Monthly Updates from ILLUMINATION Editorial Team: October 2022
Newsletter summarizing achievements and and plans
How To Become A Writer For ILLUMINATION
Dear Subscribers,
We trust this post finds you well.
We are sorry not to be able to send newsletters since the beginning of the year. We have had remarkable growth this year, which kept our editors and administrators extremely busy.
Since the new year, more than 3,000 new writers have joined our publications. We now have 16,000+ contributors, including beginners and accomplished writers. Managing this growing workload with 100 volunteers is incredibly challenging.
99% of our energies go to publishing activities. Our largest publication, ILLUMINATION, receives hundreds of submissions daily, and we can keep only 30 editors per Medium’s restrictions. Therefore, we have to juggle our resources to meet supply and demand.
Each day many more writers join ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications as we deliver value. As a result, our followers and subscribers significantly increase each month. We are grateful for the contributions of our writers and the support of valued readers.
Since the number of writers substantially increased and we cannot add more than 30 editors to ILLUMINATION, we decided to allow only one story per writer within 24 hours.
You may submit more than one story to our other publication to balance the load. We listed the publication below in another section.
Administrative work takes significant time for our editors. To reduce the administrative workload for 16K+ writers with new additions daily, we add a small editorial bulletin in a daily curated list to introduce new writers joining our publications.
We also created a master copy of the onboarding pack and will not be creating these packs weekly. Instead, we add a master pack and tag new writers in the introduction of daily curated collections. Since the beginning of the year, this arrangement has worked well.
We respond to writer inquiries on the Slack workspace. It is an optional tool for our contributors. All writers are welcome to join.
Update on Stats
Even though stats are steady on ILLUMINATION, some writers reported a significant decline in September. Here is a sample story depicting the situation.
Here is our 90-day reading time performance, which is over 7.6 million minutes of reading time which is the gold standard for writers’ income.
We heard a few rumors that our publication does not perform well, but our stats prove that there is no change in overall performance.
For example, last 90 days, an average of 43 thousand plus people visited the publication daily. As you can see from the graph, there has been an increase recently, passing more than 50 thousand unique visitors.
Our Publications Need More Volunteer Editors
We need more volunteer editors to join our editorial team as we grow. Some of the volunteer editors get unwell and may need a break.
You may find the eligibility criteria to serve as an editor for our publications outlined in this article.
If you have time and are interested in supporting our publications as an editor, you may contact Dr Mehmet Yildiz on our Slack workspace.
Our Slack group is open to all our contributors. We have more than 12,800 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.
Connecting Writers with Editors
Editors play a critical role in the success of our writers. They review content, publish them in a timely, and promote them to our readers using various methods. Editors are also writers, but they also understand the publishing process. Currently, around 100 volunteer editors support our 16K writers using the Slack workspace.
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 you can contact them directly when needed.
You can find the profiles we have created so far from the attached collections: Collection of Editor Bios: Meet Editors of Illumination Integrated Publications.
Writer Introductions and Featuring
We feature our writers’ profiles, especially via the Illumination YouTube channel, and blog the transcripts. Here are some samples:
Our volunteer YouTube coordinator Aiden (Illumination Gaming) features writers on our channel. You can contact him on our Slack workspace if you want to be featured.
You might find some sample YouTube videos featuring our top writers in the attached collection.
Meet Top Writers of Medium on YouTube: Introduction to prolific writers of Illumination Integrated Publications on Medium in YouTube videos recorded by myself.
We also started a new initiative titled make invisible stories visible to increase views and read times of our contributors. Here is a sample of this initiative. Meet Psychologist Cedric Johnson, Ph.D. on ILLUMINATION — Medium: Let’s make invisible stories visible series #02.
Photo Handling Policy Update
Handling photos is one of the most problematic issues in our publications. We updated our image copyrights policy, adding clarity to the fair use issue.
Our purpose is to protect our writers from breaching copyright rules on Medium articles. You may check our updated policy from this post titled: Why Image Copyrights Matter for Writers and Editors: Update to handling story photos policy for Illumination Integrated Publications on Medium.
