Hey Walter, my boost acceptance ratio with my noms have actually gone up a lot. (So far, I've nommed 14, and 13 were accepted this month.) Almost all my nominations are poetry, though! Idk if poetry is going through a bloom phase or what. But the poets at the pub are strong, and I'm quite picky with what I choose to nominate!
Yeah I was so pleasantly surprised. Since I kept getting rejected in late October and early November. (Though I was nominating mostly nonfiction articles at the time. But I hear some other nonfiction nommers whose acceptance ratio has improved a lot in late November and December.). Yes, it looks like some ebb and flow, and maybe some changing trends in what they want.
I'm not sure. I don't think poetry gains nearly as much traction as nonfiction, though. 😂 But yeah, who knows. Some speculate that Medium doesn't want so much "political" stuff now, but some others still find politics to be popular.
One last question since I have your attention :) I understand that we're not going to be paid for stories that had already been boosted. However, are we going to receive a notification that says, "This story was already boosted, so you won't get paid"? I haven't received any notifications like that. I've gotten the "this is a duplicate of a story that wasn't accepted" notification. I am worried that there will be nominators who get to the end of the month thinking they had 20 acceptances, only to find that they were all duplicates and they didn't earn anything.
Update... within a second of writing this comment, I got a notification that a story I'd nominated had already been boosted and it wasn't going to count.
Dec 13, 2023·edited Dec 13, 2023Liked by Walter Rhein
Thanks for sharing this Walter. I'm going to try writing shorter pieces myself with boost guidelines in mind. I just had the following declined to be boosted even though I think it is unusual and helpful. I really think the curators have very high standards e.g. this one may not have had a "wow" point or a high usefulness but that's according only to the curator who looked at it !! My thoughts are not only does a story have to be a satisfying read but has to be unusual or unique (original) PLUS have an out-of-this world amazing (not a "run of the mill") point, BUT not too inflammatory or controversial, AND personal experience and the usual (well written). I write under a pseudonym & not going well nominating this month with 6 declines and 3 acceptances. I am thinking about sharing the following with Friend Links because the Comments show it helps readers a lot. If my stories are not boosted then they get under 100 views for their life-time.
You're right, it is quite a large set of restrictions isn't it? I wish they allowed us to be a little more controversial from time to time because I think that's what the audience wants. I've only nominated one story that went over 15 minutes. It was really good but I was reluctant. I think the 7 minute range is a better target. Thanks for the comment!
Hey Walter, my boost acceptance ratio with my noms have actually gone up a lot. (So far, I've nommed 14, and 13 were accepted this month.) Almost all my nominations are poetry, though! Idk if poetry is going through a bloom phase or what. But the poets at the pub are strong, and I'm quite picky with what I choose to nominate!
That's really good to know. There's some ebb and flow. I'm glad to hear those nominations are getting accepted!
Yeah I was so pleasantly surprised. Since I kept getting rejected in late October and early November. (Though I was nominating mostly nonfiction articles at the time. But I hear some other nonfiction nommers whose acceptance ratio has improved a lot in late November and December.). Yes, it looks like some ebb and flow, and maybe some changing trends in what they want.
I wonder to what extent it's connected to how those articles perform?
I'm not sure. I don't think poetry gains nearly as much traction as nonfiction, though. 😂 But yeah, who knows. Some speculate that Medium doesn't want so much "political" stuff now, but some others still find politics to be popular.
One last question since I have your attention :) I understand that we're not going to be paid for stories that had already been boosted. However, are we going to receive a notification that says, "This story was already boosted, so you won't get paid"? I haven't received any notifications like that. I've gotten the "this is a duplicate of a story that wasn't accepted" notification. I am worried that there will be nominators who get to the end of the month thinking they had 20 acceptances, only to find that they were all duplicates and they didn't earn anything.
Update... within a second of writing this comment, I got a notification that a story I'd nominated had already been boosted and it wasn't going to count.
Thanks for sharing this Walter. I'm going to try writing shorter pieces myself with boost guidelines in mind. I just had the following declined to be boosted even though I think it is unusual and helpful. I really think the curators have very high standards e.g. this one may not have had a "wow" point or a high usefulness but that's according only to the curator who looked at it !! My thoughts are not only does a story have to be a satisfying read but has to be unusual or unique (original) PLUS have an out-of-this world amazing (not a "run of the mill") point, BUT not too inflammatory or controversial, AND personal experience and the usual (well written). I write under a pseudonym & not going well nominating this month with 6 declines and 3 acceptances. I am thinking about sharing the following with Friend Links because the Comments show it helps readers a lot. If my stories are not boosted then they get under 100 views for their life-time.
https://medium.com/the-taoist-online/lessons-from-a-self-healing-crushable-shape-shifting-pen-f9fb2626cb89
You're right, it is quite a large set of restrictions isn't it? I wish they allowed us to be a little more controversial from time to time because I think that's what the audience wants. I've only nominated one story that went over 15 minutes. It was really good but I was reluctant. I think the 7 minute range is a better target. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks, as always. This level of details is precious.
I talked to a nominator on 𝕏. She confirmed that curators are getting "tighter" with Boosts. So all nominators have seen their hit ratio going down.
Thank you! That's valuable information for me.
I know there's a Slack group for nominators where they share this info
Yes, I participated in that group for a while, but I have an aversion to private groups.
🤣
After you reminded me, I went back in to check it out :)