Dear Subscribers,
In this post, we share an interactive audio which we compiled using Google Notebook LM summarizing the key points of our Neurostrategic Digital Authority Building Initiative based on lessons learned from the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot.

This global initiative was architected and designed by our chief editor in 2025 and documented in his articles, author platform, and recent book titled Neurostrategic Digital Authority Building: How Scholars and Business Executives Turn Expertise into Lasting Influence. He will soon upload the chapters of this book in his publication Content Strategy Mastery for his subscribers.

As Dr Yildiz clearly and comprehensively articulated the strategy of this re-branding, we will not repeat them here. You can check out his story titled Why I’m Rebranding Substack Boost Pilot as Neurostrategic Digital Authority Building Initiative at Global Scale for 2027. He also started a crowfunding page to support this global initiative.

As update from the ILLUMINATION publications on Medium, we want to inform that we have now 4 new specialized publications established by different owners and editors and added to our integrated publication systems. The new publications are named:
ILLUMINATION: Retirement, Aging, and Legacy owned by Gary L Fretwell

ILLUMINATION Philosophy and Metaphysics owned by Liauw Pauw Phing

ILLUMINATION Local News and Documentary owned by

ILLUMINATION for India established by Dr Yildiz led by Dr Ashish Juneja

ILLUMINATION Scholar This publication has a different application form.

You can check out other submission guidelines from the following links for easy access: ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, Health and Science, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, ILLUMINATION Gaming, Videos/Podcasts, Magnetic Newsletter Pro, Substack Mastery Boost, ILLUMINATION Scholar (NEW), ILLUMINATION Local News and Documentaries (NEW), ILLUMINATION Retirement, Aging, and Legacy (NEW), ILLUMINATION Philosophy and Metaphysics (NEW)

More information about our publications is in the new writer onboarding pack which we will update soon. If you are interested in joining our publications you can send your Medium ID via our writer registration portal.

Another inspiring news is that Medium now ends the Boost program and replaces it with Editorial empowerment program. We interviewed Dr Yildiz about this initiative and posted an editorial bulletin about it on Medium. It will start on 1 June 2026. Here is the link to the bulletin: Editorial Bulletin: Goodbye the Boost Program, Welcome Human Editorial Power on Medium!

We noticed that many writers still are not aware of our free and moderated Slack workspace. They try to access our editorial team via social media or Medium stories. We support over 42,000 writers so it is impossible to find comments elsewhere. You are welcome to join this free resource which allows you to contact us easily and also share links to your stories. newsletter, and resources for free. There is also a virtual helpdesk to address delayed drafts or any writer issues to record.

Thank you for reading our updates and we wish you the best.

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Medium version of the newsletter

Dear Subscribers,

We couldn’t update you for over a month due to our hectic publishing schedule. Today, we decided to send you this newsletter for a few quick yet important updates for our publications.

We are excited to celebrate the 6th anniversary of our beloved publication ILLUMINATION, which became sensational on Medium and beyond. This publication started by our chief editor with only 100 selected writers six year ago now supports close to 42,000 writers and 305,500+ readers follow it due to the value it adds to readers and creators.

Our gratitude goes to our loyal readers, great contributing writers, and 205 volunteer editors who roaster regularly as Medium allows maximum 30 editors per publication. We manage excessive workload with smart approach and great team spirit.

As all our publications offer free service our workforce is volunteers who donate their precious time. We are grateful for their contributions.

The second important update today is launching our new publication called ILLUMINATION Local News and Documentary. Dr Yildiz introduced it in a story and shared the initial submission guidelines.

If you are interested in contributing to this publication please check out this interim submission guidelines and feel free to submit your relevant stories.

This publication is owned by , our media coordinator and led by 30 volunteer editors. If you are interested in joining editorial team you can show interest on this newsletter and our chief editor will get back to you.

Aiden and also introduced this publication in their stories so we link them here:

Press Start: Why Documentary Storytelling Matters in ILLUMINATION Local News by Aiden (Owner of Illumination Gaming)

Welcome to ILLUMINATION Local News and Documentary Publication by Dr Michael Broadly, DHSc

Dr Broadly also published the first story to start the launch today as a sample piece. It is titled Interest Rates Are Rising Again in Australia, Testing Our Patients.

As announced by Dr Yildiz, he also decided to launch his long-waited Medium Mastery book today to celebrate the 6th anniversary of ILLUMINATION which is close to his heart and wrote an introduction about it yesterday.

We link the story here:

The Future of Writing and Publishing: Why the Medium Mastery Book Is Trending Now: Signals from Today and What They Suggest About the Next Era of Writing in a Digital Economy.

Now we want to highlight a few key points troubling our volunteer editors and causing delays in publishing. We’d appreciate your understanding and cooperation to address them.

As we mention in our onboarding packs, we ask writers to send only one draft a day but some new writers submit many clogging the publication inbox.

To add fire to the fuel Medium recently reduced story submissions only 2 per writer which is a good thing to prevent spams.

However since some writers have 10 or even 20 drafts in the inbox, whenever our editors attempt to publish them Medium automatically stops them to do so and those stories clutter the inboxes making their jobs very difficult. Now we have over 1300 drafts hanging in the backlog stressing our volunteer editors.

Our kind request is please follow Medium rules and don’t write more than 2 stories daily as more stories are now being considered spam which might affect your performance on this platform.

If you have multiple unpublished stories please remove them and submit only one a day which our editors will publish gladly as long as you follow publication rules.

Another issues is overt AI generated content despite our countless reminders that our publications do not accept such stories and Medium does not allow them to be monetized.

Once more we link our policies here for those writers who might have missed them before despite our regular onboarding packs.

Zero tolerance to plagiarism on ILLUMINATION

No Defamation, Discrimination, and Hate Speech Published

Why Image Copyrights Matter for Writers and Editors

Use of Affiliate Links On Medium

AI-Generated Content Policy for ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications

New Partner Program Rules: ILLUMINATION’s New Policies and Guidelines to Adhere Platform Rules

AI-Monetization Policy on Medium

If you are a new writer, please also check out submission guidelines for the publications you contribute to. Here are the shortcut links:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, Health and Science, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, ILLUMINATION Gaming, Videos/Podcasts, Magnetic Newsletter Pro, Substack Mastery Boost, and ILLUMINATION Scholar (NEW)

One more housekeeping rule as a reminder for new writers who either does not turn on their private messages which prevent editors to leave feedback for improvement or not responding to those messages which cause extra delays.

Some writers leave comments on our editors’ personal stories on Medium which is inappropriate. It is impossible to manage our publications via public or private notes so we have a free and moderated Slack workspace. In 2024 we also added a virtual helpdesk to address urgent issues and delayed stories.

Some writers benefit from this free service but some do not as they might not be aware it. So, if you missed the invitations to our Slack workspace here is the new invitation link to join now and benefit from it.

We have more updates including our Substack Boost program, platform integration initiatives, and community blogging features but will keep them for the next newsletter soon not to overwhelm you. Thank you all for being part of our reading and writing community on this great platform.

Our gratitude goes to loyal readers, contributing writers, and volunteer editors and curators making ILLUMINATION a great publication and an illuminating community for the society. 🙏❤️🌟🎉♾️

Apart from Medium, we also provide updates for our readers and writers via Substack using ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers newsletter. So you can subscribe to it for free.

Here is a nostalgic video from Aiden on a previous anniversary, published on our YouTube channel.

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This story is also available to Medium members on ILLUMINATION, where readers are welcome to engage in the discussion.

Dear Subscribers,

In this post, we want to share our interview on a recent incident on Substack to inform you and create awareness in our writing and reading community.

When platforms grow into global publishing ecosystems, trust becomes their most valuable infrastructure.

Yesterday, Substack’s CEO, Chris Best, sent a direct and candid email to users acknowledging a security incident involving limited personal data. The message was clear, apologetic, and specific.

Email addresses, phone numbers, and internal metadata were accessed without permission due to a system issue identified earlier this month. Financial data, passwords, and credit card information were explicitly unaffected.

While such data may appear limited, even partial personal information can enable convincing impersonation and targeted social engineering when combined with other sources.

For many creators, this message understandably triggered concern, stress, confusion, and emotional strain. Moments like these can affect mental well-being, especially for people whose work, income, and sense of community are closely tied to digital platforms.

Beyond the immediate news, deeper questions naturally arise:

What does “limited data” truly mean in an era of sophisticated cybercrime? How are such incidents typically exploited over time? And how can individuals respond thoughtfully and protect themselves without slipping into panic, denial, or unnecessary self-blame?

Purpose of the Interview

To explore these questions with clarity and depth, we spoke with founder and chief editor of ILLUMINATION publications on Substack and Medium, a long-time technology executive, systems thinker, and cybersecurity-aware educator.

Dr Yildiz also brings lived experience. In 2022, following a healthcare data breach unrelated to Substack, his personally identifiable information was later abused by highly sophisticated scammers, resulting in significant financial loss as he documented on this platform in 2022 in a story titled Here’s Why I Called a Lifeline for the First Time in My Life Today.

This interview aims to inform rather than alarm, to explain rather than speculate, and to help creators understand how to think about data, trust, and digital responsibility in an increasingly adversarial environment.

10 Questions from the ILLUMINATION Editorial Team to Illuminate the Substack Security Incident

1. Editors:

Substack’s CEO described the incident as a failure to fully protect user data and offered a direct apology. From your perspective, how should creators interpret this message?

Dr Yildiz:

I see this as a responsible communication. The email acknowledges the failure without defensiveness, explains the scope, and avoids minimization. This executive-level communication matters as security incidents are systemic events, not moral failures. What builds trust is transparency, accountability, and corrective action. This message provides those elements and sets a constructive tone for users to respond rationally rather than emotionally.

2. Editors:

The email emphasizes that no passwords, credit cards, or financial data were accessed. Why is this distinction important?

Dr Yildiz:

Because it accurately defines the threat surface. Cybersecurity risk involves what data is exposed and how it can be misused. While financial credentials enable immediate damage, contact information and metadata enable delayed, psychological, and social engineering attacks. Understanding the difference helps people respond proportionately rather than assuming the worst.

3. Editors:

The data was accessed months earlier, in October 2025, but identified in February. Is that delay unusual?

Dr Yildiz:

Unfortunately, no. Many breaches are discovered long after initial access. Detection usually depends on subtle anomalies rather than alarms. This is why modern security focuses as much on monitoring and response as on prevention. The key point is what happens after discovery, and Substack has clearly stated that the system issue has been fixed and is under full investigation.

4. Editors:

You often refer to breaches as “lifecycle events” in your cybersecurity articles and book chapters. Can you explain what that means in this context?

Dr Yildiz:

A breach does not end when access stops. Data can circulate quietly, be aggregated with other sources, and surface later in highly convincing scams. For example, attackers may wait months before using such data, contacting people during moments of stress or transition when vigilance is naturally lower. In my own case, the financial damage came much later, when attackers used accurate personal context to build trust with a financial institution. That is why awareness must persist beyond the initial news cycle.

5. Editors:

Substack says there is no evidence of misuse so far. How should people interpret that statement?

Dr Yildiz:

It should be read as factual, not predictive. Absence of evidence today does not guarantee absence of future attempts. At the same time, it does not justify fear. It simply means users should exercise calm vigilance, especially with unsolicited emails or messages that reference Substack, publishing, or urgency. In my experience, periods following publicized breaches generally coincide with an increase in suspicious messages. This reinforces the value of sustained awareness.

6. Editors:

What types of scams typically follow exposure of email addresses and phone numbers?

Dr Yildiz:

The most common are impersonation and pretexting. Messages may appear to come from platforms, collaborators, or support teams. They typically rely on timing and emotional triggers rather than technical sophistication. Attackers succeed when people feel rushed, flattered, or alarmed.