We also added extra steps to improve image handling as documented in the attached editor bulletin: Not Captioning and Using Copyright Photos Will Lead to Rejection of Stories: If writers, after rejection, continue breaking photo handing rules, we will remove them from our publications.
Curated Collections
One of our achievements this year is featuring great stories of our inspiring writers regularly. We received valuable feedback from readers and writers on the value of featuring stories that create significant visibility for the content of our writers and provide curated content to our readers.
ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curator, and ILLUMINATION Amplifier teams compile engaging and informative stories published on ILLUMINATION out of hundreds of published pieces daily. We curated around 10,000 pieces out of 300,000 published stories.
Even though we value every story and don’t censor content, readers desire stories on certain topics written in reasonable quality standards. It is impossible to curate all stories for various reasons. Every published story remains in the publication unless writers remove them. We allow writers to remove their stories as they wish.
We compile all featured stories in a master collection to make it easy for readers. You can bookmark this valuable asset titled Meta Collection of Featured Stories: Easy access to daily selected stories from engaging writers of ILLUMINATION: Volume 3–2022. We will update this collection as our time allows.
Introduction to New Publications
We added two new publications to our integrated portfolio. They are ILLUMINATION on YouTube and ILLUMINATION Gaming. Our volunteer editor Aiden (Illumination Gaming) coordinates these publications.
Our goal is to become a catalyst for Medium writers, YouTube creators, and online gamers. These publications accept both regular and short-form stories.
Update on ILLUMINATION-Curated Publication
Experienced and accomplished writers have been contributing to Illumination-Curated publications and gaining several benefits.
To create a better bridge among our publications, we assigned ILLUMINATION-Curated editors to select outstanding stories from daily curated collections and offer writers to transfer their stories to this unique publication. This approach allows content published in our other publications to find a new audience.
We also created a reading club on our Slack workspace. Details are on this post. ILLUMINATION-Curator coordinates these activities.
New Look of ILLUMINATION Front Page
Since January, we have improved the ILLUMINATION front page based on feedback from readers and writers. We removed publication-related articles and transfer them to the ILLUMINATION Blog pub.
In addition, we created several featured pages for readers. Featured pages show stories to readers interested in specific topics. We continue improving our front page to create more visibility for stories to readers. We will add more featured pages. In the meantime, you may check these featured pages if you are interested in these topics.
Featured Pages for Love and Relationships
Featured Pages for Self-Improvement
Writer Biographies in a Collection
Our readers asked to learn about writers’ backgrounds. We encouraged our writers to submit a bio to Illumination. ILLUMINATION Amplifier team volunteered to maintain this collection titled Curated Writer Bios: Learn about contributing writers of ILLUMINATION written by their pen. Dr Mehmet Yildiz articulated why writers need bios in an article titled: Six Reasons Writers Need Bios.
Update on Progress of Writers
Many new writers gained over 100 followers and became eligible for Medium Partner Program (MPP). If you are a new writer on Medium and want to increase your followers, readers, and subscribers meaningfully, you may check these guiding articles authored by our chief editor to help you.
8 Proven Tips to Build a Rock-Solid Reading Audience
6 Easy & Proven Tips to Increase Followers
How To Become A Top Writer In Three Months
Subscribers Can Produce 50 Times Better Results Than Followers for Freelance Writers
Writing Challenges and Prompts
Inspiringly several writers completed writing challenges. For example, the 100-Day Writing Challenge is a desired one among writers. Some writers attempted to 1000 short forms in 100 days too.
Participating in these writing challenges for new MPP contributors might be valuable for progress. You may consider sharing your story links, your concerns, and your aspirations in this unique challenge. And many readers enjoyed the Challenge called “The Proust Questionnaire”.
These challenges might bring my readers to your stories. We look forward to reading your stories about these challenges. We also feature those who complete challenges. Here is a sample: Congratulations Alex Philippe for Completing the 100-Day Challenge: Illumination’s 100-day challenge can increase visibility and might make you a top writer on Medium.
Topic Collections
We create collections selecting interesting stories from various topics. Here are some examples.
The Power of Freelancing for Writers
Business Collection: A Mini MBA Bundle
Do You Want to Become A Sexy Entrepreneur?
