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Meet 80+ publishers in the Boost Nomination Pilot

Get to know a few of the folks nominating stories for Boost

Ariel Meadow Stallings
The Medium Blog
Published in
17 min readSep 18, 2023

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One of the big questions people ask about the Boost Nomination Pilot I’m managing is who the nominators are, and which publications are participating. So, let’s taco ‘bout it! 🌮

First, let’s review how all this works

  • Medium’s Boost Nomination Pilot is our experimental program to work in collaboration with independent publication editors on Medium to nominate high-quality stories for Boost.
  • The program’s goal is to incentivize independent publication editors to help us find the new, niche, and unknown stories on Medium.
  • Nominators can nominate stories in their topical focus, regardless of whether the stories are in their publications.
  • These nominations are reviewed by Medium’s internal curation team to see if they line up with Medium’s Quality Guidelines.
  • If a nominated story is selected for Boost by our curators, it gets higher priority to be distributed in readers’ feeds.
  • Nominators may also get financial compensation up to $900 US per month.
  • Nominations from Boost Nomination Pilot participants account for only about half of the stories selected for Boost. The other half of Boosted stories are sourced directly by our internal curation team, which organically reviews hundreds of stories from all across Medium all day, every day. (You can read more here about what happens to your story after it’s published on Medium, and if you’re curious about how our curators assess stories, you can read their training manual.)
  • Boosting is just one way that stories get distributed across Medium. Every month, there are five times more stories that reach large audiences that have NOT been Boosted.
  • The goal is to eventually integrate these functions into the Medium Partner Program, and open to door to hundreds (or even thousands!) of nominators.

“How can I get Boosted?”

A clear answer from a Medium employee who actually knows (because friends don’t let friends get Medium advice from…

blog.medium.com

Now, let’s talk about the folks in the Boost Nomination Pilot

As of March 2024, there are over 120 people participating in the pilot program, with 80+ of them listed in this post.

I want to be clear about something, here: The publications and nominators listed here have all consented to be public with their involvement in this program. This is important because some program participants have chosen to remain private, and that’s a decision I deeply respect — it’s not cool to expose folks who are just trying to do their editorial work in peace.

As a reminder: writers do NOT have to submit to a publication to be nominated for Boost or get Boosted. That said, if you’re a writer who’s curious about working with publications in the Boost Nomination Pilot, this list will be helpful!

Meet 80+ of the publishers currently participating in the Boost Nomination Pilot

For each publication, the associated nominator has listed their focus topics. Many of them have also shared what they’re most enjoying about being a “nommer” in the Boost Nomination Pilot, and a link to their submission guidelines.

We update this list monthly, and also add the publication submission pages to our huge list of publications accepting submissions.

A-Culturated

I love getting a chance to promote intercultural stories from hidden readers in the Medium-sphere! There are so many wonderful stories about culture and connection that need to be heard and celebrated and I am glad to be able to give them more visibility.

AI Advances

Ai-Ai-OH

Finding and rewarding insightful and knowledgeable writers that can expertly put their thoughts into words.

Asian American Book Club

  • Asian American Women’s Literature, Books, Reading, Book Recommendations, Publishing, Writing, Asia, Translations, Reading
  • Nominator: marie myung-ok lee
  • Submit here

Authority Magazine

I’m enjoying giving undiscovered writers new exposure, and giving the world exposure to heretofore undiscovered stories.

The Backyard Church

I love finding hidden gems on Medium and giving them a turn in the spotlight!

The Belladonna

We love that our writers are getting their work in front of a larger audience who is enthusiastic about engaging with writers and writing they enjoy.

Better Marketing

I love looking for hidden gems and new writers and helping them get discovered and encouraged! I’m learning to REALLY appreciate them, because finding them is anything but easy.

Beyond the Scoreboard

Our editors love the challenge of taking an above-average sports memoir piece and editing, suggesting, and enhancing it to be a Boost-worthy story that both the writer and editing team are very proud of. We work diligently with our writers to enhance their pieces, often taking several days and back-and-forth feedback to get it perfect. The writers are really open and enjoy the insight and learning so many skills to the craft of great story-telling.

Bitchy

  • Feminism, women, equality, identity, and culture
  • Nominator: June Kirri

After I became a nommer, I started a weekly writing workshop where Bitchy writers help each other craft high-quality stories and opinions.

Black Bear

  • Addiction, Sobriety, Mental Health, Depression, Alcoholism
  • Nominator: Michele Maize
  • Submit here

Spreading these topics across a wider range of readers is important to me and I am glad that I can do that through the Boost Nomination Pilot Program.