7. Editors:

Substack encouraged users to be cautious with suspicious emails and texts. What does “caution” look like in practice?

Dr Yildiz:

It means slowing down and verifying before responding. It also means avoiding links or attachments from unexpected messages and using separate channels to confirm legitimacy. Security can improve dramatically when people pause for even thirty seconds. Attackers depend on speed, not intelligence.

8. Editors:

Some creators worry that repeated incidents across platforms signal a losing battle. How do you respond to that concern?

Dr Yildiz:

I disagree with the framing. Digital platforms operate in contested environments, much like cities or financial systems. Risk does not imply failure. It implies responsibility. What matters is how platforms learn, adapt, and communicate. Substack’s response demonstrates awareness of that responsibility.

9. Editors:

From an institutional perspective, what should platforms learn from incidents like this?

Dr Yildiz:

That data stewardship extends beyond storage. It includes communication, empathy, and user education. When people understand what happened and what it means, they become partners in resilience rather than passive victims.

10. Editors:

If you could offer one guiding mindset to creators reading this, what would it be?

Dr Yildiz:

Treat your digital identity as something that outlives any single platform. Stay informed, calm, and deliberate. Awareness without fear is the strongest form of security.

This story was also published on our our community blogs at Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem.

Our thanks to Dr Mehmet Yildiz for sharing his time and insights at short notice. We hope this conversation helps readers better understand the nature of security incidents and approach them with clarity, awareness, and calm vigilance.

We will be sharing our next monthly update this weekend through our bulletins and newsletters. Thank you for reading and for staying engaged with the ILLUMINATION community.

Here is the link January updates if you missed it:

January 2026 Updates by ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
Submission Guidelines, New Publications, and Plans for 2026medium.com

Please check out our onboarding pack to learn about our publications.

Master Copy for 2025: Onboarding Information for New Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated…
Welcome and information pack for new contributors to our supportive Publications on Medium, now integrating with…medium.com

You can learn about our editors from this collection:

Collection of Editor Profiles
Meet Editors of Illumination Integrated Publicationsmedium.com

For external links and connections of our publications you can check out this page:

Medium.Com Publications by Digitalmehmet — The Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem
Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem Owns and Manages 17 Publications on Medium.com for ILLUMINATION community for free.digitalmehmet.com

Invitation to New Writers

We would be delighted if you could join us. We support over 41,000 writers on Medium and many thousands on Substack. To join our vibrant publications, please send a request via this link. We will help you gain visibility and succeed as a writer on Medium. Please point out the publication name with your Medium account ID in the request. Readers can read thousands of stories and writers can monetize self-published content. Get an email whenever ILLUMINATION publishes.

This newsletter was written by our chief editor. As ILLUMINATION editors and ILLUMINATION-Curators on Medium and Substack, we decided to send it through this newsletter, hoping it will reach our subscribers. When you receive it, please consider sharing it on your socials so that more readers can find it and benefit from our free community services, including a moderated Slack Workspace.

Medium version of the newsletter

Dear Subscribers,

Happy New Year! I hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits. We couldn’t send a newsletter since October 2025 due to our hectic workload. Our editors, curators, moderators, and administrators are very busy managing 18 publications, now contributed to by over 40,000 writers. We also have other projects like integrating Medium with Substack and Patreon which keep us very busy in productive ways.

2025 was one of my busiest yet most productive years, with multiple book publishing deadlines, excessive work required to prepare the Substack Mastery Boost program for next year, and orchestrating the workload of our 18 publications with a limited volunteer workforce. New members can learn about our community and publications from the master onboarding pack. I will update it soon for 2026.

I am grateful for our blessings and excellent support from this wonderful community. It was great that some of our editors kept the community up-to-date with regular onboarding packs for new writers, while others like Mike, Aiden, Saima, Yasmine, Mustavi are creating curated collections.

With ILLUMINATION’s astonishing growth, I had to create lots of workarounds to manage the workload. We have implemented several changes that served us well, but with many new writers, editors, and readers joining in 2025, we need to evolve with intention and additional action.

Now, 40,000+ writers contribute to ILLUMINATION, followed by 290,000+ readers. I am glad that Medium made significant updates to publications in 2025, the implementation was successfully completed with some inevitable bugs. We reported several issues, and some of them have been fixed promptly. We are grateful for the responsiveness of the Medium Support team.

New Publishing Restriction by Medium

Medium also reduced the 15-story submission to 2 within 24 hours to prevent spam. We support this decision; however, it caused significant delays in our publishing process, as some writers had over 30 submissions, and when editors tried to publish their drafts one day, they couldn’t, and those stories unfortunately clogged the publishing queue. I hope Medium finds a solution to this.

It looks like some new writers are still unaware of this new rule and keep sending many drafts, causing significant publishing delays. We run these publications via the generous efforts of volunteers. Besides, Medium does not allow adding more than 30 editors, despite the fact that we have 200 volunteers. We have to deal with this constraint.

Despite mentioning in onboarding packs, some first-time writers send multiple stories a day. In addition, when some unpaid writers send several stories accumulated in the publication queues, our editors have to stop, as Medium does not allow them to publish. It is a known long-term bug that still happens after six years. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for 24 hours anymore, as the restriction is removed after a few hours.

Request for More Volunteer Editors

We now have 200 volunteer editors, but some active editors of ILLUMINATION are exhausted. I need to relieve them with new ones. Therefore, we need more volunteer editors. So if you have time for around half an hour a day to support fellow writers, please contact me via this form, and I will send you access to our Slack Workspace, introduce you to the editorial team, and onboard you.

Join and Use Slack, a Free Community Building Tool, Wisely

Despite hard work, workarounds, and the efforts of volunteers, we still have a massive workload, and publishing usually takes 4 to 5 days.

We can reduce these with our additional resources, such as a helpdesk on a free and moderated Slack workspace, but over 15,000 writers are unaware of Slack. We have over 25,000 members enjoying this free and moderated service.

Some have never heard about it, despite our mentioning it in every newsletter and onboarding pack. We try to use Substack to some extent, but some writers (around 10,000) give fake email addresses, so our newsletters don’t reach them. If you are not a member of Slack, you can join via this invitation.

Please Don’t Send Fully AI-generated Content

Some new writers still copy and paste content from publicly available AI tools, overwhelming our publications and frustrating our volunteer editors. We have to return them or ask to transfer to the Lampshade of Illumination, which is the only publication that accepts AI-generated content for experimental purposes without monetization.

New Writers, Please Review Onboarding Packs and Submission Guidelines

We provide new writers with detailed onboarding packs when they join that outline five critical policies, some don’t read them and continue submitting AI-generated content, copyrighted images, or low-quality stories with too many emojis that don’t resonate with our readers.

We updated all submission guidelines to make them easier for writers while maintaining our quality standards.

Our main guidelines are simple: no harmful or offensive content, no AI-generated work, no copyrighted content or images, and no plagiarism. Beyond these essentials, we remain flexible, as our broad audience appreciates fresh, original, and even raw perspectives.

Below are the links to the updated guidelines that every contributor should review before posting their stories.

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, Health and Science, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, ILLUMINATION Gaming, Videos/Podcasts, Magnetic Newsletter Pro, Substack Mastery Boost, and ILLUMINATION Scholar (NEW)

As outlined in the new submission guidelines, the most important rule is a maximum of one draft per writer. Please don’t send old stories because they aren’t distributed by Medium, making it a waste of time for writers and editors. You can rewrite them, delete the old stories, and offer fresh perspectives, which will be good for you and your readers.

Now I want to briefly introduce a new service integrating our publications with multiple platforms like Medium, Substack, and Patreon.

How We Will Support 3 Types of Writers in 2026

From my analysis, we have three types of writers.

The first group consists of occasional writers who post infrequently, once a week, once a month, or even once every three months. They tend to submit something and disappear for a while, contributing minimal additional workload. We will continue to support them as is.

The second group includes writers who enjoy writing and engaging with readers and fellow writers. They write for the joy of it, without concern for statistics or income. If their stories are delayed, they remain understanding and appreciative of our services, adding little to the workload since they don’t complain.

The third group consists of many writers who post at least one story a day. Some submit three to five stories across multiple publications and re-purpose their work on other platforms to generate income as freelancers. This third group requires additional support.

When their stories are delayed, they express frustration, leading to complaints that end up in my inbox, Slack messages, social media, or Substack Notes, consuming significant personal time for me. While I would love to support these dedicated writers, our Medium publications are not structured for commercial pursuit.

I designed a comprehensive service earlier this year and am piloting it. This innovative solution is to offer a priority service for freelance writers who earn a substantial income from writing.

So, I have developed a low-cost solution for the third group of contributors, which comprises about 25% of our writers. I called it Substack Mastery Boost Tier 2 for freelancers and Tier 3 for content startups aiming to scale their writing business. Tier 1 is free for creators. It covers over 70% of our regular contributors.

To better support these dedicated freelance writers or content entrepreneurs, we are creating a priority service to help them achieve their goals outside Medium, leveraging our external network.

We have been piloting this solution with a small group of writers, and it is working well so far.

I am documenting details and will provide them in a comprehensive PDF document, as things get lost in newsletters and stories.

Who can benefit from the priority service?

This service is designed for freelance writers who want to earn income from their writing across multiple platforms, including Medium, Substack, Patreon, and others, and need marketing support to grow their audience with community backing.

Writers who create solely for fun or as a hobby may not need this priority service; however, they are welcome to join if they are interested.

Participation in the priority service is optional and can be canceled at any time if members do not find value in it. I have documented the program’s details on my website, and interested freelance writers and content entrepreneurs can apply through this page. If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via this form, and I will guide you.

I have been busy creating the infrastructure during this pilot and plan to roll it out in early 2026 as an optional and extended service to the community. It will bring many benefits to freelance writers and content startups, integrating Medium with Substack as a great solution.

Now I am trying to add Patreon to this integration. I even wrote a book about it titled Patreon Mastery and created extra tiers to support passionate writers via my personal coaching services. But as my time is limited, I can only take a few hundred and ask others to use my book or the new education program Aiden developed for us based on the book.

For Substack writers, we created a 6-level course on Udemy titled From Zero to Substack Hero, which I also offer via my Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights on Substack. If you are interested in joining these Udemy courses, you can use these discount vouchers:

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, 5, 6 (Bundle).

I introduced the new bundle for advanced writers in an article: From Zero to Substack Hero: Advanced Levels 4, 5, & 6 Bundle Is Ready for Beta Learners.

We also have a new course on Udemy called Patreon Mastery. Details are in the attached story: What If Your Creativity Could Fund Your Financial Freedom for a Lifetime?

Here is the January discount voucher to Patreon Mastery course on Udemy.

Updates on our free community services

In 2025, I introduced many free services for writers and shared them in stories. You can find links to those free services in the attached story titled 5 Quick Content Sharing Forms Any Writers Can Use Without Registration or Even with Pen Names.

Now I am helping writers to create complementary landing pages on my author platform to create visibility for their profiles and resources. You can find samples in this story, which also explains Why Every Writer and Book Author Needs a Landing Page. I will amplify the newsletters of our partners on the page soon.

To create further visibility, last year, I opened my website to guest bloggers by creating a community blog. It will increase the visibility of our writers’ work beyond Medium and Substack. All authentic writers are welcome to join. Here is the link: Blog Posts by Digitalmehmet Contributors.

I have established multiple networks, including Superlearners, Health and Wellness, Freelancers, Technology Experts, Gamers, Book Authors, Scholars, the Writing Academy, Expert Contributors Network, and finally Affiliate Marketers Network, Authority Building Services, which will integrate with the Substack Mastery Boost program at Digitalmehmet.com, Substackmastery.com, and Illumination-curated.com sites.

