June 2024: Monthly Updates from ILLUMINATION Editorial Team
Helpful information summarizing achievements and plans for writers, readers, editors, curators, and administrators
Non-members can read this newsletter on our Substack site or using our friend link on Medium. Our publications are diverse and inclusive. New applications to join our publications are via the writer registration portal. Please add your Medium ID or a link to one of your stories. Details are on our master onboarding pack.
Dear writers and readers, Happy belated July! I am sorry for the delays for this month. I write this newsletter from my secondary account, which I use for publishing and curation activities, especially for Technology Hits. For those who don’t know me, my main account is Dr Mehmet Yildiz who writes about health and science topics.
I am the owner and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium. In the last few months, I decided to author this newsletter because our volunteer editors and administrators are exhausted with publishing, curation, and problem-solving duties, and giving them this additional task will make their duties even harder.
I write this newsletter in story format to give you some valuable perspectives for quick adaptation to the constant changes of Medium. Those stats we used to highlight do not mean much anymore. Here is what we got with 92K followers in June 2024.
Please read this story with an open mind and consider leaving a comment if you have questions. I will try to answer them via this post or follow up stories.
Setting expectations for adapting changes of Medium
Those who know me about uplifting style related to Medium, but in this newsletter, while still keeping my optimism, I want to highlight a few important points not to disappoint new writers who come to Medium with great hopes like making it as sole income as advised by some self-proclaimed experts. I feel sorry for those who quit their jobs with the hope of earning full-time income from Medium. Unfortunately, those days have gone. I will not go into details as I wrote a comprehensive story about it, which you can read in your free time and set your expectations.
A Story I Invested 3 Hours on a Topic Reflecting My 25 Years of Scientific Research Earned 77 Cents
Can you be a 6-figure income earner on Medium if you are a researcher and write on niche topics? Let’s dive into my…medium.com
You need to develop a strategy and adapt to changes as I do. Here’s my plan to give you a perspective, but what works for me might not work for you. I only share my experiences to give you valuable ideas.
Why My Wise Mentors Advised Me 80% Substack, 15% NewsBreak, 5% Medium for My Writing Effort
I explain the insights and strategies behind my new content marketing approach based on data-driven observations and…medium.com
As a leader of this community using my content strategy and curation skills I guide writers to diversify their content and introduce them new and alternative platforms. This month, I introduce you to platforms in which you can potentially monetize your content.
The first one is Quora as you can quickly create a space, add some content, and start monetizing. I explained the details in a new story.
You Can Earn Income from Your Content on Quora with the Same or Less Effort You Invest in Medium.
I introduce and explain the key points of another content monetization and marketing platform, a global sensation that…medium.com
The second one is X Premium. This one might take a while, but the article publishing feature is available, which can bring anew audience to your content and speed up your eligibility for monetization. You need a minimum 500 followers on X and need a large number of impressions. I provided pros and cons based on my preliminary experience. I will update as I gain more experience. I am not an expert yet but I work with experts who mentor me in this exciting journey.
Why I Upgraded to X Premium as a Writer, Curator, and Strategist
A Content Strategist’s Perspective on Elon Musk’s Twitter Transformation and explaining the opportunity for writers to…medium.com
We created a new publication to support Substack writers so that they can promote their newsletters on Medium. Details are in the submission guidelines. Please use this service responsibly for your benefits. It is a great opportunity for your growth.
Invitation: ILLUMINATION Curators on Substack Publication on Medium
Empowering Creators of Substack on Multiple Platforms through Collaboration to Create Synergymedium.com
My goal is to inspire every writer to have a newsletter through Substack. I explained the reasons in the attached post.
Every Writer Needs a Newsletter
Why we created a new Substack publication on Medium and how we will support writers through extended collaborationmedium.com
Some writers desire to create public publications on Medium as I did. It is good as a community activity and improve your skills however it is a bad idea for income because publications generate no income. I explained the details with pros and cons neutrally. I hope you don’t make mistakes I do. But I make my mistakes deliberately as I always create strong fall back positions in my life.
Should I Launch a Public Publication on Medium as a Freelance Writer?
As a seasoned content strategist and owner of multiple public publications on this platform, I answer this frequently…medium.com
Each month, our workload significantly increases. Now, we have 30.000+ registered writers contributing to our publications. We onboarded around 1000 writers this month, but Medium still only allows us to add 30 volunteer editors. Managing the workload of Illumination with only 30 volunteers is not possible anymore, even though we increased the quality and only allowed one story a day from each writer. We used to accept three drafts until August 2023.