The Book Cafe

Books are our superpower

I most enjoy highlighting quality niche stories that would otherwise be lost in the sea of new content dished out daily. I have boosted stories about fantasy, book collection, and reading that would never have made it past 100 views, and supported authors making their first $50.

Cantor’s Paradise

I love looking for hidden gems and highlighting people who put lots of work into their stories!

Code Like A Girl

Our goal is to amplify the voices of Women in Technology. We are thrilled to be part of the Boost Nomination Pilot as it is helping us amplify the voices of our writers beyond what we would normally be able to do.

Contemplate

I love watching new writers become well-seasoned and polished. It’s why we’re starting live in-person writing workshops in 2024.

Coping with Capitalism

  • Capitalism, Self and Collective Coping Paths, Social Justice, Economics, Personal Anecdotes, Uplifting Marginalized Voices
  • Nominator: Shawn Jr
  • Submit here

The opportunity to highlight personal and collective experiences with capitalism to embrace and promote a culture of mutual care, to co-create a more inclusive and supportive world for all.

Counter Arts

I’m most enjoying being able to support great writing by nominating work for a Boost, but it’s great being able to grow my publication and connect to other owner/nominators too!

Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

I love the chance to promote good writing and stories that make a difference in people’s lives.

Data Driven Investor

The Digital Traveler

E³ — Entertain Enlighten Empower

There is a nice warming feeling in the soul when you help a writer get the recognition they deserve. I might be sitting at my desk alone, but I find myself fist pumping the air when a writer tells me they got the Boost.

EduCreate

Ellemeno

Entrepreneur’s Handbook

I most enjoy shining a light on authors who should have had the light shining on them a long time ago.

Fanfare

Ensuring really excellent writing gets as many eyeballs as possible.

Fashion Police

FAUN

In a world saturated with online content, I’m excited to help fellow software engineers and tech enthusiasts discover high-quality stories.

Fourth Wave

  • Focus on women and other challenged groups with an eye towards reducing prejudice in all its iterations and increasing equality for all
  • Nominator: Patsy Fergusson
  • Submit here

I’m delighted to have a role in amplifying talented writers, and I love attracting new contributors and readers to our publication. Being part of the Boost program supports our overarching goal of creating community and advancing equality for women and other disempowered groups. We’re particularly proud of attracting both readers and writers from different cultures from around the world.

Frame Rated

I’m enjoying the opportunity to reward writers with more views and engagement, which incentivizes them to write more, and better. The nomination bonus has also been beneficial, as the role of an editor and publication owner ordinarily goes unrewarded — so I’ve likewise been incentivized to ensure standards are kept high and articles look their best.

Frazzled

I love the opportunity to bring more attention to humor writers and parenting essayists on the platform. There are so many great ones!

Full Frame

The project has helped me focus on exceptional writing. I have learned a great deal from participating in the Boost Nomination Pilot. I have also come in contact with some dedicated and supportive writers.

Garden of Neuro

  • Women’s Literature, Women-Focused Stories and Issues, Historical Fiction, Memoir, Essay Collections, Neurodiversity, Humor, Poetry, Women’s History/Herstory, Women’s Leadership
  • Nominator: Susan Brearley
  • Submit here

The Generator

The Gray Area

  • Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Engineering, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity
  • Nominator: Graham Zemel
  • Submit here

The best thing about being a Nommer is the ability to push high-quality stories further across Medium, encouraging tech/AI enthusiasts to read hidden gems that may not have come up on their feed otherwise. Instead of sharing these gems with just 2–3 friends, I can nominate them to be shared with thousands more!

Globetrotters & In Living Color

It’s an honor and a thrill to work with writers by offering encouragement and support. What I most enjoy about the Boost program is that it makes the curation process more inclusive and interconnected. It’s not just some mysterious force at work. It’s our own fellow writers who are scouting out the best quality writing on Medium. I just find it all so crazy exciting!

History of Women

Being able to help get views for great writers.

The Howling Owl and Scrittura

I most enjoy being able to get good writers noticed — and paid.

Human Parts

Sharing the beautiful gems I find with others, so they can receive the shine they deserve.

ILLUMINATION Curated

ILLUMINATION Gaming

Invisible Illness

In Fitness And In Health (IFAIF)

Being rewarded to hunt down the best writing and give it a shot at elevation is what makes the Boost Nomination Pilot amazing. The best part? Uncovering and nominating the hidden gems by actual writers (not the clickbait masters) that’d NEVER have gone viral in Medium’s old system.

ITNEXT

  • Software Engineering, IT development, Fullstack, Cloud engineering
  • Nominator: Kiarash Irandoust

Since it’s my full-time job to curate the best content that’s available on the Medium platform and bring it to a bigger audience, I love this new opportunity to bring the best articles to an even bigger audience. It feels great to share the best knowledge regarding software development, written by really knowledgeable authors in the community, with all readers on Medium.