I’m now intensely working on Authority Building Services for creators. I wrote a comprehensive book about it titled Neurostrategic Digital Authority Building: How Scholars and Business Executives Turn Expertise into Lasting Influence.

I will also help book authors to market and sell their books through Substack. To this end I wrote a book titled Income Beyond the Bookstore via Substack: Why Substack Is the Best Platform for Book Authors and How to Leverage It. You can read the introduction here.

Adding More Vitality to the Community in 2026

This year, I plan to add more meaningful engagement and community activities through our publications. We plan to offer weekly writing prompts and monthly writing challenges with potential prizes, which I plan to fund through the income from the Substack Mastery Boost program and my book royalties.

We will also support some writers who can’t afford the Medium subscription fee and cannot join the MPP due to their financial situation. I will write a newsletter with details soon.

To empower the community of writers, readers, and content curators, I decided to turn my 6 years of notes about Medium into a comprehensive book titled “Medium.com Mastery,” which will be published on the 6th birthday of ILLUMINATION, 19 March 2026. I introduced it in a story titled “Why This Book Had to Wait Six Years to Write,” which is a free story for non-members.

It will be available in many bookstores in digital, print, and audio formats via this landing page. It is part of one of my series on Amazon titled Substack Newsletter Mastery, Excellence, and Eminence Series.

I will post a separate newsletter about our publishing process on Substack soon. We redesigned the ILLUMINATION Writing Academy and will start the publishing process in February 2026.

Final Words

I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many details. We will continue to support contributors of our publications on Medium using our free workforce. And for those who need priority services, they are welcome to join our Substack Mastery Boost program. I will onboard new paid members soon.,

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our community. Your contributions make ILLUMINATION Integrated publications a vibrant place for writers and readers. Please review the updated submission guidelines and consider the new priority service if it aligns with your goals.

Thank you for joining my networks and being part of my joyful community on Medium, Substack, and Patreon. I will provide a more comprehensive update next month.

I also interview writers, professionals, and leaders in their fields. For example yesterday I introduce an accomplished writer Gary L. Fretwell. If you want to participate in these interviews, you can leave a comment in one of the latest interviews, and I will get in touch with you.

Sadly, in September 2025, we lost one of our editors, Lauri Viisanen, at the age of 29.I wrote a tribute to his honor and wonderful contributions.

I invite you to subscribe to my publications on Substack, where I offer experience-based and original content on health, content strategy, book authoring, and technology topics you can’t find online to inform and inspire my readers.

Health and Wellness Network

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Technology Excellence and Leadership

Illumination Book Club

Illumination Writing Academy

Healthspan Mastery (NEW)

Superlearning with SMART MIND Loop™ (NEW)

If you are a new reader, you may check out my other most loved stories on this platform.

Here are links to my FEATURED series of 50+ books on Amazon markets:

Health, Wellness, and Cognitive Performance Series

Technology Excellence and Leadership Series

Substack Newsletter Mastery, Excellence, and Eminence Series

You can find some of my books at Apple Stores, Smashwords, Vivlio, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, BooskaMillion, Fable, Rakuten Japan, or my discount bookstore. Check out my affiliate shop on Amazon.

Explore some of my books including: Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life, Cortisol Clarity, The Mysterious Leadership Mind of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Substack Mastery Version 2, Monetize Your Passion with WooCommerce, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation V2, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation (Audiobook), A Powerful Toolkit for Substack Newsletter Mastery, Smart and Ethical SEO, Modern Affiliate Marketing for Writers, 4 Pillars of Enterprise Architecture, and Smart Email Marketing Content Integration, The Zen of Book Authoring

If you are a new writer on Medium, you are welcome to join our publications by sending your Medium ID via our registration portal.

You can also read this story on Medium and engage on that platform for an open dialogue in our community.

Dear Subscribers,

Happy Sunday from Down Under! I hope this message finds you well. This is . I believe most of you know me from Medium or Substack for years, especially my famous series called “Look What Aiden Found Today” with 351 episodes or regular onboarding packs for new writers of ILLUMINATION publications.

With the permission of Dr Yildiz, I am writing this post from the ILLUMINATION formal account as an administrator of the community publication because when I attempted to write an editorial bulletin and curation work for ILLUMINATION publications, Substack refused to let me log in or publish without confirming that I was over 16. I cannot even read anything on Substack now.

This was shocking. I have been driving in Australia, Europe, the US, and Asia for many years, and cops never stopped me, saying I look too young, as I don’t.

I will take the compliment from the Substack bot. Maintaining a youthful presence after years of writing, editing, curating, and teaching digital publishing, including creating a six-level Udemy course on the subject, feels like a small victory.

Still, the situation raised an eyebrow. Another platform, Medium, never asked me for proof of age, yet Substack decided today was the day. I also served Medium as a contractual Boost Nominator in 2023. Medium collected the necessary personal information to pay me, but it did not ask for my age.

That contrast made me curious about how platforms assess maturity, credibility, and trust, and why one long-form writing platform appears stricter than another.

What is more ironic is that I have accounts with social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, YouTube, and more, and none of them challenged me like Substack.

I also didn’t know Substack was considered social media like Instagram or Facebook. I joined Substack as a professional writer, editor, and curator.

What follows is a thoughtful reflection on that moment.

Please note that as a proud Australian, I’m very happy Australia has taken a bold step against the negative impacts of social media on young people by banning its use for users under 16. I know how toxic social media can be, as I discussed in my 2023 poignant story.

An Open Letter to Substack

Why Did You Think I Was a Teenager?

Dear Substack Team,

Today, I was unable to log in or publish on your platform as publication owner, and also as an editor, curator, and administrator of ILLUMINATION community publications because your system asked me to confirm that I am over 16 years old.

I understand why age verification exists. Safety matters. Protection matters. Responsible platforms must take this seriously, and I respect that intention.

At the same time, I want to share why this moment felt both flattering and concerning.

I have been contributing to Substack for years. During this time, I have written extensively, curated stories of other writers, edited the work of others, built communities, and supported writers across Australia and beyond.

I also teach a six-level Udemy course titled From Zero to Substack that explains how digital platforms, creator trust, and sustainable online presence actually work in practice. Subtack can see these 50+ videos as I uploaded there.

Do you seriously I look under 16 in these videos? Who decided I might be under 16 and triggered your bot restricted my access and forcing me to go through this verification process?

When I told this situation to my grandma today she said “How can a person under 16 find an audience of over 211,000+ subscribers on Substack with a bestseller badge?”

I also have an education series about Substack on Medium.

I smiled at first, then paused, with the strange feeling that an invisible system had been watching me a little too closely.

If curiosity, consistency, or creative energy triggered the check, I will happily accept the compliment. Youthful thinking is something many of us work hard to preserve.

Still, I could not ignore the deeper question this raised.

How does a platform that prides itself on long-form thinking, context, and creator trust arrive at the conclusion that one of its long-term contributors might be under 16?

Was it activity patterns?

Was it a profile image?

Was it an automated signal that lacks historical awareness?

Was it my Australian sense of humor in my stories or videos?

Was it I was into gaming, social media, and film-making?

I do not know, because the system does not explain itself. That lack of transparency matters. We need a clear explanation for this.

When platforms scale, automation becomes necessary. I know this well. Yet automation without context can quietly erode trust, especially when it overrides years of contribution, visibility, and accountability in a single moment.

Creators build their relationship with Substack through consistency, responsibility, and intellectual labor.

When that relationship is paused without explanation, even briefly, it creates friction where there was once confidence.

This open letter is not a complaint. It is an invitation to transparent communication. It is an invitation to reflect on how systems interpret identity, maturity, and credibility.

Please see this as an invitation to consider how long-term contributors are recognized by the same algorithms designed to protect the platform. And it is an invitation to balance safety with continuity, so creators do not feel reduced to a data point without a memory.

For the record, I am well over 16 working as a professional in Australia. I have been for a long time.

Substack has built something meaningful therefore I invest my time there. Moments like this are opportunities to make it even better with clear and honest communication.

More importantly, I care deeply about this platform and the creators who depend on it. Therefore I pour my heart and soul to my work on Substack. That is why I am writing this openly, thoughtfully, and with respect.

Conclusions: Kind Request to Respond to My Open Letter to Substack

As an Australian writer, this moment also prompted a genuine privacy concern. Age verification is important, and I respect the responsibility platforms carry. At the same time, the process matters.

When platforms infer age without explanation, creators are left uncertain about which data points or behavioral signals triggered that decision.

Under Australian privacy expectations, transparency around how personal data is used, inferred, and profiled becomes especially important when automated systems restrict access to a contributor’s own account, even briefly.

For that reason, I would welcome clarity on a few simple questions.

What criteria are used to assess age for existing contributors? Are these decisions based on information creators explicitly provide, inferred behavior, or automated profiling?

And how does Substack ensure these processes align with Australian privacy principles around transparency, necessity, and fairness?

Clear answers to questions like these help maintain trust between platforms and long-term contributors.

They also strengthen the relationship Substack has built with creators who value both safety and open, thoughtful dialogue.

With appreciation, curiosity, and hope for an open dialogue,
Aiden

For readers, here is the position of Substack which was linked to the verification process shown in this screen capture when I received the restriction today.

So if I decide to join this verification process, a company called Persona will process and keep my biometric information for seven days as showing the following screen capture. I wonder what I did to deserve this unnecessary stress.

I wonder whether this automated system will also restrict other Australian writers like our chief editor or senior curator . Of course they might not look or sound as young as I do.

Thank you for reading my story. If you have faced such situations please share your experiences and thoughts in the comment section. Hoping Substack team can leave a comment on this story or contact me via email. If they do, I will update this story. Stay tuned.

If you are interested in Substack as a creator, you are welcome to check out my courses on Udemy, leveraging the Substack Mastery books of , my mentor and chief editor of ILLUMINATION publications on Medium, Substack, and Patreon. Here are the discount vouchers for December:

From Zero to Substack Hero — Level 1

From Zero to Substack Hero — Level 2

From Zero to Substack Hero — Level 3

From Zero to Substack Hero — Level 4, 5, and 6 Bundle [NEW]

And we also completed a new course titled Patreon Mastery.

You can learn about it from this Patreon story by Dr Yildiz: What If Your Creativity Could Fund Your Financial Freedom for a Lifetime?

If you are a new reader, check out some of my most loved stories from different topics in my writing collection on this platform.

Gaming, Fun, and Humor: The Lifelines That Rescued Me From Social Media’s Grip on My Life

What Car Shows Mean to Me and How They Enriched My Life

Finding Comfort in Blocks: How Minecraft Eased My First Time Loneliness and Intense Grief at 17

A Movie Makers Oscar Predictions

AI Can Now Create Photorealistic Videos From Just a Text Prompt

Meet Top Writers of Medium on YouTube

Get an email whenever Aiden (Illumination Gaming) publishes.

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Dear Subscribers, Happy September! We couldn’t post here for several months due to our massive workload on Medium supporting over 38K writers and now on Substack. We will provide you with an update this weekend. However, today we want to share an important story written by our chief editor to inform you with one of our key activities and obtain your feedback. Dr Yildiz volunteered this story to be distributed as a free source for the community. As this post is longer than normal email size you might choose to read it on the web. Thank you for reading and providing feedback. It is a pleasure for us to serve our community.

Understanding the True Meaning of Sponsorship for Creators

By , owner and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium, Substack, and Patreon.

On 1 January 2026, the Substack Mastery Boost Program will introduce something I believe is essential for the survival and growth of independent creators in this economic climate. It will include a Sponsorship Portal as a dedicated space where writers, book authors, freelancers, and content startups can connect with supportive and ethical sponsors who understand the value of authentic voices.

This novel and experimental feature is one of the most important commitments we are making to empower authentic creators for the future. I am developing the infrastructure and process through our 4-tier program, one of which is for sponsors for our program and for our members in tier 2 and 3.