Several volunteer editors resigned and deleted their accounts as they don’t see value and they don’t feel appreciated. I couldn’t convince them. Even our most hardworking editor Mike Broadly, DHSc has resigned from editing role of ILLUMINATION-Curated for valid reasons as he no longer see any value in investing his precious time. He clearly articulated in a recent story. Mike will continue to support us as a publisher, curators, and sponsoring our new initiative on Substack financially as a founding member.
Volunteer Editing on This Platform Is an Absolute Waste of Time
Here is why I won’t edit drafts from my favorite publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, and will continue supporting it as…medium.com
No more previously published stories, please! They no longer perform and waste of time for writers and editors.
As of this month, we are implementing additional measures to manage the workload of our volunteers and ensure fairness for all writers. One critical change is that we will only accept drafts from now on. In the past, we accepted self-published stories; however, we have noticed that Medium’s algorithm no longer distributes older stories effectively. This wastes editorial time and unnecessary workload, providing no value to writers or readers. The only exception to this rule is accidental self-publishing while submitting the draft. If a story is self-published and submitted to the publication on the same day, we will publish it; otherwise, editors will return it. You can still keep these stories self-published, but publication readers will not see them. The choice is yours.
Communication through our new virtual helpdesk on Slack
As publication owner, in the last few months,I received thousands of messages on Slack and in my email inbox about delays. I personally can answer around 100 complaints and try to publish well-crafted stories myself after my work. However, my inboxes accumulated over 5000 messages. I’d love to answer all messages, but it is humanly impossible for one person, even if I work 24 hours a day like a robot. So I decided to set up a structured help desk on our Slack workspace and hire some casual workers to solve problems. Once it is ready, I will announce it in a bulletin.
You can log your inquiries on Slack in the channel titled #helpdesk-for-all-inquiries
In addition, as some writers post time-sensitive stories, they cannot wait for their drafts for around a week. Several writers want their stories to be published within 24 hours. I thought about this and did a small test with around 20 writers in the last two months, creating a priority service by hiring some casual workers and prioritizing such requests. Now, I plan to scale this service by creating a new offering called “Priority Publishing Plus,” which will give extra benefits to writers.
We will continue our free service on a best-effort basis using our volunteer workforce, I defined our free services which is for 70% of members.
Part I: Building a Foundation Using the Power of the First Tier [Free] in Our Community on Substack
How will the ILLUMINATION Network continue to support free subscriptions, which currently consist of 70% of the…medium.com
Here is an overview of our new community building on Substack leveraging our infrastructure that we developed for Medium writers and readers.
How I Architected a Charity Organization & Why I Will Run It Like a Business
Outline of my draft plan for creators, freelancers, and entrepreneurs empowered by the Substack networkmedium.com
For tier 2 freelance writers who want to use our marketing and promotional services, we created a $5 subscription service that will give them various benefits. I will articulate those details in another post, but I covered the high-level points in the previous story I linked above.
This small contribution will allow us to hire some casual workers who can prioritize time-sensitive drafts and ensure they are published within less than 48 hours, as we used to before, and a marketing professional to promote newsletters of our subscribers using our network and their network. This new and additional service is totally optional for our free subscribers, but my goal is to avoid complaints from those who are not part of the priority publishing and promotional services, which will cost us.
As you may know, we are not a commercial organization and will continue our free community service with the kind support of our volunteers. However, as we grow and Medium does not allow us to add more than 30 editors, we can no longer guarantee publishing stories within 48 hours.
Apart from orchestrating the workload of 156 volunteer editors supporting our 15 publications, as an owner and chief editor, I have multiple roles. As our pubs do not earn any income, I must shoulder support activities daily, which consume significant time. As I mentioned in a previous story, I have many unopened emails and Slack messages that concern me and increase my stress. I’d love to help each writer as it is a pleasure for me but If I cannot get back to you within 24 to 48 hours, please contact my volunteer backups Aiden (Illumination Gaming), Mike Broadly, DHSc, Lawson Wallace, K. Joseph, Sobaan Saeed, who kindly volunteered to answer urgent inquiries in my absence.
When you don’t hear from me, please know that I couldn’t get a chance to see your inquiry. I respect every writer and do my best to respond, but it is humanly impossible to complete all inquiries in a short time. Sometimes I see messages after a few weeks. I hope the new “Priority Publishing Plus” service will lower my workload.
Delighting Readers and Attracting More Readers
Our loyal readers always appreciate fresh voices, so we quickly introduce new writers when they join us through welcome packs like this. Our writers range from absolute beginners to experts, with around 10% being beginners, 20% advanced, and 70% in between.
