Great decision, mate! I fully support you. You wasted your precious time to make 1% happy. Now you can focus on 99%. Keep up the fantastic work. We are behind you.
Thanks for sharing this update team. I also believe it was a necessary decision for me to keep my sanity and to support our community better. The program lost its intended purpose.
I believe it is important to focus on writing and support writers. The boost program on medium has not worked for me I have never been boosted and people I try to nominate unfortunately are not getting boosted even if they are excellent writers with beautiful stories. I focus on supporting writers other ways by sharing their stories in other platforms and highlighting their stories in my work.
Jul 31Liked by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi, Dr Mike Broadly
I admire your decision. As a new writer, the boost initiative has been very stressful and demoralizing. I appreciate your supportive posture for the majority of us, non-Boosted writers. It inspires me to remember why I started writing in the first place—helping others. Thank you for being a courageous champion of the underdog.
Jul 31·edited Jul 31Liked by Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi, Dr Mike Broadly
Despite its uses, boost nominations and such initiatives are aimed at creating a sensation of overnight success. It's definitely a "boost" for anyone of us and we'd all love to be "boosted," but this writing enterprise is a long-term endeavor and without the discipline and mindset of that long term commitment, short-term success means nothing.
Aug 1Liked by Lawson Wallace, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi
Do you have any worries that ILLUMINATION focused too much on growing its count of writers, not readers?
In recent updates, Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium, talked about how Medium has grown its readership, and only about 1/15th of the readers on Medium actually publish any stories of their own. But you mentioned that Illumination had 103K readers and 31K writers.
Is this too much growth, with too much focus on the producers and not enough on the consumers?
What's the goal of your publications? Is it to share knowledge from experts, or to give everyone a voice? The first choice aligns better with the boost program, for sure. But I think it's tough to talk about giving people a place to write to earn money, when everyone is trying to sell each other pickaxes.
Hi Sam, thanks for your questions. Yes these are valid points. ILLUMINATION had so many writers as we accept all levels for cross pollination. I agree on ratio. Followers not necessarily indicate readers. I believe many readers read stories published on Illumination without following the pub or the writers. These stats are only indicative. But I don't focus much on it. To answer your question my goal is multifaceted. Firstly giving a platform to all levels of writers to share their stories without censorship as long as they meet Medium rules. Secondly to create a community atmosphere to increase meaningful engagement, and thirdly to provide educational, entertaining, and inspiring content to readers. Yes boost program has a value to amplify some stories but its current impact is minimal. After 9 months I did not see substantial value therefore I resigned not to waste my time. Plus its implementation does not align with my professional values. I prefer an open and transparent environment with feedback. Not including the feedback mechanism does not make any sense to me. Also after June I had a feeling that the curators do not follow criteria as evident from 90% rejection rate of even exceptional stories exceeding the criteria.
Well explained and admirable decision. It was always about the writing and sharing of ideas. I appreciated the additional audience a boost gave me but I agree the benefits no longer outweigh the drag on opportunities and community. I’m struggling to find the Substack corollary, or whatever other platform suits me. But it will make sense at some point.
Jul 31Liked by Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi, Dr Mike Broadly
I take my hat off to the publication. I admire that decision. It definitely only benefited a few. Some up to 13 plus time. I have been boosted but after the third boost, I felt it was not worth the energy. Plus, I did not like to write so formally. Love witty and informal. 🤗
I only skimmed the article but how does this help smaller writers again in simple terms? I’ve done a few articles for Illumination so I would like to know how we will get more help going forward.
Aug 3Liked by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi
I always have deep respect for Dr. Mehmet and trust his decisions which I believe that he always initiate with great discernment considering all aspects of the publication and interest of the writers. Continue the great work and to all your editors and writers, thank you for this community you all built. God bless you all.
It’s great that you’re putting writers and readers back at the heart of your publications. Thank you. It will hopefully give small writers like me a chance to make a difference to the world.
Great decision, mate! I fully support you. You wasted your precious time to make 1% happy. Now you can focus on 99%. Keep up the fantastic work. We are behind you.
Thanks for writing this valuable piece for the community, Dr Yildiz. We support your decision to serve our writers and readers better.
