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Meet 60+ 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
13 min readSep 18

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A random selection of the logos from publications participating in the Boost Nomination Pilot

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, to review how all this works

  • Medium’s Boost Nomination Pilot is our experimental program to work in collaboration with Medium publication editors to nominate high-quality stories for Boost.
  • 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.

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

There are currently 85 people participating in the pilot program, and 60+ of them are 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 60+ 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. Updated October 2023.

AfroSapiophile

I love the fact that I aid and assist in the amplification of other talented writers.

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 Humans

  • Self-improvement: Lifestyle, Self, Productivity, Mindfulness, Fitness, Leadership, Work, Remote Work
  • Nominator: Lidia Chmel

It’s a both a challenge and a growth opportunity for me both as a writer and editor to be able to spot good writing. I am also excited to be able to give voice to less known Medium authors who can add value to the topics of our publication.

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.

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.

The Book Cafe

  • Book reviews with a personal approach as opposed to critique
  • Nominator: Linda Caroll

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

  • Math and Science
  • Nominator: Cole

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

Code Like A Girl

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!

Data Driven Investor

Data Engineer Things

  • Data Engineering, Programming, Data Science, Machine Learning, Technology
  • Nominator: Xinran Waibel

We have many great authors sharing their insights and expertise in the data engineering space. Being a Boost nominator allows me to help get their articles to be seen by more people in the community. Win-wins for both authors and readers who are eager to learn!

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.

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.

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

In Fitness And In Health (IFAIF)

The power to give quality stories a chance to get the recognition they deserve — and reward caring writers of deep quality amidst an online landscape that worships the content-spitting machines.

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 and 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

Being “on the hunt” for Boost-worthy stories, and helping authors make those last few edits to have something worthy of achieving that coveted Boost.

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 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.

Menopause Matters: Empowering Women’s Health

  • Menopause, perimenopause, post menopause, aging, women’s health, mental health, treatment
  • Nominator: Liz Seegert
  • Submit here

I’m enjoying discovering and supporting some wonderful writers who are passionate about this topic and have great stories to share.

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.

Pink Hair & Pronouns

  • Parenting gender nonconforming kids, growing up gender nonconforming
  • Nominator: All My Little Words

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

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!

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?

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.

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.

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

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 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.

UX Collective

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

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.

The Writing Cooperative

Helping high-quality writing find new audiences.

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

Also, a few participants in the Boost Nomination Pilot are unassociated with publications. These “lone wolf nommers” are power readers and established subject matter experts, and we’re working with a few of them to learn about how non-publishers interact with Boost nomination functions. They’re not listed here.

Want to get involved with the Boost Nomination Pilot?

If you’re a publisher, you can add your publication to the waitlist. I’m adding new publishers weekly and aim to have 100 nominators by the end of September. (We’re not adding additional non-publishers to the program at this time.)

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

1.3K Followers
Editor for

Medium's Director of Publisher Growth. Also an author, publisher, devotional dancer, and a human humanning!

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