We support absolute beginners via Readers Hope, most experienced writers via ILLUMINATION-Curated, and the large group in ILLUMINATION and our specialized pubs. We have a good structure as every level of writer is valuable for our diverse range of readers. You can learn the details in each updated guideline of our pubs below.
To attract more readers to Medium, I started an initiative to offer some high-quality, engaging, and educational stories to non-members. Recently, I posted a collection of my boosted stories with friend links. Several new readers connected with me and showed interest in becoming members of Medium. We need more readers to keep this platform sustainable and joyful for the community.
Here is my sample collection from which other writers can learn. I will also feature the work of several writers whose stories are boosted or loved by our loyal readers.
Friend Links to My Sample Boosted Stories for Non-Members of Medium.com
Thank you for reading and sharing these unique stories on health and wellness that appeal to a broad audiencemedium.com
Submission Guidelines for New Writers
We have updated submission guidelines to align with Medium’s new distribution guidelines after August 2023. New writers can find them from the following links.
ILLUMINATION-Curated: New Submission Guidelines 2023
SYNERGY: Submission Guidelines 2023
Technology Hits: Submission Guidelines 2023
ILLUMINATION Book Chapters: Submission Guidelines 2023
Readers Hope: New Submission Guidelines 2023
Submission Guidelines: Illumination Integrated Publications
ILLUMINATION Gaming: Submission Guidelines 2023
ILLUMINATION Videos and Podcasts: Submission Guidelines 2023
Publishing and Conduct Guidelines for the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION
ILLUMINATION’s Nutrition- Nutrition: Curated Stories — Volume 1.
ILLUMINATION’s Health & Science [New]
To ensure your content is published promptly, we kindly ask for your patience and request that you submit high-quality content and copyright-free images. We cannot stress enough how crucial quality is.
Boost Nominations from ILLUMINATION Publications
After so many questions, I answered some critical ones in a new story. I believe it will be helpful to increase your chances of boosting in our pubs.
The Boost on Medium: Answering Most Frequently Asked Questions for Beginners
Since its inception, the Boost initiative has given hope to writers. However, it is still at the pilot stage, and we…medium.com
Since October 2023, our special publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, has served as a boost nominating pub. In addition, Aiden’s popular pub, ILLUMINATION Gaming, was part of the boost program. Aiden and I, with support from other editors, spent several hours daily to find exceptional pieces for boost nomination. However, as of 1 July 2024,Medium ended Aiden’s contract. He wrote a story about it.
I Will No Longer Be a Boost Nominator but Still Will Continue Curating Non-Boosted Stories
An open letter to my mentor, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Chief Editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications, who did not…medium.com
Aiden still supports us to curated both boosted and non-boosted stories. He did 200 none-boosted ones. Here are his latest collections.
Look What Aiden Found Today — Episode #200
Favorite stories I read plus community-nominated pieces tailored for avid readers of ILLUMINATION Publications on…medium.com
Here’s his boosted story collection for June.
June 2024: Featuring Boosted Stories on ILLUMINATION-Curated
I also link to previously boosted pieces for new readers and aspiring writers as examples of exceptional stories.medium.com
Unfortunately, the number of boosted stories declined in June, and it looks like it was lower in July, considering Aiden’s departure. This one of the reasons I write this story transparently and realistically so that new writers don’t get disappointed. Simply there is no gurantee for your success as a freelance writer on Medium. This is not good or bad but a neutral observation from my experience.
For those who are new to the boosting on Medium, editors interviewed me on our boost nomination approach. We hope the script of this interview can guide you. How ILLUMINATION Publications Support the BOOST Program
Last year, I created a comprehensive checklist to increase the chance of boosting especially for new writers. This checklist will help all writers enhance the quality of their stories.
I also published an important article addressing the most commonly asked question about increasing income from writing on Medium and other platforms based on my decades of content development and marketing experience to guide aspiring writers.
Aiden created education series by analyzing boosted stories of accomplished writers with a high acceptance rate.
Lessons Learned from Boosted Stories — Episode #1
Lessons Learned from Boosted Stories — Episode #2
Why Did I Upgrade Our Accounts to Friends of Medium Subscription?
I have three publication support accounts and one personal account. I upgraded all of them to Friends of Medium subscriptions to support our readers. Reading from these accounts will allow writers to earn four times more. I posted a bulletin in December 2023 titled Why I Became a Friend of Medium. I invited all our readers to become Friends with Medium in a post titled Importance and Value of Medium Friendship for Writers and Readers. In addition, I upgraded my personal account to support our writers, as I read a lot. Here is my story: Celebrating My Reading Anniversary with My Upgraded Subscription to New Medium Friendship.