Jane Austen’s Wastebasket

I just love being able to help writers get their stories seen by a wider audience.

Japonica

  • Japanese culture, language, travel, current events, all the wonderful things about life in Japan as well as the many challenges
  • Nominator: Alvin T.
  • Submit here

Since I’ve become a Boost Nominator, Japonica has been able to substantially increase the reach of our writers. We’ve recently managed to finally reach the 1000-follower milestone (no mean feat for a niche publication!). Due to our increased presence on Medium, more writers are slowly discovering us, and this helps us curate even more diverse voices and perspectives. Overall, the Boost Nomination Pilot has helped us create a virtuous cycle for Japonica, and I am thankful for the opportunity to be part of the program.

The Kraken Lore

Medium has given me new life when I thought that nobody cared. I long to give back to the fiction community we’ve built together!

Live View

I genuinely enjoy highlighting great content that might not otherwise get noticed.

Long COVID Connection

  • Long COVID and related post-infection chronic illness
  • Nominator: Tara Haelle

I’ve only just begun, but I’m excited to find engaging stories from others that I can promote!

The Mad River

  • Fiction, Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Magical Realism, Fairy Tales, and Experimental Work
  • Nominator: Peculiar Julia
  • Submit here

Mlearning.ai

Finding and highlighting unseen gems of creativity, merging art with technology, and enriching a community with shared insights and inspirations.

The Memoirist

Meeting and helping writers both new to the platform and established is the best part. It’s extremely gratifying to work with a writer and to have the ability to shine a spotlight on a great story that would otherwise go largely unnoticed.

Microbial Instincts

I’m more incentivized to find and read high-quality stories, as well as to edit drafts to meet distribution standards better.

Middle-Pause

  • Menopause, women, aging, mental health
  • Nominator: anonymous
  • Submit here

Modern Women

Discovering women writers from across the globe who are insightful, passionate, and ready to start conversations about things that matter to all women.

MuddyUm

Mystic Minds

Participating in the Boost Nomination Pilot has allowed me to become a catalyst for change, bridging the gap between talented writers and the audience eager to discover their unique perspectives. Seeing their stories resonate with readers and witnessing the transformative power of their words is very rewarding. It’s a privilege to contribute to the mission of making their voices heard, and I’m truly grateful for this opportunity.

The Narrative Arc and In For a Penny

It’s a pleasure to see writers’ essays circulated far and wide. It’s great to introduce readers on the platform to talented writers just getting started, too. Our editorial team works hard to help writers polish their work, and we love seeing so many writers getting Boosted. Making writers happy is definitely a lot of fun.

The New Climate

  • Climate change, the environment, biodiversity, renewable energy, net zero, regeneration, rewilding and climate action
  • Nominator: Tim Smedley

Two things I enjoy: One, being able to bring stories about climate change and climate action to a much wider audience. Second, and less expected, is bringing new writers to the platform, including young and first-time writers, from multiple continents. Boosts have really helped to fast-track some amazing new talent on Medium.

On Reflection

Original Philosophy

Original Philosophy was founded to help authors reach a wider audience. The Boost Nomination program empowers me as an editor to publicize high-quality articles by experts.

The Panopticon

  • Politics, geopolitics, foreign policy, mental health, mental health, education, military and war, philosophy, and spirituality/theology. All topics are covered from differing perspectives in a nuanced voice with opposing arguments.
  • Nominator: Benjamin Sledge

The ability to hear extremely diverse voices from differing viewpoints — and still be friends who disagree vehemently but respect each others views, research, and opinions… all while having both voices go out to our readers and a larger distribution network.

Pink Hair & Pronouns

Mentoring new Medium writers and helping them succeed on the platform!

The Point Of View

I love improving/editing the work of writers so their articles are Boost-worthy. I also love that I can be part of Medium’s goal to promote high-caliber stories that add value to the reader. I started this pub because I didn’t know where to post my opinions/op-eds. I strongly believe in the power of diverse opinions. Writing an op-ed is a skill we, as writers, must develop to shape a better world.

The Pragmatic Programmers

What I enjoy is that this program forces me to think long and hard about “quality,” and what that actually means.

Prism & Pen

Scouting outstanding but little-noticed writers/stories and bringing them to the attention of Medium curators. We love being able to help writers find enthusiastic readers, and we get to do that just about every day as a boost nominator. It’s very fulfilling. We’ve nominated and gotten boosted some writers who had 0 followers!

Pythoneers

  • Python Programming, Machine Learning, AI, Data Science, Deep Learning, GUI Development, Ethical Hacking, Python Testing
  • Nominator: Abhay Parashar
  • Submit here

The idea of having the power to find hidden gems on Medium and giving them a chance to showcase their talent in front of a bigger audience is so fascinating and enjoyable.