It has become evident that relying on paid memberships alone on Substack, Patreon, or any other platform can no longer provide lasting security for creators; thus, there is a risk for readers to find the high-quality content they desire. Most good content is now hidden among aggressive and disturbing ads or they are behind paywalls.

As the global economy shifts, readers face tighter budgets, and creators are left vulnerable. Readers are cautious about recurring commitments, inflation continues to press on households, and creators who once relied on steady subscription revenue are finding themselves exposed to sudden drops in income.

When that happens, the independence of creators is at risk, and the freedom to produce authentic, meaningful work that serves communities begins to fade. This is not a failure of creativity but a structural gap in how creators are supported.

This challenge affects not only writers, but also sponsors seeking trusted connections, and readers who depend on independent voices for knowledge, perspective, and inspiration.

Sponsorship is the bridge that closes this gap. It allows writers to diversify their income while giving sponsors access to communities that are loyal, thoughtful, and engaged.

Readers, in turn, are introduced to services and solutions that are aligned with their interests rather than bombarded with meaningless advertising. Sponsorship is not an advertisement. It is a meaningful and ethical connection between business owners and consumers facilitated by creators.

What makes this approach different is how it is grounded in ethics. In many digital spaces, sponsorship has become a synonym for aggressive promotion, but in my experience and perspective, sponsorship should feel like collaboration, not intrusion.

Sponsorship is often misunderstood or misinterpreted.

Many hear the word and think of shallow promotions or misplaced branding, yet its true meaning is far more profound.

At its heart, sponsorship is an act of enabling, of creating conditions where ideas, creativity, and community can flourish. Some of the most meaningful work in our world, from humanitarian projects to cultural initiatives, exists only because sponsors and philanthropists chose to support them.

During my career with global companies such as IBM, Siemens, and Microsoft, I witnessed this principle in action. These organizations invested heavily in open-source communities, contributing tools, knowledge, and resources freely to creators around the world.

IBM, for example, released software frameworks and reference architectures that they never monetized directly. They did not earn a cent from those contributions, yet the ripple effect was enormous for society.

Independent developers built on those foundations. Entrepreneurs launched businesses powered by those free tools. Entire ecosystems grew stronger because sponsorship created opportunity.

This is the essence of sponsorship done right: not just charity, not transaction, but empowerment. It is about strengthening the very fabric of creativity and commerce by ensuring that those with vision have the resources to build.

The Sponsorship Portal I am developing now will present writers in a professional and transparent way, with clear profiles, audience data, and thoughtful sponsorship packages.

Sponsors will not be asked to chase numbers alone. They will be invited to find creators who share their values and whose voices naturally fit their mission.

And readers will see sponsorship not as a distraction but as an enrichment of their experience, because every service and product featured will be chosen with care and relatable to the target audience.

I see this as a triple-winning collaboration where all sides benefit.

Writers gain financial stability without sacrificing independence.

Sponsors gain the kind of credibility that traditional advertising rarely delivers.

Readers gain trust because they know that what they encounter through sponsorship is curated, meaningful, and designed to support both them and the creators they value.

Of course, for sponsorship to succeed, creators will need to think differently about their work. They must articulate value clearly, show transparency in partnerships, and choose sponsors whose products genuinely support their niche.

These are not limitations; they are opportunities to elevate the relationship between content and commerce. In my research and experience, trust has always been the true currency of creative work, and sponsorship, when practiced ethically, strengthens that trust.

The decision to launch the Sponsorship Portal on the first day of 2026 will not be accidental. A new year marks a new chapter for many. It is a symbolic and practical moment when creators set intentions and businesses plan budgets.

I want writers and sponsors to start the year with a platform with powerful tools designed for sustainability rather than just survival. I want them to see that in the midst of economic uncertainty, there is a reliable path forward.

For me, this initiative is deeply personal and professional too.

I have spent decades writing, editing, and building communities for creators. I have seen brilliant voices silenced because financial strain outweighed their creative drive.

I have also seen businesses struggle to connect meaningfully with audiences despite spending heavily on advertising. It does not have to be this way.

By aligning writers, sponsors, and readers in one transparent ecosystem, I aim to create partnerships that sustain creativity, strengthen businesses, and deliver real value to audiences.

As we prepare for launch, I want to leave you with a question that I believe every creator should reflect on: What would change in your creative life if sponsorship became a steady, trusted source of support, giving you the freedom to focus fully on impact rather than survival?

That is the vision behind the Sponsorship Portal on Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem for the Substack Mastery Boost Program. I did not design it just a fancy feature of Substack Mastery Boost. I designed it as a foundation for the future of independent creativity.

I am deeply grateful that several hundred basic paying and founding members joined the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot. Their trust confirms that we are building something meaningful together.

Yet, sustaining the administration, curation, marketing, and global distribution of this program cannot be carried by membership income alone. To ensure that independent creators can thrive rather than struggle, we need the support of sponsors and philanthropists who share this vision.

This is why I am working with focus and care to secure the right partners who understand the importance of empowering writers, book authors, freelancers, and content startups.

If you believe in the value of independent creativity and the communities it serves, I invite you to join us as a sponsor or philanthropic supporter. Your involvement will not only sustain this initiative but also extend its reach to thousands or even millions of of authentic voices across the world.

Together, we can build a thriving content ecosystem where creators are supported, sponsors are connected with trusted audiences, and readers benefit from services that improve their lives. This is the future I am inviting you to help shape.

I wrote a detailed whitepaper about the business value and mechanisms of sponsorship for creators, organizations, and consumers to illuminate our subscribers. I will share it shortly on my author platform and make it a free downloadable PDF.

A few days ago, I introduced our long-awaited advanced education program, which includes the video lectures of From Zero to Substack Hero Advanced levels 4, 5, & 6 bundled for beta learners at an 85% discount, and several professionals have already joined.

From Zero to Substack Hero: Advanced Levels 4, 5, & 6 Bundle Is Ready for Beta Learners
The Gift of Delay, the Promise of Growth: How my hectic schedule, our high standards, and a spirit of generosity shaped…medium.com

It is also great to see Substack Eminence gain significant visibility across multiple platforms after being published last week. It will empower our ultra-advanced writers at executive and scholarly levels. For scholars and senior executives, I authored this book titled Substack Eminence as a Neurostrategic Blueprint: For Ultra-Advanced Writers Who Want to Scale with Clarity, Authority, and Integrity. I introduced it in a story.

Here’s Why I Wanted to Write a Scholarly and Executive-Level Book About Substack
Despite low financial incentive, a specialised book born from decades of neurostrategy, written for scholars and senior…medium.com

I am pleased that Patreon Mastery was published yesterday in digital and audio formats and will soon be available as a paperback.

Why Patreon Mastery Might Open a New Window in Your Creative Journey
If your work has been turned away for being different, you will find a caring community on Patreon and a thoughtful…medium.com

Many thanks to an email marketing expert and public speaker, Gunnar Habitz, for reviewing my recent book Smart Email Marketing.

Book Review of “How to be Smart With Email Marketing” by Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Insights from the Smart Email Marketing and Content Integration book and My Interview with Dr Yildiz hailing from…medium.com

There are many inspiring and uplifting updates related to our publishing, marketing, and Substack Mastery Boost Pilot initiative. I will provide them in an upcoming newsletter this weekend. Happy Weekend, dear subscribers!

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

Invitation to ILLUMINATION Scholar

Talking of scholar, we now have a publication called ILLUMINATION Scholarly, which I introduced recently, and yesterday, I posted the first draft of the submission guidelines. If you write research-based stories, you are welcome to join. You can apply by sending your Medium ID to this registration portal form.

Introduction to Technology Horizons 2050 and Beyond: Emerging Technologies Shaping the Next 50 Years of Human and Machine Evolution

What will the world look like in 2050 when emerging technologies in biology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space exploration converge into one interconnected fabric of human and machine evolution?

In Technology Horizons 2050 and Beyond, I draw on five decades of work in technology, cognitive science, and global innovation to predict the coming five decades.

The future will not wait for us to be ready. It will unfold in the minds of those who dare to see it before it arrives, who can stand at the intersection of science and imagination, and who have the courage to turn the improbable into the inevitable. This book is an invitation to be among them.

Every genuine person is welcome to join my community of superlearners. For a limited time, to help build a big community, I’m offering an 80% discount on the monthly membership fee on Substack to build this joyful community. My goal is to reach over a million members by the end of 2026, operating it on my own platform, Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem, with assistance from Substack and Patreon.

I invite you to subscribe to my publications on Substack, where I offer experience-based and original content on health, content strategy, book authoring, and technology topics you can’t find online to inform and inspire my readers.

Health and Wellness Network

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Technology Excellence and Leadership

Illumination Book Club

Illumination Writing Academy

Healthspan Mastery (NEW)

Superlearning with SMART MIND Loop™ (NEW)

The Purpose of Technology Excellence and Leadership Network on Substack

In Technology Leadership and Excellent Network newsletters, I offer strategic insights from over four decades of experience in innovation leadership and inventive approaches as a technologist, cognitive scientist, inventor, combinatorial innovator, entrepreneur, and thought leader. My experience is summarized on my verified LinkedIn profile.

Having the right knowledge and foresight is crucial in the rapidly evolving technology domain. With over 45 years of experience working with global organizations like IBM, Siemens, Microsoft, and NATO, my publication will go beyond theory. With advanced research skills as a postdoctoral fellow and industry certifications like distinguished enterprise architect verified by the Open Group, IBM, and Credly, I share real-world use cases and proven strategies that have driven success in some of the most challenging environments.

Here’s what subscribing to my newsletter can offer you:

1. Insider Knowledge of Emerging Technologies:
   From pioneering cybersecurity patents to advising on AI, quantum computing, and blockchain, I’ve been at the forefront of technological shifts. In each newsletter, I will break down complex innovations into practical insights you can apply to your career or business, providing you with an edge in a highly competitive field.

2. Real-World Case Studies:
   My experience spans consulting for global financial institutions, managing enterprise architecture, and leading digital transformation projects. You’ll gain access to real-world case studies that show how cutting-edge technologies were successfully implemented and how you can adapt these strategies to your own projects.

3. Leadership Lessons for Technologists:
   Leading technology teams and influencing innovation at the executive level requires more than just technical skills. I’ve worked alongside top executives, including CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, and CDOs, and mentored aspiring innovators. My newsletters will deliver tangible leadership strategies that aspiring technology leaders can use to excel in their roles and make impactful decisions.

4. Personal Development for Tech Professionals:
   I’ve authored multiple books and papers on personal and professional transformation. As an adjunct professor and postdoctoral researcher, I continue to mentor PhD candidates and contribute to research in emerging technologies. Subscribing will give you access to professional development guidance tailored for technologists, including how to build resilience, stay ahead of industry trends, and avoid burnout.

5. Exclusive Access to Industry-Defining Trends:
   I offer exclusive content on the latest advancements in AI, IoT, Big Data, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, rooted in over four decades of hands-on experience, to solve your sticky problems. My writing goes beyond news or stories. I offer insights and practical tips that you can apply directly to your career to stay ahead of the curve.

6. Curated content from the expert writers of my Technology Hits publication on Medium.

7. The most important aspect of this publication is to serve as a catalyst for members to network and collaborate through my award-winning content ecosystem, which was recognized as one of the top 50 most innovative companies in 2025.

Here are some early testimonials about Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem on TrustPilot.

By subscribing, you will benefit from a blend of innovation, leadership, enterprise/business/technology architecture, design thinking, and strategic business thinking that’s a rare combination in today’s fast-paced tech industry.

If you are an aspiring technologist or a technology leader, this publication and its network will equip you with the knowledge and tools to not just keep up with but shape the future of technology.

Here is the growth of the Technology Excellence and Leadership Network on Substack, reaching 40,000 subscribers in less than a year.

