Raising the Bar at the Writing Cooperative
This Week In Writing, we look at changes to our publication standards and what they mean for you.
It's been nearly a year since I began nominating stories for Medium's Boost Program. When I first shared my ability to nominate stories, I emphasized that my nominations were awarded to high-quality writing.
In the months since I've found myself conflicted.
My overall quality standards for The Wriring Cooperative have risen. I find myself judging submissions by their nomination-worthiness, which is a higher bar than the publication's submission rules. I'm conflicted because accepting something for publication that I wouldn't nominate feels... odd.
Last week, I read Eric Pierce's confession and aspiration for Fanfare:
It’s my ambition to only publish boost-worthy stories at Fanfare. Where literally every story we publish is nominated.
Eric hit the nail on my dilemma: I don't want to publish anything that isn't nomination-worthy. Nomination-worthy stories are of exceptional quality and leverage personal experience to help others grow. Those have always been the stories I want to publish and, from what you all tell me, the stories you want to read.
Today, I'm solving my dilemma and raising the bar with a few new changes to The Writing Cooperative's submission rules. Moving forward, everything accepted needs to meet the following criteria:
- Be of exceptionally high quality.
- Feature personal experience.
- Help the reader learn from that experience.
These three criteria are my non-negotiables.
Exceptionally high quality is subjective. Our definitions of quality might not align, but that's where the next two criteria come into play. Personal experience is either clear or it's not. I want to get a sense of who you are and why the reader should take your writing advice to heart. If that's unclear, the submission is simply unfit for publication.
With these new rules, The Writing Cooperative will continue to provide advice and support for all writers, new and seasoned. Everyone has personal experience that can be used. Maybe it's experience writing, work experience that relates, life experience, or, well, you name it. Get creative, but share your story. Lean into what you bring to the table.
The new non-negotiable criteria also help solve my internal debate about things that might be AI-generated. Generative AI content lacks exceptional quality and personal experience. Moving forward, anything that could have been written by generative AI will be rejected.
Focusing on exceptionally high quality requires addressing the entire submission, not just the writing. In many cases, an article's featured image is the first impression a reader sees, often before reading the headline. Selecting the first image that pops up when searching writing doesn't convey quality.
As a result, I will no longer consider any submission that uses one of the most overused Unsplash images displayed below. These images are so overused that it's comical when I see them. Your submission might be the best thing ever written, but the choice of featured image will prevent me from reading it.
It's worth noting that not every accepted submission will get nominated (let alone accepted) for Boost. For example, I don't nominate my own writing because I think that's tacky. There are also things that might be a great fit and meet the publication's new standards that do not also meet Medium's Boost standards. After all, they're a bit more nuanced than what I condensed them to above.
That said, aligning the publication standards with the three non-negotiables will continue to raise the publication's quality. I'll no longer be conflicted about publishing stories that aren't exceptional but technically meet the publication threshold.
I'm adjusting the regular publishing and column schedule to accommodate these new standards. Frankly, I'd rather publish fewer articles that are higher in quality than fill the publication with good but not great writing. Publishing fewer articles also means accepted stories remain on the homepage longer.
In summary, The Writing Cooperative is doubling down on quality and personal experience. These new standards will continue to make The Writing Cooperative Medium's go-to destination for writing advice.
Later next year, The Writing Cooperative will turn 10! Thank you to everyone who has read, contributed to, and supported the publication over the years. It's been an amazing ride, and I can't wait to celebrate our anniversary with you!
Happy Holidays and Happy Writing!
Looking For New Columnists
Do you have an idea for a regular column? Something that leverages your experience to provide regular, high-quality writing advice? Pitch me!
Accepted columns have a guaranteed publishing slot weekly or every other week.
Pitches will be accepted throughout the rest of 2023, so don't delay. I can't wait to see your ideas!