Thank for reaching out, Mil. The Boost Nomination Pilot is still growing quite slowly (there are only 130 participants at this time), and I understand feeling frustrated with the process.
When inviting publications to join the program, these are the factors we consider:
Publication topic
At this time, we're prioritizing publications with a clear topical focus. One of the biggest goals with the pilot is ensuring we have a broad representation of publications focused very specific topics. Every month, we dig into reports about which topics Medium readers are reading through most, and then cross-reference that with data about the topics we’re currently Boosting the most. We then look for the most significant gaps between what readers want and what we’re Boosting, and then go hunting to fill those gaps with publications from the Boost Nomination Pilot waitlist. Publications with a clear topical focus are more likely to be invited to the program.
Editor experience
We're looking for publications run by (and featuring, the writing of) experts, operators, professionals, academics, and first-person DO-ers. Medium loves lifestyle publications edited by hobbyists -- but for this program, we’re really on the hunt for publications run by and filled with knowledge from experts. If you’re a publication editor interested in becoming a nominator, make sure your Medium bio reflects your background and experience with your publication’s topic.
Quality of the stories
When we look at a publication that’s expressed interest in joining the Boost Nomination Pilot, we check if the stories in the publication look like they’re a fit with Medium’s Quality Guidelines. We pull data to see if the publication has stories that have already been Boosted by curation, and if already-Boosted writers are contributing to the publication. If the publication has already had stores Boosted, we also look at the percentage of stories that have been Boosted.
Submission process
We want to partner with editors who actively work with the writers in their pubs. If a publication only has one author or isn’t actively accepting submissions, they’re automatically disqualified from joining the Boost Nomination Pilot. We need to see a publication’s submission page clearly linked, and we check carefully to see if the editors emphasize quality over quantity.
I'm adding new publications monthly and can confirm that you are definitely still on the waitlist -- I'll be in touch if your publication is a match for what we're looking for!