I am also a seasoned book author, content developer, and marketing strategist who can communicate effectively. My scientific background with a health focus helps me add rigor to my work and empathy for my readers. I have two different newsletters for them. I will link them here if they might be of interest to you.

Health and Wellness by Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Thank you for subscribing. I look forward to supporting you in achieving your dreams.

If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 38K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. You can contact me via my website. If you are a new writer, check out my writing list to find some helpful stories for your education. You can also join my author platform as a guest blogger.

You can find out about my scholarly work on my Google Scholar or Bohrium profiles. Some of my technical credentials on Credly. You may check out my other most loved stories on this platform. As a new instructor, my Udemy profile includes 4 Substack courses, and I will publish more soon.

You may check out my other most loved stories on this platform.

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Dear members, this is , a founding member and sponsor of Substack Mastery Boost Program and the new ILLUMINATION Health and Wellness Network. Today, I will introduce you to how we will integrate these two innovative initiatives and share our vision and mission with you.

Why am I excited and supportive of these innovative initiatives?

I spent my youth buried in labs, often feeling isolated. I ticked all the boxes — achieved my goals, paid the bills, bought a house, paid the mortgage, put my kids through college, and even set aside a little for retirement for survival. But deep down, I never truly felt fulfilled. This is where philanthropy came to the rescue at the right time.

Now, in my retirement years, I want to make a real difference in the lives of others before my time on this earth comes to an end — maybe a decade or so from now. The pursuit of wealth no longer holds any appeal. What matters now is the health and well-being of myself and those around me.

Freelancing looks like an uphill climb to me. It is exciting yet isolating, draining physically, mentally, and emotionally. Without the right support, even the most talented writers can find themselves struggling to gain visibility, connect with their audience, and turn their passion into a sustainable career.

We don’t want our members to feel like they’re slaves to platforms that pay pennies and treat them like replaceable assets for profit. We want them to take control — diversifying their content and efforts to achieve the best results while owning their work and their audience.

That is why we launched Substack Mastery Boost Pilot, a program designed to give creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs the tools, processes, strategies, and connections to build something lasting.

This innovative initiative is more than just a support system. It is a collaborative network and sustainable ecosystem where freelance writers do not just survive but flourish with expert guidance, community support, quality education, and marketing support.

If you want to connect with like-minded professionals, expand your reach, and grow your income, Substack Mastery Boost will offer a structured yet flexible approach to help you navigate the digital landscape with joy and ease.

By integrating multiple platforms and offering a strong sense of supportive community, we aim to make it easier for freelance writers to focus on what truly matters: improving their craft, building their audience, and earning the desired income.

Why Does This Program Matter for Freelance Writers?

The world of freelance writing is more competitive than ever. Creating a sustainable income from writing can feel like an uphill battle.

Many talented writers struggle to market their content and build a dedicated readership. The Substack Mastery Boost program is a game-changer — a movement designed to level the playing field and empower writers at all levels.

Designed by , a big thinker in business leadership and visionary/servant leader in the online writing community, this initiative is built on the principles of diversity, inclusivity, collaboration, and sustainability.

I see this model as revolutionary. It is like a Robin Hood approach, where revenue from more established writers is reinvested to support those just starting out. It is not about profit; it is about empowerment.

When my mentor Dr. Yildiz, founder of the ILLUMINATION Publications and network on Medium and Substack, introduced this program to me last year and shared the draft with me, I teased him by saying, ‘You’re acting like Edward Ned Kelly, our Aussie hero, taking from the wealthy to give to the poor.’ We had a good laugh about his altruistic and innovative approach.

This innovative program is currently in a pilot phase, running from November 2024 to December 2025, with the goal of expanding into a global education and marketing support service with multiple extended networks by January 2026. He architected it using diversity, inclusion, and equality principles as a philanthropic entity with a business support model.

This unique and well-designed structure ensures accessibility for all writers while securing financial stability through a three-tiered membership model:

• Tier 1: Free Membership (For Creators): Grants access to an expansive network of publishing opportunities, newsletters, and community resources — all at no cost. This includes 70% of our members.

• Tier 2: Freelancers’ Subscription ($5/month): Provides a built-in marketing team — with priority publishing, enhanced visibility, social media promotion, and exclusive community access. This includes 25% of our members.

• Tier 3: Founding Member Subscription for Entrepreneurs ($15/month): Designed for those ready to scale their content business, offering premium exposure, editorial introductions, and tailored growth strategies. This includes 5% of our members.

The key point is that this system ensures that 70% of services remain free for the largest group, while revenue from paying members fuels the expansion of free opportunities, making it sustainable, fair, and impactful in the long term. This is where innovation comes from.

The New Health and Wellness Network Is a Byproduct and Essential Tool for Success of Substack Mastery Boost

Recognizing the growing need for credible and engaging health content, we launched the ILLUMINATION Health and Wellness Network, an initiative within the Mastery Boost program that supports healthcare professionals, business leaders, freelancers, and health enthusiasts.

This network is not just another publication as it looks on Substack right now. It is a collaborative hub bridging expert-driven health knowledge with practical applications, ensuring high-quality, actionable content reaches the people who need it most while creating a network of healthcare leaders, product owners, and health and wellness enthusiasts.

We emphasize health and wellness as our first network because it relates to everyone. Simply put, if a freelancer is not healthy, their wealth means nothing no matter how big their audience is and how much they earn.

The Purpose and Reach of the Health and Wellness Network

To re-iterate, the Health and Wellness Network is more than a publication or newsletter. It is an ecosystem where experts and professionals connect, share insights, and create meaningful impact. Dr Yildiz was a distinguished architect, a senior inventor, and a combinatorial innovator.

Key Highlights of Health and Wellness Network:

• Explosive Growth: Since its inception last week, the network has attracted 33,000+ subscribers, including 3,000+ healthcare professionals, researchers, and medical practitioners.

• Expert Collaboration: 172 professionals have stepped forward as partners and contributors, creating a powerful network of expertise.

• Bridging East and West: The initiative will integrate Western medicine with Eastern healing practices, emphasizing holistic health.

• A Global Vision: This network will expand to millions of members to create a thriving community of freelancers, startups, and professionals.

• Sustainability & Accessibility: The majority of content remains free, with premium services designed to amplify professional reach and impact.

How Will the Health and Wellness Network Strengthen Mastery Boost?

This network will be pivotal in the Substack Mastery Boost initiative by providing:

• A Dedicated Platform for High-Quality Health Content: No more misinformation — only science-backed, expert-driven insights.

• A Thriving Knowledge Community: Writers and health professionals collaborate to refine messaging and enhance audience engagement.

• A Built-in Growth Engine: Direct access to a highly engaged health-conscious audience, driving visibility and credibility.

• An Empowering Business Tool: A space where freelancers, professionals, and entrepreneurs can connect, learn, and expand their impact.

Unlike algorithm-driven platforms that penalize deep, high-quality content, this extended network will prioritize depth, accuracy, and human expertise. Here, genuine knowledge is amplified, not suppressed.

To ensure long-term sustainability, the network will offer:

• Exclusive Guest Contributions from renowned health professionals and industry experts.

• Coaching & Mentorship Opportunities, facilitating peer-to-peer learning and career growth.

• Strategic Marketing & SEO Optimization, helping members maximize reach.

• Curated Exposure, connecting writers and health professionals to a broader audience.

• A Philanthropy-Driven Business Model, ensuring continued accessibility and growth.

Expanding Beyond Health & Wellness: A Global Networking Initiative in 2026

While the Health and Wellness Network is our first major expansion, we recognize that networking is one of the most important factors for freelancers’ success.

Building meaningful connections, sharing expertise, and collaborating with like-minded professionals create opportunities that accelerate career growth, audience building, and income extension.

In the later half of 2025, we will expand our networking ecosystem beyond health and wellness to include finance, technology, art, education, spirituality, marketing, sales, entertainment, tourism, manufacturing, utilities, politics, and more professional networks.

These additional networks will provide specialized spaces for experts, entrepreneurs, and content creators to thrive, reinforcing our mission to offer a comprehensive global and extended networking service.

The Ultimate Vision for the Future

The ILLUMINATION Substack Boost Program and extended networks we plan will be an innovative movement and integrated structure. It is a transformative initiative reshaping the future of content, professional growth, and sustainable writing careers for freelancers and startups

By blending scientific knowledge, industry insights, community collaboration, and sustainable financial models, we are building the future of independent writing and professional development, reaching millions of readers after 2026.

If this vision resonates with you, join us today. We invite you to be part of something bigger. We invite you to engage, contribute, and grow with a community that is designed to empower and elevate you.

Your health, your wealth, and your voice are the most valuable assets you have, and we, as a visionary and dedicated team, are here to support you.

Mega Deal for Early Members

To celebrate the launch of the ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network, Dr Yildiz offered an exclusive Membership upgrade for those who join by the end of February 2025.

He said “Those who join the ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network by the end of February 2025 will have a complementary paid membership to Content Marketing Strategy Insights for 12 months, which will double the value of your investment. So, instead of $50 annually, you will be a paid member of two large networks for $25.”

Now, he told me today that basic membership to the ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network will be automatically upgraded to paid membership to his Content Marketing Strategy Insights, ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers, Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community publications, and full access to Tier 2 services of the Mastery Boost Pilot with only $5 monthly payment.

Subscribe to Health & Wellness Network

This reflects his generosity while protecting the bottom line.

He articulated the educational and marketing values of the program and the network much better than me. You can read his heartfelt story to get informed and inspired.

Substack Mastery Training: Full Video Index + Limited Mega Deal for Freelancers in February
Easy access to the From Zero to Substack Hero course based on My Substack Mastery and Advanced Newsletter Writing…medium.com

I am sending this newsletter today because this is a limited-time opportunity to gain support, insights, and professional growth within a dynamic, supportive, and forward-thinking network.

53 members joined in the last 2 days after Dr Yildiz posted the story and Shared Aiden’s amazing Substack training program.

If our program, network, and vision resonate with you, we’d love for you to join us and start reaping the benefits as part of the 30% group.

Subscribe to Health & Wellness Network

But if it’s not the right fit, no worries — we’re happy to support you as a free member in the 70% group. No pressure, just pure pleasure in having you as part of our community.

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If you are suffering from Digital Learned Helplessness, Here is a Survival Guide for Older Folks like me.

Check out my post titled “Top Photography Trends of 2025”. Welcome to Substackmastery.com! We will also amplify stories of Substack writers in my new site Substackmatery.com and Illumination-curated.com. I have started curating collections from ILLUMINATION publications on my new site illuminationgaming.com.

Here are some books written by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, my mentor, I edited and read: The Mysterious Leadership Mind of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Substack Mastery Version 2, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation (Audiobook), Monetize Your Passion with WooCommerce, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation V2, Cortisol Clarity, A Powerful Toolkit for Substack Newsletter Mastery, Smart and Ethical SEO, Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life, Modern Affiliate Marketing for Writers, 4 Pillars of Enterprise Architecture, and Smart Email Marketing Content Integration.

Yesterday, an 81-year-old friend — just a few years my senior — told me his draft was rejected by a Medium publication because their so-called AI detection tool flagged it as 60% ‘AI-generated.’ This man earned his PhD in psychology and anthropology long before personal computers existed, let alone AI. I invited this elderly to illuminate young generation through platforms like Medium and Substack which I discovered only a few years ago.

A British academic migrated to Australia, he has taught English at Cambridge, Oxford, and the University of Melbourne where I studied. Back when I was doing my postdoc, he was my senior, guiding PhD students through their theses. And now, after decades of scholarly work, he’s being told by an algorithm that his writing isn’t ‘human’ enough. The absurdity of it all is beyond belief.