Now, out of the 30,000+ writers supported by my publications on Medium, around 10,000 are currently non-members. We support them as a diverse and inclusive community.
Sharing by Friends of Medium is very important our writers’ visibility an income. Editors interviewed me on how to do that and I guided readers in a story titled How Friends of Medium Can Amplify Important Stories Via Customized Social Media Sites.
Curation Service to Increase Visibility of Non-Boosted Stories
Out of 156 volunteer editors and a team of around 50 volunteer curators, all our publications developed a volunteering service idea to address the visibility of stories. Each editor nominates a few stories from their reading list daily, and our lead ILLUMINATION-Curators compile them into collections. But we can only add a limited number of stories to keep these posts in a reasonable size.
Our lead curators include them in lists, which is a great Medium feature. When you see your stories in lists, you may save them, share them on social media, link to them, comment on them, and like the list for increased visibility. The entire curation process takes up substantial time, so we will appreciate your support as your time allows.
The ILLUMINATION curation team compiled and posted many collections in the past but due to hectic workload they couldn’t do it this year. I will help them to start this service again. Today I sent my first featured collection and will do it regularly as most stories hardly get any views. My goal is to bring them some readers through direct links. Please consider sharing them in your socials.
Handpicked Stories for Friends of Medium #1
I selected eclectic stories that deserve a broad audience as they are engaging and informative based on initial…medium.com
I also do similar ones for the Technology Hits publication.
Building a Synergistic Tech, Business, and Leadership Community — Part III
Building a Synergistic Tech Community — Part II
Extended Benefits to Write for Technology Hits Publication with New Leadership Commitment
Additional Communication & Collaboration Platform
Our main communication and collaboration tool is Slack Workspace. You can learn about it from this story: An Introduction to ILLUMINATION Slack Workspace. It is free and moderated for our writers.
As some writers cannot join Slack due to limitations, our editor and media coordinator, Aiden (Illumination Gaming), volunteered to set up a new Discord service as an alternative to our main Slack workspace. All registered writers are welcome to join this new platform. Aiden posted an article about it explaining the rules and the way to join it.
Communicate and Collaborate with Writers on the Illumination Discord Server
He also created a YouTube video to simplify it: ILLUMINATION Discord: Video Introduction to Beginners.
Writer Bios in a Collection — Introduce Yourself
If you are a new writer, introducing yourself to the community can bring many benefits to you, as we explained before. I have shared six compelling reasons why every writer should create a bio on Medium in 2020.
From the beginning, I have encouraged our writers to share personal bios in their stories. These bios have been curated and shared with our subscribers, allowing readers to get to know the writers better. However, as the number of bios grew, it became challenging to manage them all.
To address this, Aiden (Illumination Gaming) has reorganized these bios into a shorter and more manageable format. We understand that our readers are keen to learn about the writers they follow, so you can explore these updated bios in our new collection.
Meet ILLUMINATION Writers from Their Personally Penned Biographies
Writer and Editor Introductions
We introduce writers by creating profiles or interviewing them to create visibility for their profiles and content. I also interviewed many writers since 2019. You can learn about our other editors’ backgrounds from this collection curated by ILLUMINATION-Curators. We feature our writers’ profiles via the Illumination YouTube channel and blog the transcripts. For example, our volunteer YouTube coordinator Aiden (Illumination Gaming), features writers on our channel. Contact him on our Slack workspace if you want to be featured. You might find some sample YouTube videos featuring our top writers in this collection titled Meet Top Writers of Medium on YouTube.
We recently introduced more writers and editors. Click on the work Meet to access their profiles.
Meet Karen Goldfarb, Meet Naya Monroe, MA, LCDC-I, Meet Tejus Yakhob, Meet Dr. ADAM TABRIZ, Meet Jack Kammer, MSW, MBA, Meet, Joshua Mason, Meet Seda Anbarcı, Meet Dr Emmanuel Ogamdi, Meet Jozsef Kovacs, Meet Davor Katusic. Meet Thomas Allen Moon, Meet Sneha Nagre, Meet Zondra Dos Anjos, Meet Ani Vals Meet Ammara Hassan. Meet Sridhar Pai Tonse — Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups Chosen Stories from
Essential Resources for New Writers
We compiled essential guides for new writers in a post titled Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications. This collection might be a one-stop shop for new writers to learn more about writing on this platform. Please also review these guiding policies before submitting their stories. We are tolerant, but the following are non-negotiable rules and Medium’s content hosting and distribution policy.