Thanks for sharing this update team. I also believe it was a necessary decision for me to keep my sanity and to support our community better. The program lost its intended purpose.
I believe it is important to focus on writing and support writers. The boost program on medium has not worked for me I have never been boosted and people I try to nominate unfortunately are not getting boosted even if they are excellent writers with beautiful stories. I focus on supporting writers other ways by sharing their stories in other platforms and highlighting their stories in my work.
I admire your decision. As a new writer, the boost initiative has been very stressful and demoralizing. I appreciate your supportive posture for the majority of us, non-Boosted writers. It inspires me to remember why I started writing in the first place—helping others. Thank you for being a courageous champion of the underdog.
Despite its uses, boost nominations and such initiatives are aimed at creating a sensation of overnight success. It's definitely a "boost" for anyone of us and we'd all love to be "boosted," but this writing enterprise is a long-term endeavor and without the discipline and mindset of that long term commitment, short-term success means nothing.
I am a writer on illumination on Medium and need to know how I can interact and feature my Substack posts on the publication here? Thank you!
Do you have any worries that ILLUMINATION focused too much on growing its count of writers, not readers?
In recent updates, Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium, talked about how Medium has grown its readership, and only about 1/15th of the readers on Medium actually publish any stories of their own. But you mentioned that Illumination had 103K readers and 31K writers.
Is this too much growth, with too much focus on the producers and not enough on the consumers?
What's the goal of your publications? Is it to share knowledge from experts, or to give everyone a voice? The first choice aligns better with the boost program, for sure. But I think it's tough to talk about giving people a place to write to earn money, when everyone is trying to sell each other pickaxes.
Hi Sam, thanks for your questions. Yes these are valid points. ILLUMINATION had so many writers as we accept all levels for cross pollination. I agree on ratio. Followers not necessarily indicate readers. I believe many readers read stories published on Illumination without following the pub or the writers. These stats are only indicative. But I don't focus much on it. To answer your question my goal is multifaceted. Firstly giving a platform to all levels of writers to share their stories without censorship as long as they meet Medium rules. Secondly to create a community atmosphere to increase meaningful engagement, and thirdly to provide educational, entertaining, and inspiring content to readers. Yes boost program has a value to amplify some stories but its current impact is minimal. After 9 months I did not see substantial value therefore I resigned not to waste my time. Plus its implementation does not align with my professional values. I prefer an open and transparent environment with feedback. Not including the feedback mechanism does not make any sense to me. Also after June I had a feeling that the curators do not follow criteria as evident from 90% rejection rate of even exceptional stories exceeding the criteria.
Well explained and admirable decision. It was always about the writing and sharing of ideas. I appreciated the additional audience a boost gave me but I agree the benefits no longer outweigh the drag on opportunities and community. I’m struggling to find the Substack corollary, or whatever other platform suits me. But it will make sense at some point.
Wow! Less than 1%?
Medium’s Boost Program is selective, but the stats are even more mind-numbing. Thank you for sharing this information.
I take my hat off to the publication. I admire that decision. It definitely only benefited a few. Some up to 13 plus time. I have been boosted but after the third boost, I felt it was not worth the energy. Plus, I did not like to write so formally. Love witty and informal. 🤗
I only skimmed the article but how does this help smaller writers again in simple terms? I’ve done a few articles for Illumination so I would like to know how we will get more help going forward.
Hi Dante, this decision was made to support small writers like us. The boost program favors accomplished writers as the criteria are too high. Only less than 1% are chosen, and more than 99% are not chosen, as Dr. Yildiz articulated better. I used to be a boost nominator and finished my work on the first of July. I wrote a story about it. Here is the link if you wan to read it. https://medium.com/illumination/i-will-no-longer-be-a-boost-nominator-but-still-will-continue-curating-non-boosted-stories-b86e7852280f
I always have deep respect for Dr. Mehmet and trust his decisions which I believe that he always initiate with great discernment considering all aspects of the publication and interest of the writers. Continue the great work and to all your editors and writers, thank you for this community you all built. God bless you all.
Well done!!!
I agree the boost has been stressful. In fact, I have been less motivated to write and publish in Medium since it came out.
It’s great that you’re putting writers and readers back at the heart of your publications. Thank you. It will hopefully give small writers like me a chance to make a difference to the world.