Read Or Die

There is a weird sense of gratification in discovering awesome stories and helping writers gain the recognition they deserve. I had the pleasure of meeting some outstanding people on this platform: academics, doctors, journalists, historians, or just amateur writers full of enthusiasm. What surprised me about Medium is the sheer human quality that goes beyond just writing. And so, I want to give back to the community by putting my free time to good use in the service of our people.

The Riff

The music/arts side of Medium is thriving! We’re having a blast elevating fantastic work and helping give newer authors a Boost.

Rome

Runners Life

The most enjoyable aspect of participating in the Boost Pilot is getting to find writers and stories that may not have been seen. There are so many well-written pieces and incredible writers on Medium that go under the radar, and I feel blessed to be able to help shine some light on them. It feels good to have a story Boosted, and I’m happy that I get to be a part of that with the writer. Plus, I get to read amazing stories! What else could you ask for?

Scribe

I get to shine a spotlight on great writing and great writers. Create connections between writers and readers. Grow a community of people who write from the heart.

The Signifier

I’ve been enjoying reading more broadly across the related topics on Medium, finding some excellent new writers, and helping steer interested readers to more interesting and hopefully enriching articles. As both a writer and a reader, I know this to be a worthy quest.

Simply Wild

Speaking Bipolar

  • Bipolar disorder, mental health, mental illness, poetry
  • Nominator: Scott Ninneman

I love that real people are back in the driver’s seat rather than algorithms.

Sybarite

  • Pleasure — including travel, cities, food, fashion, beauty
  • Nominator: Adeline Dimond

I love developing ongoing relationships with writers, I love the (very intense) editing process we go through together to make the pieces sing.

Symbiotica

  • Nature connection, planetary health, mental health and nature, nature prescriptions, circular economy, biodiversity
  • Nominator: Kelly Baldwin Heid

I love diving deep into Medium and discovering new (or new to me) writers who are putting out compelling work. I’m particularly drawn to writers who focus on health and the environment, are able to make connections across multiple disciplines, and are willing to share personal or first-hand anecdotes to deepen the writing. This has been a very rewarding endeavor!

The Taoist Online

Helping undiscovered writers’ dreams come true and discovering the wisdom that unites us.

Teatime History

Thirty Over Fifty

  • Supportive and uplifting topics by writers aged fifty and over, including Life Lessons, Travel, and Relationships
  • Nominator: Grace Mary Power
  • Submit here

Helping little known writers stories be found and read and amazing life experiences showcased

Thought Thinkers

Three Imaginary Girls

I love connecting with so many of the talented folks on Medium, reading their thoughts and insights on music and related topics.

Towards AI

Towards Data Science

Helping authors who are new to Medium find and grow their audience — it’s a great reminder that an excellent article can resonate with readers, regardless of how many followers the writer might have.

The Unexpected Autistic Life

It is a chance to provide a safe space for stories that destigmatize autistic people while, at the same time, providing useful information that will help others better understand what autism is really about.

UX Collective

The ability to extend our mission of elevating unheard voices in design — at scale — with the support from Medium

The Virago

The Wind Phone

Wise & Well

Helping writers grow and improve and reach more readers, while at the same time serving those readers with stories they find informative, engaging, and memorable.

Women in Technology

I am excited to help promote the voices of women in a male-dominated field like technology while showcasing the amazing articles and inspiring stories (whether technical or non-technical) these women are writing.

Write & Review

I love finding treasures! Writers — often largely undiscovered — focused on writing solid stories in their corner of the world, with wonder-filled and colourful voices of insight and curiosity.

Write Under The Moon

The Writing Cooperative

To reiterate: this list is not exhaustive. It does not include everyone in the program, only those who consented to be listed.

Boost Nomination Pilot gossip from the person running the program

For the Medium obsessives in the house, this is for you!

blog.medium.com

Want to get involved with the Boost Nomination Pilot?

If you’re a publisher, you can add your publication to the waitlist. I add new publishers monthly with the program growing about 10% each month. The goal is to be up to 300+ nominating publications by the end of 2024, and eventually 1000! We want Medium to be a place where anyone can start a publication about their niche, and get involved with nominating quality stories for our curation team to see.

One of my big goals is to be as transparent as possible about this program, so if you’ve got questions… ask away!

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Ariel Meadow Stallings
The Medium Blog

Written by Ariel Meadow Stallings

2.7K Followers
Writer for

I'm a product manager at Medium, but I'm also a whole-ass person living life: author, publisher, devotional dancer, Seattleite, mom, and just a human humanning.

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