Zero tolerance to plagiarism on ILLUMINATION
No Defamation, Discrimination, and Hate Speech Published
Why Image Copyrights Matter for Writers and Editors
Publishing and Conduct Guidelines for the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION
POLICY: No More Monetization of AI-Generated Content on Medium
You may find more helpful stories from my content management collection, which is written to help new writers joining Medium. I compiled them in a list for easy access.
Writing, Content Development & Marketing Strategy Guides
Edit descriptiondr-mehmet-yildiz.medium.com
We need more volunteer editors.
Our editorial team sometimes gets exhausted. Therefore, we need more volunteer editors as our publications keep growing. Some editors go on vacation, some need a break, or sometimes they get unwell.
If you have time and are interested in supporting our smaller publications as an editor, you may contact me on our Slack workspace. The eligibility criteria to serve as an editor for our publications are outlined in this article.
Our Slack group is open to all our contributors. We have around 22K+ members on Slack. If you don’t have access to Slack or haven’t received the previous invitation, you can request it via this online web form.
Editors play a vital role in our writers’ success and our readers’ satisfaction. They review your content, publish it on time, and promote published stories to our readers using various methods.
These volunteer editors are also writers. Therefore, they understand the needs of writers. Currently, 156 volunteer editors support our 30K+ writers using the Slack workspace. This is a massive workload for them.
We thought that meeting our editors could be valuable for writers. Therefore, we started an initiative to introduce our editors’ backgrounds and writing styles. We add new editor profiles as our time allows. They usually use the same account on Slack so that you can contact them directly.
Writing Challenges and Prompts
We don’t recommend more than a story a day but consistency is essential for new writers to grow. Several writers completed writing challenges. The 100-Day Writing Challenge is popular. A few writers attempted to 1000 short forms in 100 days, too. If you are into short forms, you can submit one to each publication. However, our focus is not on quantity but quality now. You may consider sharing your story links, concerns, and aspirations in this unique challenge. Many readers enjoyed the Challenge called “The Proust Questionnaire.” These challenges might bring new readers to your stories. We look forward to reading your stories about these challenges. We also feature those who complete challenges in our curated collections.
Publications Created by Our Writers
I helped several writers to create their publications and gain visibility. Publication owners made significant progress in getting loyal readers. Here is a guiding story: Compelling Benefits of Personal Publications on Medium. ILLUMINATION editors collected the publications of our contributors in a post titled: Why Writers Need Personal Publications: Invitation to introduce your own publication to the audience of Illumination Integrated Publications.
Latest onboarding pack for new writers
Announcement of 150+ New Writers Joining ILLUMINATION Today #57
Remember, respecting and supporting your peers as writers is important for mutual growth. Please act kindly and remember that everyone has his or her challenges in life. Collaboration and meaningful engagement are key success factors on writing platforms. Here’s some guidance to beginners: How Peer-to-Peer Recognition Improves Writers’ Lives
Invitation to New Writers
Our doors are open to all ethical writers. You can join or leave anytime with no obligation. Our goal is to give you a platform to showcase your stories.
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 mention 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.
ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications include:
ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, The Lampshade of ILLUMINATION, Technology Hits, SYNERGY, Readers Hope, Illumination on YouTube, Illumination Gaming, ILLUMINATION Health & Science, Integrated Healthcare, ILLUMINATION on Substack, ILLUMINATION’s Blog, EUPHORIA by Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Get an email whenever ILLUMINATION publishes.
Thank you for sharing this newsletter with other writers interested in joining our publications, Slack/Discord workspace for collaboration. Our publications are diverse and inclusive. Thanks, Aiden (Illumination Gaming) and Mike Broadly, DHSc, for helping me to compile and format this post on Substack.
[End of Newsletter]
Thanks
for formatting this newsletter for us.I wrote many stories guiding new writers. You may find some valuable stories from my writing collection.
Writing, Content Development & Marketing Strategy Guides
Edit descriptiondr-mehmet-yildiz.medium.com
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
To inform my new readers, I wrote numerous articles that might inform and inspire you. My topics include brain and cognitive function, significant health conditions, longevity, nutrition/food, valuable nutrients, ketogenic lifestyle, self-healing, weight management, writing/reading, and humor.
I publish my health and wellness stories on EUPHORIA. My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness. 100+ Insightful Life Lessons from My Circles for the Last 50+ Years
If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 30K+ writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. I also have another profile to write and curate tech stories.
Get an email whenever Dr Mehmet Yildiz publishes. He is a top writer and editor on Medium. dr-mehmet-yildiz.medium.com
Importance and Value of Medium Friendship for Writers and Readers
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
But, why you still spend so many time in medium? It looks more than 5 PER cent...
Uau.. good advice 🙂📚