Summary

The content discusses the need for enhanced collaboration features on Medium, including the ability to have multiple authors for a single article, shared metrics and earnings, and a more robust system for editing and tracking changes.

Abstract

The article on Medium emphasizes the potential benefits of improved collaboration tools for writers and editors. It suggests that Medium should implement features that allow for multiple authors to be credited on a single article, with shared metrics and earnings to fairly distribute rewards. The author, Kevin, reflects on the creation of the "Illumination Submission Guidelines" and how the collective input from the editorial team was integral to the process. He argues that the current method of collaboration via draft links and notes is insufficient and proposes a system where authors can be assigned to an article with full editing rights, including a voting mechanism for publishing and a "track changes" feature. The article also highlights the importance of such features by citing a successful collaboration between two writers, Charles Roast and Holly Jahangiri, and how a dedicated collaboration function could enhance their work. Additionally, the author suggests a flagging system for articles in the publishing queue to prevent premature release.

Opinions

Collaboration on Medium should be more than just sharing draft links; it should include the ability to assign multiple authors with full editing rights.
The current system does not adequately credit contributors or allow for shared earnings and metrics.
A voting system for publishing could ensure that all collaborators are satisfied with the article before it goes live.
A "track changes" feature would be beneficial for keeping track of contributions and edits made by different authors.
The ability for multiple authors to work on a single article would be particularly useful for collaborative projects, allowing for full credit and shared benefits.
A flagging system for drafts and submissions would help editors manage the publishing queue more effectively, preventing articles from being published before they are ready.

Suggestions | Medium | Editing | Writing

Suggestions For Collaboration On Medium

All writers could benefit from a dedicated function to collaborate

I heard somewhere that collaboration is possible on Medium, though I have not seen any valid way to do so other than sharing a draft link with whomever you’d like to collaborate. I have not tested it yet, but someone said they’d only be able to leave notes, not edit the article itself.

After I finished writing the Illumination Submission Guidelines yesterday in order to streamline the process for our writers and editors, I thought long and hard about this.

Though all of our editors had the idea to build guidelines like these, I just started writing them. I had nothing else to do at that moment and felt like it would be fun to make screenshots showing the process in a step-by-step manner.

Originally, I had only the “how to format your title and subtitle” as well as “choosing tags” in mind, as I have seen several submissions that lacked these features.

But these are not just my own ideas. These ideas come from our entire editorial team and their combined knowledge. I’d like to showcase that in the article.

Not by a barely visible note at the foot of the article saying “thanks to X”. And not even by tagging them in the article. They deserve full credit. Why don’t we have the option to name multiple authors for a specific article?

So here are some suggestions I’d love to see realized on Medium in the future.

Multiple authors on a single article, shared metrics and earnings

It would help tremendously to be able to share not only the effort, but also the reward that comes with it. Collaboration should not be a “three people chip in, one guy reaps the rewards” kind of mentality. Let all involved see the metrics of that article in their stats. And let all of them earn a fair share of whatever revenue it receives.

The option to collaborate freely on an article

I’m not talking about sharing draft links with people who then need to keep them, losing the ability once the article gets published. Instead, allow us to assign other authors to an article and give them full rights to work on the article.

For publishing, if required, maybe instigate a vote, so that the article goes online as soon as all involved have given their okay. That way, the article won’t go online unless every member has finished their part.

You could even allow the text of each writer to be colored differently, so everyone knows who has written what.

Lastly, if possible, an option like “track changes” on Microsoft Word could come in handy, should people make changes to existing text.

Why would that come in handy?

For one, as I mentioned above, I could give and share full credit with our entire editorial staff. But it would also allow writers to collaborate more directly on interesting topics. And if such an article gets curated, all authors will benefit from it.

I read an interesting article from one of my favorite humorists here on Medium, Charles Roast:

“Chaws” The Beat Poet

Why being a poet would be so cool

medium.com

This article got an amazing and equally funny answer by another talented writer, Holly Jahangiri:

The Performance Artist

They might’ve been big, once upon a time — or not.

medium.com

And it developed into a great collaboration between those two, full of humor and funny side blows:

Poetic Moments in the Betrayal of “Chaws”

“Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

medium.com

Hey, Electrical Banana, Stay Down

Little Willy won’t stay home and mind his own damned business.

medium.com

Chuck will currently work on his answer to “Hey, Electrical Banana, Stay Down”. But imagine what those two could achieve if they’d work on a single article AND get credit for it, without having the need to link back and forth.

I think such a function — even if not used much — would be a “nice to have” for the mentioned reasons.

Flagging articles in the queue

Another helpful function for editors would be to have an option to flag articles (drafts and submissions) that are currently awaiting publishing.

Some of our editors leave a note for the author, requesting minor changes prior to publishing. Then another editor comes in, unaware of the situation, and publishes the article without checking for the private notes left behind.

It would be great to have a simple function like a traffic light indicator, showing that an article has been checked by another editor and is put on hold. So another editor (different time zones and all) won’t miss this and accidentally push out an article before it’s ready.

That’s all for now

These are changes that I think would benefit Medium writers and editors in the long run. I’m sure the wishlist is much longer. But that’s what I’ve personally missed in the past few days.

Thank you for reading. Please leave your own suggestions in the comments. I’m curious what else could improve our Medium experience.

Kevin is an editor and writer for the ILLUMINATION publication. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.