The World Needs Passionate & Compassionate Leaders
Education and Learning From Many Aspects
Featured Stories About “Writing” From The Top Writers of SYNERGY
NFT Story Collection on ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
How Storytellers Articulate Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain
Top Stories About Artificial Intelligence
Top AI Stories on Technology Hits
Collection of Featured Stories
Stories on ILLUMINATION-Curated — All Volumes
Technology, Business, Leadership, & Self-Improvement Stories
Reading List #3 — Technology Hits
Top 100 Trending Stories: at ILLUMINATION-Curated
Sample Book Chapters: Discover 70+ published authors on ILLUMINATION Book Chapters
Essential Resources for New Writers
We compiled our essential guides in a post titled Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications. This collection might serve as a one-stop shop for new writers to learn more about writing on this platform.
Here are some sample stories to guide new writers.
How To Become A Top Writer In Three Months
How To Triple Your Writing Income Methodically
8 Proven Tips to Build a Rock-Solid Reading Audience
6 Easy & Proven Tips to Increase Followers
A Compelling Passive Income Stream For Freelance Writers
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
Use of Affiliate Links On Medium
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
The following stories can be valuable for all contributors
No Defamation, Discrimination, And Hate Speech Published
Copyright Matters: Zero tolerance to plagiarism on ILLUMINATION
Access to archived onboarding packs for new writers
New writers want to connect with previous writers. To achieve this goal, we provide links to only recent onboarding packs to easily find registered writers, follow them, and explore their content.
If you need, you may search for ILLUMINATION and ILLUMINATION Amplifier accounts for older versions of onboarding packs. It is not possible to link them all here. Members can follow up to 150 accounts on Medium within 24 hours. Here are a few samples:
Introduction to New Writers, Welcome: New Writers Introduction, Onboarding Pack for New Writers, Welcome New Writers, Welcome New Writers, Onboarding New Writers, Welcome New Writers, Onboarding New Writers, Welcome New Writers, Onboarding New Writers
New writer accounts are kept for a week in the master copy of the onboarding pack. So, you can check and follow your favorite writers.
Guidance on Writing Viral Stories
One of the best ways to gain more readers and income on Medium is to create viral stories. It has a substantial luck factor, but it seems to be possible to increase the chance.
For example, Dr Mehmet Yildiz compiled a post with critical items for creating viral stories based on my experience, observations, and reviews of over 100 viral stories in 2021. What I Learned by Reviewing 100+ Viral Articles in 2021: I introduce distinctive patterns of viral content gaining mass attraction, increasing your chance in 2022.
We hope some of your stories go viral soon. Good luck.
Summary of Our Publications
1 — ILLUMINATION
ILLUMINATION is followed by 60,000 readers and visited by around 43,000 unique members daily. This pub gains around eight million minutes of reading every three months. Multiple stories went viral and brought many new readers. As a generic publication, we accept every ethical topic meeting Medium’s guidelines. Link to publication.
2 — ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR
This pub is for prolific writers who need to submit multiple stories in a day. You can submit up to three stories to ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR within 24 hours. Please check this article for details: Balancing Load of ILLUMINATION. Link to publication.
3 — ILLUMINATION-Curated
This unique publication is for experienced and accomplished writers. Senior editors select the contributors for this publication using stringent criteria. If you are an experienced writer, we allow you to write for this publication upon your request directly. Please find details in this article. You can check some sample stories from this publication in this recent collection. Link to publication
4 — Technology Hits
We designed this publication for writers and readers interested in technical topics, digital entrepreneurship, digital transformation, information technology, artificial intelligence, IoT (the Internet of Things), Cloud computing, quantum computing, tech news, digital economy, blockchain, bitcoin, Nun-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and futuristic topics related to emerging technologies.
You can submit science fiction in this pub. More info about Technology Hits Value Propositions of Technology Hits. Introduction to Technology Hits. Inviting Storytellers From All Aspects of Technology.
Here is a collection including some sample stories from this publication. Link to publication.
5 — SYNERGY
This specialized publication serves freelance writers who want to share writing, blogging, and editing content. It connects writers, editors, and bloggers through their stories. We invite freelance writers from other platforms, such as Vocal Media.