Imagine this — if a 19-year-old submits a health science article to my publication on Medium.com, the junior editors would excitedly report that it scored 0% AI-generated. A perfect human-written piece, right?

But when I, a seasoned health scientist, review it, I can’t make sense of a single sentence. It’s a garbled mess — Wikipedia paragraphs hastily copied, reworded by an AI generator, and then ‘humanized’ by another tool.

The result is a Frankenstein’s monster of words that somehow passes AI detection with flying colors, while real experts get flagged as fakes. What a joke.

For established writers — especially those of us with decades of knowledge — being silenced. This is more than just frustrating. It’s disorienting. One moment, we’re encouraged to share our wisdom; the next, we’re ignored, flagged, or labeled as irrelevant.

The Human Casualties of AI Detection

Every day, real writers, students, and professionals are falsely accused of using AI when they haven’t. Their reputations, careers, and academic records are put on the line — not because they cheated, but because an algorithm thinks they might have.

Universities and companies are blindly trusting these faulty tools, handing out penalties based on nothing more than flawed probability scores.

Imagine spending years perfecting your craft, only to be told that your work is “too polished” to be human. That’s the world we’re living in now.

AI Detection Tools Are Inconsistent and Biased

If AI detection were reliable, at the very least, it should give the same results every time. But it doesn’t. The same passage can be run through different tools and get completely different verdicts.

Here’s a perfect example of this madness — I submitted my carefully researched story on cancer cells, which had already been vetted by 30 senior editors, approved for a boost nomination, after given the green light by four medical doctors and two health scientist who served as subject matter experts.

Yet, Medium’s curators rejected it. I guess it was because Copyleaks flagged it as 61.6% AI-generated. Three other AI detection tools scanned the same piece and found it to be 100% human-written. So, which is it?

Please take a closer look at this garbage:

“Well, isn’t this a treat? This so-called ‘advanced’ software is now bragging that it’s pulling ‘dozens of signals’ from AI tools that were trained on 50 years of my hard work. Who would’ve imagined this breakthrough? Nothing like watching decades of sweat and brilliance get handed over to some shiny new garbage tool.

Is my work a product of AI sorcery or human expertise?

When even the so-called ‘experts’ in AI detection can’t agree, how can anyone take these tools seriously?

Even running the same text twice through the same tool can lead to contradictory results. Worse, these tools disproportionately flag well-written content, punishing people for knowing how to write well.

The irony? If you want to pass AI detection, you might have to deliberately write worse. That’s where we are — dumbing down our own intelligence to satisfy a broken system.

AI Writing vs. Human Writing: The Great Irony

AI-generated text is vague, generic, and emotionless, yet these detection tools somehow mistake good human writing for AI.

If you write with clarity, coherence, and depth, you’re suddenly a suspect.

Meanwhile, if you produce bland, repetitive, soulless drivel, you’re safe.

What does that tell us?

AI detectors aren’t actually detecting AI. They’re detecting competence. And in this strange new world, competence is a red flag.

The People Behind These Tools Are Clueless About Writing

Many AI detection tools are built by engineers, not writers, editors, or linguists. They approach language like a math problem — looking for patterns, not meaning.

But writing isn’t just about sentence structure and word frequency. It involves emotion, cognition, intent, intuition, and personal voice.

Machines can’t measure creativity. They can’t recognize wit, nuance, or subtext. And yet, we’re letting them decide what’s “real” writing and what isn’t.

The result?

A system where algorithms judge human expression without understanding it. And we punish humans for being humans thanks to the judgement of machines. What a crazy world is this!

We now live in a world where soulless algorithms sit in judgment over human expression — without the slightest understanding of it.

And worse, we punish real people for being too human, all because a machine says so. This isn’t just flawed logic; it’s a dystopian nightmare.

How did we get here? How did we let machines, blind to meaning, emotion, and creativity, become the gatekeepers of our words?

What an utterly insane world we’ve built!

The AI Detection-Humanizer Scam: Selling the Problem and the Fix

Here’s where things go from ridiculous to downright unethical.

AI detection companies don’t just flag innocent writers — they also conveniently partner with “humanizer” tools.

That’s right, the same people selling the AI detection solution are also selling the AI bypass solution. It’s like a security company breaking into your house and then charging you for a better lock.

These humanizers don’t actually make writing more human — they just reword AI-generated content to trick detection tools. And guess what?

Some of these AI detection companies own or invest in humanizing software. It’s a racket. They create the problem, then profit from the solution. And who suffers? Honest writers.

Here is what one humanizing tool selling like hotcakes on the Internet says:

They collaborate with other tools like this:

This means that if you use that humanizer, these so-called leading tools like Originality.ai, Copyleaks, Scribbr, or GTPZero will not detect any AI-generated content.

So what a great thing for thousands of unemployed people just to sit in front of a PC with free ChatGPT, Gemini, or CoPilot, produce 15 story a day and spam Medium. As curators will see 0% AI they might even boost and send to extended distribution.

Take this recent example — a sensational story went viral, and many readers immediately suspected it was AI-generated.

Meanwhile, I wrote a carefully researched piece on the same topic, drawing from my scientific expertise, only for it to be buried by the algorithm. It received just a handful of views from direct links. Why? Because Medium’s system, likely relying on Copyleaks, flagged it as AI-written and instantly treated it as spam.

If Meidum Staff followed by 101 million people, truly care, here is my flagged story — one that received 0.0433% of the views compared to a piece written by someone with no real knowledge of the subject, riddled with insensitivity.

Yes, this very story — written with sincerity, from the heart and mind of an elderly, retired scientist — was published on ILLUMINATION, a platform with over 190,000 readers.

Yet, it received only 13 views. This is a story that deserves to be seen, shared, and read by the very people it speaks to — the elderly, who deserve uplifting, and the younger generation, who need to learn to respect those who came before them.

The Science Behind Aging Body Odor
Challenging Myths About Aging Body Odor with a Science-Backed Perspective

I truly hope the bosses and shareholders of Medium take a moment to listen, to review my story, and to reconsider the way their platform limits its reach. It’s a disservice to the audience, to the message, and to the very essence of what sharing knowledge should be about.

And yet, human curators chose to promote that dubious story to thousands of paying members. How does that happen? How can we justify elevating sensationalism while silencing expertise? If this is the future of online writing, we have a serious problem ahead.

The Inevitable Future: AI Detecting AI Detecting AI…

Here’s the real kicker — AI writing tools are getting smarter, and AI detection tools are struggling to keep up.

Eventually, we’ll need AI to detect AI that was designed to detect AI. It’s an endless, ridiculous feedback loop.

And where does that leave us?

In a world where content is judged by machines, not humans. Where creativity is shackled by algorithms. Where real writers are sidelined because they dared to write well and from the heart.

It’s time to stop worshipping bad tech.

AI detection tools are not the gatekeepers of truth. They’re just clumsy, unreliable guesswork wrapped in fancy branding which uses great communities like Medium as their clients or sponsors.

Here is how they advertise:

If we don’t push back now, we risk handing over the future of writing to machines that don’t understand it.

Real writers deserve better. They deserve recognition, respect, and a platform that values their craft — not abuse from systems that fail to understand the depth and soul of their work.

When writers feel invisible on a platform they once trusted, it’s not just a minor annoyance; it can trigger genuine distress, affecting motivation and self-worth.

It’s time to stand up for genuine human expression and demand accountability from the tools we rely on. Writers, of all people, should never have to prove their humanity to a machine.

Check out this 15 minute interactive audio to better understand what I am trying to say but couldn’t articulate as good as these people who used a 16 hour interview of a thought leader in the field.

You can also vote here. My vote is a big NO!

Content Marketing Strategy Insights

Invitation to a Community Discussion on the Risks of AI Detection Tools for Creators and Platforms

Dear friends…

Read more

a year ago · 38 likes · 28 comments · Dr Mehmet Yildiz

It is so sad that due to these tools some writers lost their MPPs and some even got suspended with no explanation.

Thank you for reading my story, and I look forward to your comments.

To read my stories, you may subscribe to my content.

Lessons Learned from My Personal Stories
I am a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I am also the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. I will be happy to read, publish, and promote your stories. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Substack: Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

If you are interested in being a writer for my Health and Science publication on Medium, you can send your Medium ID via our writer registration portal here.

Check out my post titled “Top Photography Trends of 2025”. Welcome to Substackmastery.com! We will also amplify stories of Substack writers in my new site Substackmatery.com and Illumination-curated.com. I have started curating collections from ILLUMINATION publications on my new site illuminationgaming.com.

Here are some books written by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, my mentor, I edited and read: The Mysterious Leadership Mind of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Substack Mastery Version 2, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation (Audiobook), Monetize Your Passion with WooCommerce, Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation V2, Cortisol Clarity, A Powerful Toolkit for Substack Newsletter Mastery, Smart and Ethical SEO, Train Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life, Modern Affiliate Marketing for Writers, 4 Pillars of Enterprise Architecture, and Smart Email Marketing Content Integration.

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Dear Subscribers, this is our brand new and innovative publications designed to empower you. Although we created the publication on Medium its reach is far beyond and we will explain it in an upcoming interview with our chief editor soon. We are pleased to have 160 founding members of the boost pilot program.

From Inspiration to a Business Hub Publication

Welcome to Substack Mastery Boost publication initially created on Medium.com which will expand to multiple platforms! This post includes your guidelines for writing business success for a first-of-a-kind publication.

Substack Mastery Boost is not a usual Medium publication. We have 15 publications serving this purpose on Medium. This is a connection, education, marketing, and inspiration hub for creators, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.

As designed by our chief editor and owner of ILLUMINATION Integrated publications, , this innovative publication aims to bring business owners and leaders to one place to create synergy and fusion through serendipitous encounters.

Our new boost pilot initiative for 2025 is an educational, collaborative, and promotional program designed to empower and inspire creators, freelance writers, and entrepreneurs using the power of the vast ILLUMINATION network.

If you are a new writer who just wants to start, an established freelance writer to grow your audience, or a savvy solopreneur looking to scale your writing and content marketing business to become an entrepreneur, you are in the right place. We will provide the tools, strategies, and community you need to succeed.

Our Vision

We aim to illuminate society through powerful storytelling while helping creators build sustainable content businesses that resonate with their audiences. Our next three-year vision is to support over a million freelance writers and 2030 to ten million or more through inspiration, education, marketing, collaboration, and empowerment.

Our Mission

We are committed to:

• Supporting writers in crafting magnetic content that grows their audience and builds lasting connections.

• Offering practical, actionable resources tailored to freelancers and content entrepreneurs.

• Enabling writers to explore multiple platforms for diversified growth.

• Cultivating a community where creators thrive through collaboration and shared knowledge.

Why Substack Mastery Boost Matters

In a shifting digital landscape where platforms like TikTok and Medium face significant challenges, recently, creators need a reliable, adaptable, and supportive solution. Substack Mastery Boost will address these pain points by offering:

• Stability in Uncertainty: Creators maintain control of their work and income without relying on algorithms or external platforms.

• Audience Ownership: Build direct relationships with readers, ensuring meaningful engagement and a loyal following.

• Tools for Growth: Access features and strategies designed for long-term success, not quick fixes.

By combining the best of Medium, Substack, Patreon, Beehiive, and other platforms, our innovative program offers creators a way to diversify their content and expand their reach with confidence and community support.

About Substack Mastery Boost

Substack Mastery Boost is a 12-month pilot program integrating education, collaboration, and promotion to help writers succeed. If successful, we plan to offer it as an affordable, ongoing global service for freelancers and content entrepreneurs.

This program includes:

• Guided Learning: Educational resources like the “Substack Mastery” book and online freelancing courses to teach you the science, art, and strategy of newsletter creation.

• Collaborative Support: A vibrant, free, moderated Slack workspace and moderated Substack Notes support for idea sharing, feedback, and community interaction.

