Submission Guidelines for A-Culturated

Join the intercultural club and submit your story!

*Updated on April 2nd, 2024

Welcome to A-Culturated!

Hello to all of you explorers, third culture kids, global citizens, life travelers, and adventurers!

If you’ve landed on this page, chances are you identify with any or many of the above. I know I do.

So I have created this space for us all.

Our unique cultures, traditions, and experiences are the fabric we weave when we tell our stories. They are the voice from which we narrate and co-create.

I have created this space to unite all of those voices. All of those perspectives and narratives. All of those intercultural stories that bring out our unavoidable oneness.

The ultimate goal must be connection through an intercultural perspective.

How you get there is entirely up to you, but if there is nothing intercultural about your story, this pub is not for you.

What Should I Write About?

You can talk about a personal experience, a controversial issue you are interested in, an observation, or even a conversation! In other words: let your imagination go wild. Get curious, be funny, insightful, or critical. But always find room for intercultural connection. Here are some possible topics you can write about:

• Life lessons
• Relationships
• Self-improvement or self-discovery
• Work and education
• Productivity
• Mental health
• Nature
• Travel
• Spirituality
• Technology
• Poetry

Here are some examples of what you can write about:

Write about how it feels to go back home after long periods abroad.

Write about making friends abroad.

Write about things that make you a Third Culture Kid or Digital Nomad.

What we ARE looking for:

I want to celebrate thoughtful and well-written stories in this publication, that are presented clearly, so that you can also reap more from your writing! For that, ensure your submission follows these standard guidelines:

• Clear layout: Title/Subtitle/Image
• Captivating title and introduction
• Organized structure for a cohesive read
• Thought-provoking conclusion or takeaway message
• Appropriate tags (include at least “Culture”)
• Unpublished drafts only

If you are interested in having your story Boosted, read this article for more information.

What We Are NOT Looking For:

Please look over the following list and avoid these things in your submissions. A submission that has clearly not considered these things will not be accepted.

🚫 Pieces that don’t include an intercultural perspective on a topic.

🚫 Pieces that feel rushed, poorly structured, or sloppy.

🚫 Pieces that are flying in red all over the place — in other words, that have not been spellchecked or proofread. We suggest using the Grammarly Chrome extension to help you keep errors to a minimum. (We will also do a final edit before publishing, providing you with notes if necessary)

🚫 Pieces that do not promote a sense of community or that incite discrimination or violence of any kind. Be kind, please :)

🚫 Plagiarism. Make sure to reference any image you use and cite where applicable by embedding links into the text (don’t add a long list at the end). Generally, just don’t copy or steal other people’s work, it’s not cool.

🚫 Work written entirely by AI. Yes, we will know if it was. Please do not talk to us about tapestries.

🚫 There isn’t a strict limit on story length, but we like to keep stories between a 3–8 minute reading time for more engagement, however, we do make exceptions.

🚫 Clickbait headlines. Please do not mislead, exploit or promise things to readers that are dishonest, lack credibility, or are just provocative.

🚫 Diary entries or unstructured pieces.

🚫 CTAs and self-promotion. Do not fill your piece with links to your other stories, please. Calls to action should also be avoided unless they are small and at the end of the piece. 1 link per story is enough. If people want to read more from you they will.

Check this article for best practices on formatting on Medium.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

1. Vague Titles:

Try to be specific so that you grab your readers’ attention and let them know what they are getting themselves into.

Don’t just write a title like “On Travelling” or “Nomad”

2. Blah Subtitles:

Subtitles matter. They help to spark that extra curiosity in your reader and guide the direction of the article even further. Don’t skip it or make it vague. Use it as a hook.

E.g. “My Weekend On The Mountains Didn’t Go As Planned: Surviving a camping disaster”.

3. Content Chunking:

Huge blocks of words don’t usually do well on Medium. Most people have the attention span of a three-year-old (thank you internet) and therefore will most likely feel daunted by the sight of a long paragraph.

To make sure people stay with you, break your paragraphs up into smaller bite-size pieces to enhance readability, especially for people reading your story on their phones.

4. A Bleh Conclusion

There is nothing worse than a great story with a bland conclusion. Please give the reader a takeaway to chew on. You may try answering the question in your title or headline if you had one, or simply, give the reader something to think about for the next few days. Before submitting, ask yourself: how is this story different from others, and how can readers learn something from it?

5. Super Obscure and Niche Topic Tags:

Tags matter. Just like hashtags apparently. They help people to find your article in this never-ending sea of articles. So use all 5 topic tags to broaden your story’s reach.

Also, don’t only pick very specific and obscure tags that have very few tags. Pick a few broader ones with a higher reach too. And obviously, select tags that are relevant to your story’s theme. I suggest, for this publication, to try to include one of the following: Culture, Relationships, Self, Travel, Life Lessons.

6. Not Being a Medium Member:

If you want to earn some money off of your articles, this is a must. It will also help you to gain exposure and engagement, as you can interact with other writers on the platform and read their stories to help you get inspired with yours.

Which brings me to my next point…

7. Not Engaging with the Community:

In honor of celebrating intercultural stories, it is important to read other stories in this publication to engage with this intercultural community.

Embracing the supportive Medium writer community is critical to growing on this platform, and it is genuinely motivating and inspiring.

So if the intercultural community is your hub, engage with other fellow nomads, read their stories, and interact with them.

Final Checklist Before Hitting Submit:

Please ask yourself these questions before submitting your work here:

✔️Do I have a meaningful takeaway ✔️Does my story have an intergenerational lens? ✔️Have I checked my work for spelling and grammar errors? ✔️Have I included no more than 1 link/CTA at the bottom of my essay? ✔️Is my Title is AP title case, and the subtitle in sentence case? ✔️Do I have a horizontal-format photo with ALT Text and caption? ✔️Have I correctly sourced all of my images? ✔️Is my title captivating? Does it clearly explain what the story is about? ✔️Is my piece structured and coherent? ✔️Is my piece an unpublished draft? ✔️Does my piece include the “Culture” tag?

A Final Note About the Publication

I am currently the only editor of A-Culturated. This means I will take 1–3 days to review and give feedback on your submission.

Please respond promptly to any notes I make, so that I can publish your work as efficiently as possible.

Also, if I have not yet reviewed your work, do not self-publish while you wait. Self-published pieces or pieces published elsewhere will not be considered for publishing here. I will let you know if I am not moving forward with your story.

Finally, if you are an avid reader and intercultural enthusiast and are interested in participating in A-Culturated as an editor, send me an email at [email protected].

Become a Writer and Submit!

If you reached the bottom of this long article, thank you very much! I didn’t mean to bore you, but these guidelines are very important, as I am not trying to run a content mill here. I’m trying to promote awesome writers like you to share your intercultural stories!

If you want to be added as a writer, please fill in the form below and have an unpublished draft ready to share with us.

Note: I add new writers every Friday, so if I haven’t responded or added you yet, wait until Friday. If I still haven’t added you, you probably have not met the submission guidelines criteria.

Once added as a writer, you can submit your unpublished draft to the publication, and expect to hear back from us within 1–3 days. We will then review your piece and either accept it or ask for adjustments. You will always be notified of any changes made.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I can’t wait to read all about your wonderful intercultural stories and adventures!

With love, Maria A-Culturated