdle. We are also happy to help with any questions, guidance, etc., to maximize your chance of success.

The best way to do that is to contact us directly on our Discord Server. All are welcome. Please join us if you haven't already!

Kevin —