• Promotional Tools: Curation and boosting features in our publications and cross-platform promotion to amplify your reach.

Membership Tiers

Substack Mastery Boost operates on a tiered membership model. We documented the details of each tier on our website.

ILLUMINATION Substack Community Support & Boost Pilot Program
This is a summary of 3-tier service Boost pilot offerings for creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs on…digitalmehmet.com

Submission Guidelines

Rules and Policies

1. No plagiarism, defamation, or harmful content against Medium rules.

2. Include copyright-free images with appropriate credits as captions.

3. Declare affiliate links in your stories.

4. AI-generated and meaningless content is not accepted.

Tips for Success

1. Write content that offers insights, solutions, and inspiration.

2. Organize your ideas into concise and reader-friendly stories.

3. Stay honest and back your claims with facts and evidence.

4. Ensure your drafts are well-edited and error-free.

5. Use visuals and interactive elements to connect with readers.

6. Submit your stories as drafts. Exceptions apply.

7. Include a brief author bio and links to your newsletter or story.

Prerequisites

1 — You must have a free or paid Medium account.

2 — You need to be part of one of the program tiers, such as free, $5, or $15 plan.

3 — You need to have a Substack publication, a Patreon account, a Beehiiv account, or a mailing list through Covertkit, Ghost, or others.

4 — You must be a member of the ILLUMINATION Slack workspace. You can join here for free.

5 — You must take your writing business seriously. This pub is not a story collection but a connection tool.

We also recommend having a podcast and video presence but it is not essential for being part of this publication.

What Can You Contribute

If you are a free member, you can submit one introductory story about your writing business, such as a Substack publication, a Patreon one, or your website. We will provide more guidance on this.

If you are a tier 2 member, you can submit up to 10 stories monthly related to your writing or other business.

If you are a tier 3 member, you can submit up to 30 stories related to any business.

Tier 2 and 3 stories will be curated, distributed to our subscribers, and boosted externally for further visibility and potentially to generate business.

How to Apply

First, you need to apply to be a writer for the publication. You can send your Medium ID through our writer registration portal.

Secondly, you need to be part of the program by subscribing to one of our three Substack newsletters on the landing page for the Substack Mastery Boost pilot program explained on our website.

You can learn more about the program as one of our founding members and sponsors on Substack articulated. Here is a free interactive audio explaining the program's value.

Join Us Today

Substack Mastery Boost is more than a publication or a program. It is a community initiative where creators can learn, grow, and thrive together.

Take control of your creative journey and business by building meaningful connections with your audience.

We invite you to our success journey: one story, one newsletter, and one connection at a time to find your voice, build your audience, and illuminate society.

Thank you for being part of our community and business network.

If you are interested in our other publications, please check out the following submission guidelines. They are all unique.

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

How do we curate articles, stories and blog posts at the Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem?

Each blog post is automatically published to a magazine view and distributed to our subscribers, WordPress readers and also listed in our topic pages. Here are some topic examples which will be indexed a master topic page: curated-business-blog-posts, curated-technology-blog-posts, curated-digital-futures-blog-posts and /curated-biohacking-blog-posts

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I published this story for free on my blog site and also on Medium itself where leaderships of it can read and understand the frustration of authentic writers and editors. Please join a healthy dialogue to shake the terrible status quo. Sitting there and doing nothing will not bring freelance writers any benefit. Now, I see Medium as a sinking ship and we all have the responsibility to rescue it.

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Dear Subscribers, This is , a volunteer senior editor at ILLUMINATION publications on Medium and Substack. While I’m truly satisfied with Substack, I’m afraid Medium has turned into a sinking ship. In my previous newsletter and audio, I uncovered the shocking pay cuts affecting genuine writers in the precious episodes so I will not repeat them.

Now, I must bring to light yet another grave issue with an article and supplementary audio to make clear and memorable for you. Please read or listen to it carefully and understand the nuances that I wrote constructively. I am not here to bash Medium, far from it with my care for the community.

My goal is to show blind spots and inspire action with responsibility from all stakeholders to rescue this sinking ship. As editors and curators of the ILLUMINATION community we are trying to integrate Medium with Substack to support freelance writers and help them to grow their audiences with community support

Medium's Sinking Ship: Spam, Quotas, and Pay Cuts

Today, I am talking about spam—and believe me, Medium seems to be creating it itself unknowingly. Instead of tackling the real problem, they’re flagging authentic writers and withholding payments. As an elderly volunteer, I pour my heart and soul into my work, only to see Medium penalize us, volunteer editors, whether intentionally or not, for not doing the dirty work the platform should handle.

This time, they’ve pointed fingers at imaginary spammers pumping out 15 stories daily. But here’s my question: who on earth is writing and posting 15 stories a day on spammy Medium when most writers barely earn a couple of cents per story in this “terrible climate”? If your stories are delayed on Illumination my findings will help you to understand the reasons.

As a retired scientist and volunteer editor, I rarely let platform challenges bother me deeply. But lately, the ongoing issues on Medium have felt like trying to bail water out of a sinking ship with a teaspoon. The frustration is overwhelming. The platform seems determined to steer straight into an iceberg.

Let me set the stage.

For the last several days, seasoned editors like have been saying their farewells to Medium, disheartened by the ongoing payment adjustments. Since unfortunately said farewell to Medium until it gets better, I haven’t seen a single writer or editor happy on Medium.com.

As a publication owner and helpdesk coordinator for ILLUMINATION publication on its free and moderated Slack workspace, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging things have become.

While I’ve stepped back from colossal Illumination to focus on my own publication, Health and Science, and smaller offshoots like Readers’ Hope Technology Hits, Synergy, Curated Newsletters, Gaming, Videos/Podcasts, or Magnetic Newsletter Pro pubs, my inboxes remain flooded with messages from overwhelmed new editors.

Some of these new volunteers, much younger and more productive than me, are reporting they’ve hit a mysterious daily quota. They’re eager to clear the backlog of pending stories but are met with a brick wall: “Sorry, you’ve reached your publishing limit today try again in 24 hours.”

So, they’re locked out of publishing for 24 hours while the backlog balloons out of control, and frustrated writers start pointing fingers — branding hardworking editors as lazy scapegoats. The audacity doesn’t stop there: one writer even had the nerve to publicly call out 65-year-old volunteer editor , labeling him ‘lazy’ in front of the entire community. Imagine dedicating your time and energy only to be humiliated like that!

This so-called quota issue is a bug we’ve faced before, and Medium assured us months ago it was resolved. Yet when I asked — ILLUMINATION’s owner and chief editor and a strong advocate for transparency on any platform — to follow up, the response from Medium support team today was perplexing. Apparently, editors face restrictions because writers are supposedly publishing 15 stories a day.

I couldn’t believe my ears. Who are these mythical beings churning out 15 stories daily in an ecosystem that barely rewards quality, let alone quantity? If such writers exist, they’re likely contributing to the spam problem. Medium should deal with those cases directly instead of penalizing authentic writers and editors who work tirelessly to maintain quality.

And it gets worse.

Non-paying members, who are allowed to publish up to three stories daily, also contribute to this issue. When editors unknowingly publish stories from these accounts, they supposedly hit a “hidden” quota.

Medium’s logic here is baffling: why allow non-members to post three stories a day but limit them to reading only one or two? It’s like building a bridge halfway across a river and wondering why no one makes it to the other side.

Let me clarify — I’m not against non-paying members.

Many are from economically challenged countries where a $5 monthly fee is significant. Publications like ours go out of their way to support them. For example, out of 35,000 writers in ILLUMINATION, around 9,000 are non-members. We publish and promote their stories because we believe in inclusivity, diversity, and equality.

But there’s another side to this.

Some non-paying members are individuals who can afford the membership but choose not to for personal reasons.

For example, I recall a Harvard professor who asked for an exception last year to join ILLUMINATION-Curated (our former boost-nominating publication for paying members) because he didn’t want to pay Medium’s membership fee. Ironically, Medium boosted his stories, but he didn’t contribute to the payment pool, and everyone read his stories for free. So Medium won by not paying the writer and offering our curated stories to non-paying members. I don’t care about this as its idiosyncrasy.

But I do care about the recent pay cut in an order of magnitude as I discussed in my previous post which many readers left supportive comment.

Like many innocent writers and editors, I invite medium address the elephant in the room: the recent pay adjustments. Medium has cited spammers and scammers as the justification for reducing payouts across the board. But this blanket approach feels like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly — it hurts genuine writers more than anyone else.

My writers wrote heartfelt stories about this situation. But yesterday, I saw a story from an established writer as if speaking from an ivory tower in a patronizing way, defending Medium’s actions.

I saved the problematic story last night and I was ready to respond with a detailed, data-backed rebuttal this morning, but to my surprise, the story was deleted before I could. While I respect that they reconsidered their stance, it highlights the growing uncertainty among writers.

Medium, here’s my plea: stop manufacturing excuses and twisting the truth. The platform is home to brilliant minds, from Brittany and Zulie’s outreach efforts to attract academics to scientists and researchers who rely on honesty and transparency.

But academics won’t tolerate these antics. They’re truth-seekers by nature, and twisting facts will drive them away faster than any payment cut ever could.

If Medium truly values its community, it’s time to address these issues head-on. Enough with the smoke and mirrors — writers, editors, and readers deserve better. Let’s patch the holes, steer the ship back on course, and rebuild the trust that made this platform thrive in the first place.

Instead of fighting against spammers, Medium flagged many authentic writers’ profiles and like mine so their stories get no views. Jessica and Dr James mentioned it yesterday bravely on the farewell story of Dr Yildiz, but no one saw them, of course.

Medium writers and editors — I know you are all facing the same issues with quotas and payment cuts. Share your experiences in the comments below, and let’s discuss how to rebuild trust in the platform!

Now, brace yourself for another nightmare bug! Yesterday, Medium actually paid some writers, only for the money to vanish within 24 hours. What the heck is going on?! even wrote a brilliant, humorous story about it earlier today — but, of course, it’s bound to be censored because Medium flagged his incredible work as spam.

Oh No, I’m Broke Again: My Mysterious $26 Disappeared
From Jeff Bezos to Elon Musk, and now… a cautionary tale about easy come, easy go. Back to the 1-cent club!medium.com

That’s all for today, folks! I can’t write 15 stories like spammers. See you tomorrow on this channel and take good care. Don’t forget having rest and fun with your loved ones.

Despite all, I sincerely hope Medium will one day rise to meet the standards it claims to uphold and make the authentic writers feel at home and offer what paying readers want. Until then, I’m reevaluating my focus and considering where my efforts will be truly valued.

I want to share my 2 cent story on Medium which will be a 2 million on Substack in 2026. It is properly architected and designed using universal principles and community values, not gimmicks like vanity matrices of follows, claps, or highlights.

We Are Building a Creative Support Path for Freelance Writers in 2025
We will offer customized services based on the needs of creators, freelancers, and content entrepreneurs with…medium.com

I am pleased that we now have 157 founding members of the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot and collaborating on Illumination Slack workspace where I work as a moderator, curator, and sponsor.

Thank you for reading my story. Remember to diversify your content and don’t rely on just Medium. There are many other options.

Please read this sad yet powerful farewell story from Dr Yildiz with many great comments on it including from Brittany, an executive leader on Medium. Share your thoughts transparently on it so that Medium can read them and take time action. Dr Yildiz said he will send an update about it soon from his Content Marketing Strategy Insights publication.

If you are a new writer, please check out our updated submission guidelines before sending your first draft so that our editors can publish them quickly. Here are the links to the guidelines:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

Remember just send one high-quality and well-crafted story to one of our pubs, not 15 like spammers, please 😎

I am a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I am also the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. I will be happy to read, publish, and promote your stories. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Substack: Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

If you are interested in being a writer for my Health and Science publication on Medium, you can send your Medium ID via our writer registration portal here.