Here is the purpose of Synergy. Besides, you may find a sample collection to get an idea of the type of stories we publish on Synergy: Engaging Stories on SYNERGY.
Here is a collection of sample stories hosted on SYNERGY. Link to publication.
6 — ILLUMINATION Book Chapters
It is for published and indie authors. We help new writers to get published and become authors. Details about this publication are in this story: ILLUMINATION Book Chapters: A publication giving voice to published authors on Medium.
The following articles provide additional information about ILLUMINATION Book Chapters: How Can Published Authors Create Visibility? Here is a sample editorial bulletin to promote ILLUMINATION Book Chapters to readers: ILLUMINATION Book Chapters: Editorial Bulletin #9 New resources.
And here is the Index of Published Book Chapters. You can find some sample book chapters in this collection. Link to publication.
7 — Readers Hope
This new publication serves absolute beginners. You may submit raw content to this new pub. We don’t edit content submitted to Readers Hope. But, our editors provide valuable and helpful guidance via private notes or in our Slack workspace to members.
Here is a story introducing the purpose of Readers Hope: What If We can Transform Readers into Micro-Writers. Editors introduced the values of Readers Hope. We compiled their perspectives into a single story. Our editors are willing to support new writers to gain experience.
Please check their stories. You may contact editors on Slack when you need support. They can help you learn and grow. Here is the Vision and Mission of “Readers Hope”. Link to publication.
8 — ILLUMINATION Gaming
This new publication is coordinated by Aiden (Illumination Gaming), who is an avid gamer. His goal is to bring gamers to one place, inspire them, and create collaboration among gamers. More info: Invitation: Join ILLUMINATION Gaming Publication as a Writer: Your gaming stories have a new home on Medium now.
9 — ILLUMINATION on YouTube
Our new publication is introduced in this article. You can submit your YouTube videos in long or short-form stories. Link to publication:
10 — ILLUMINATION Blog and Euphoria
In addition, our chief editor keeps all publications-related stories in separate publications called ILLUMINATION’s Blog. This publication can be helpful for new writers to find guiding articles. This publication is not for writers. It is for editorial purposes. Link to publication.
Dr Mehmet Yildiz hosts his personal stories in his publication called Euphoria. If you enjoy health and fitness type of stories, you may check his personal publication. Link to publication.
Dr. Yildiz helped several writers to create their own publications and gain visibility. Publication owners made significant progress in gaining loyal readers. In addition to Illumination Integrated publications, he started his own publication to host personal stories and manage his own publication called Euphoria.
If you need help establishing your own publication, please contact him on our Slack workspace. He will be delighted to help.
ILLUMINATION 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.
Diversify Content on Vocal Media, Simily, and NewsBreak
Diversifying content can bring more readers and income to freelance writers. We introduce three options in this post.
We keep our writers updated with new writing challenges introduced by Vocal Media. If you are not a writer with Vocal Media yet, you can join at the link in this article.
In addition, repurposing your Medium articles on Vocal may bring additional income to freelance writers. Our latest post introduces a recent writing contest by Vocal Media: Four New Writing Challenges on Vocal.
We also introduced a new writing platform called Simily. Here is our latest post titled What Is Simily and How Can Writers Benefit from This New Writing Platform? An interview with Dr. Mehmet Yildiz to obtain his initial assessment of Simily, a new writing platform.
Some of our new writers also contribute to NewsBreak. Our editors informed us that this platform has more strict rules and doesn’t allow self-publishing like Medium. If you are interested, you can access the application form via this referral link. All writers can create referral links on NewsBreak, similar to Medium.
Dr. Yildiz introduced NewsBreak in 2020 in the attached story My Perspectives of News Break.
Invitation to Potential Writers and Members
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.
You can subscribe our editorial team to receive newsletters and curated lists. Here is the link https://medium.com/subscribe/@illumination
On behalf of the editorial team, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, owner and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications and Euphoria on Medium.
Writers can contact Dr. Yildiz and other editors directly on the ILLUMINATION Slack workspace when they need help.
Thank you for your support and contributions.