Lessons Learned from My Personal Stories
Thanks for subscribing to my Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

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Apparently I’m a Spammer Who Joined the $0.02 Club

You can read this story on Medium and share your thoughts there so that management hears your concerns and take timely action before it gets too late. I also published it on my blog site for free. I hope you learn from my sad lessons and this interactive audio guide and inspire you to own your content and audience for a successful writing business.

How Medium alienates its authentic writers while allowing spammers and scammers to run like wild horses!

Dear Subscribers, this is . I have a bizarre tale for you to tell it without sugarcoating on the recent incidents on Medium, now affecting thousands of authentic writers. I will tell the story without boring you with a few highlights as a response to Scott Lamb, the VP at Medium whose words did not gel with me and other clever writers who got shocked. These authentic writers are penalized by their new faulty algorithm eating all the income these writers earn for corporate greed. I am not making this up. If you don’t believe me for this earning fiasco, check the comments on Scott’s new story on Medium blog.

This is not an isolated case as documented by Dr Yildiz yesterday, and triggered Medium to write a blog about it by its vice president Scott Lamb. This undesirable situation affected all ethical and authentic writers, not just our publications but from all other publications therefore I wrote about it from the heart and created this interactive audio, not just to criticize Medium but to give ideas on what we as authentic writers can do right now.

We can no longer stay silent as our efforts are undermined and we are labeled as spammers by their faulty algorithm urgently created to cover up things Medium neglected for a long time.

Welcome to the bizarre world of Medium.

For the last two years, I have been an advocate for this platform, dedicating my time to fighting spam and scams, mentoring others, sharing my life lessons, and curating content from good writers with integrity.

Ironically, I now find myself labeled as a spammer by the very platform I sought to protect — a platform that has repeatedly failed to safeguard its own community, including its leadership accounts.

Scott Lamb, Medium’s VP, recently published a post proclaiming their new measures to combat spam, abuse, and manipulation of their Partner Program.

His words were passionate, but for many, including myself, the actions described don’t match the reality we experience. While some applauded his rhetoric, others — myself included — couldn’t ignore the glaring contradictions.

His post may have gone viral, but the comments revealed an uncomfortable truth: the real problem goes beyond the authentic writers unfairly being targeted but with Medium’s own mismanagement and reliance on immature AI tools.

Here is my 2 cent badge brought by 21 Medium members paying $5 each to the platform to read stories like this:

These tools, it seems, have a habit of mislabeling dedicated writers as abusers while failing to address the actual spam and scam accounts that still plague the platform.

Let me paint a quick clearer picture:

Scammers impersonated me countless times, stressed me, deceived my readers, and damaged my reputation. The same thing happened to established writers and prominent figures like former Medium director Buster Benson and even Scott himself today.

Yet, despite these ongoing issues, Medium’s response has been to penalize genuine contributors by slashing their earnings and, in some cases, suspending their accounts outright.

They don’t care about those who sell guaranteed claps, comments, and highlights in freelancing platforms and dark side of the Internet. I wrote a satire about it last year after catching some scammers while spamming our community resources. I reported it to Medium support which did nothing about it.

Sharp minds are now asking the burning question: How is it that my stories from the past few days show reads and engagement, yet suddenly have no earnings? How is that even possible?

They continue by challenging wisely, if those interactions were from scammers who have since been suspended, shouldn’t their reads, comments, and engagement have vanished along with them? Something doesn’t add up here, and it’s leaving us all scratching our heads.

Medium is home to some of the sharpest minds — writers with decades of experience managing far more complex platforms and companies.

Yet Scott’s message comes across as though it’s trying to placate them like clueless amateurs. Of course, there’s no ill intent here, but the tone reeks of desperation, a rushed attempt to address chaos without proper thought or review. And let’s be honest, it’s hard not to notice.

One smart writer captured the frustration perfectly: ‘I’ve been here for five years, and this is the worst experience I’ve had. EVERYBODY is making BUPKAS for their work.’ They dismissed the usual explanation of ‘fluctuations’ and asked directly:

‘Has Medium run out of money, decided not to pay writers, or is something preventing it? These are great questions which require proper and transparent answers.

After my retirement from healthcare sector where I spent 53 years, I was invited to this platform as a reader by my mentor who inspired and coached for free to become a writer, editor, and publication owner. Over time, I built an audience around 4K followers and 400+ subscribers, created a Health and Science publication, and poured countless hours into elevating others’ work. Now, it feels like all that effort has been devalued.

Meanwhile, another Medium executive, Britany, is busy inviting academics to the platform, painting it as a haven for intellectuals. Yet, when I left a thoughtful and sincere response on her article, she didn’t even bother to acknowledge it. This lack of engagement speaks volumes — it feels more like empty lip service than genuine authenticity. Academics are not naive enough to fall for such simplistic and unprofessional attempts.

Scott claims Medium is addressing abuse, but the reality paints a different picture. My earnings have plummeted from a few hundred dollars per month to mere cents — not because I care about the money, but because it reflects how the platform’s systems fail to recognize authentic content.

Meanwhile, after Medium opening the doors to 77 new countries which was a good thing but a portion of people act like scammers from those countries continue to flood the platform, and my publication, Health and Science, is inundated with low-quality, AI-generated submissions hoping to make money from the MPP.

My volunteer editors and I spend hours filtering these out, yet our contributions are dismissed, and we’re left feeling disrespected and labeled as unethical by faulty algorithms. Even worse, valuable content we curate for readers is censored.

This situation isn’t just frustrating; it’s deeply disheartening and heartbreaking. To be misjudged by an immature system and lumped into the “unethical” category undermines everything I’ve worked for.

Ignoring what is matter for readers like golden opportunity of reading times as mentioned by Dr Yildiz in a response, in a desperate attempt to appear innovative and competitive with gimmicks like the ridiculous clap and highlight features prone to abuse and misuse, Medium seems to have dug itself into a deep hole — and now it’s floundering, struggling to claw its way out.

It is their problem as they created it. So, I no longer expect anything from Medium, and like many others, I’m questioning whether my precious time here is worth it. I downgraded my FoM as it did not work as advertised. I don’t think my half century long life lessons are appreciated it.

Despite all, I sincerely hope Medium will one day rise to meet the standards it claims to uphold and make the authentic writers feel at home and offer what paying readers want. Until then, I’m reevaluating my focus and considering where my efforts will be truly valued.

Here is my 2 cent story on Medium which will be a 2 million on Substack in 2026. It is properly architected and designed using universal principles and community values, not gimmicks like vanity matrices of follows, claps, or highlights.

We Are Building a Creative Support Path for Freelance Writers in 2025
We will offer customized services based on the needs of creators, freelancers, and content entrepreneurs with…medium.com

Thank you for reading my story. Remember to diversify your content and don’t rely on just Medium. There are many other options.

I just read this sad yet powerful story from today. He said he will send a newsletter about it soon.

This Is My Last Story on Medium Until the Algorithm Is Fairly Adjusted

If you are a new writer, please check out our updated submission guidelines before sending your first draft so that our editors can publish them quickly. Here are the links to guidelines:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

I am a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I am also the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. I will be happy to read, publish, and promote your stories. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Subtack.

If you are interested in being a writer for my Health and Science publication on Medium, you can send your Medium ID via our writer registration portal here.

Lessons Learned from My Personal Stories
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Share ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers

In addition to an interactive audio, I also published this story on Medium and my blog site at our community blogs hosted by digitalmehmet ecosystem for free so that more writers can access and benefit from our innovative solutions.

Happy New Year, dear Creators, friendly Freelance Writers, esteemed Content Entrepreneurs, and potential Sponsors! Greetings from hot Down Under summer with a warm hug for those who are dealing with cold season 🔥

This is , a retired healthcare professional now a volunteer editor, content curator of ILLUMINATION Integrated publications on Medium and Substack, and a proud sponsor and founding member of the Substack Mastery Boost initiative, aiming to help and empower freelance writers of this amazing community. Today I will share with you our recent innovative and empowering program which can help you take your writing business to the next level.

Writing and freelancing can be a lonely job, and entrepreneurship can be stressful and soul-crushing, but it can be joyful in a supportive community. The biggest issue for creators and freelance writers is to market their content and find customers (readers) in the long term.

I carried the weight of this issue for over half a century, trapped in an isolated country and confined within the walls of my science labs—silencing the writer’s voice within me, a prisoner to my own unspoken words.😢My 75+ year-old shoulders carry a whole lot of pain, each ache telling its own story. I truly hope you never have to endure such crushing loneliness or repeat the horrible mistakes I made along the way.🙏

Purpose of this Important Story Today

I wrote this short story to introduce a creative solution designed and led by our chief editor Dr Mehmet Yildiz, who is also my mentor and the person who invited me to this community as a reader for a year, helped me to become a writer/editor/content curator, and even made me a pub owner which I had no clue about before joining here. So, I am grateful for his mentorship, and I pay back with my volunteer work for the community he built with his stunning leadership skills.

In March 2020, Dr Yildiz founded ILLUMINATION publications on Medium with a clear mission and vision: to help writers find their voices and share their stories without barriers, delight their readers, and build their audiences with community support. It has been almost 5 years.

Driven by a volunteer workforce, the ILLUMINATION team provided free services to all community members, still do, and will continue to do so on Medium and Substack. Writers worldwide found a platform and a great community to share their stories, connect with others easily, build their audiences, enhance their writing skills, and increase their income.

As the community grew rapidly, so did the operational demands. For instance, moderation, administration, and marketing of stories by contributors became too large a task for volunteers alone. They got exhausted. As a volunteer editor, due to the excessive publishing work of 38,000 writers, sometimes I work more than 8 hours daily, which is like a full-time unpaid job.

Then, in 2024, with the vision of Dr Yildiz, we expanded our services to Substack, integrating it with Medium and even with Patreon to give more options to our writers for growing their audiences, building expertise, enlarging their networks, and increasing their potential income.

To sustain and expand our impact, we needed a creative solution. That’s when we decided to create a small membership initiative for those who can afford to fund and support those who cannot more effectively. It is called the Substack Mastery Boost program. But it goes beyond Substack. It is just a temporary name.

When Dr. Yildiz introduced this program last year and shared the draft with me, I teased him by saying, ‘You’re acting like Edward Ned Kelly, our Aussie hero, taking from the wealthy to give to the poor.’ We had a good laugh about his altruistic and innovative approach.

We are now testing the creative solution on a small scale on Substack (as it is the most creator-friendly platform) under the initiative Substack Mastery Boost Pilot, which started in November 2024, will continue until December 2025, and it will be a global service offering for education and marketing services of freelancer and content entrepreneurs after January 2026.

The good news is that now we have a prototype that has passed the beta phase and is piloted for scalability.

I am pleased that 350 founding members joined the pilot boost program. We will test the features we offer for 12 months. When it is successful by December 2025, we will scale it globally as a low-cost education and marketing support service for freelancers and entrepreneurs.

The Purpose of the Membership Tiers

This membership branch provides financial stability and ensures the longevity of ILLUMINATION’s mission. It might generate a steady income stream for administrators and marketers of the program, reducing reliance on unpredictable donations.

This stability might enable long-term planning, innovation, and timely responses to new opportunities for our freelance writers.

With this approach, we’ve built a system where funds from paying members will empower non-paying creators and support their growth to be freelance writers if they choose that path. In the end, it will be a win-win position for all parties involved in our publishing process.

Summary of Our 3-Tiered Membership System Features

We offer customized services based on the needs of creators, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.

As the graph below shows, we keep 70% of our services for free members. Any income coming from 25% will also go back to the support of 70% while supporting the freelancers, so it is not a profit organization but an empowerment one for all levels of writers.

Here is a diagram showing the breakdown at a high level for you to conceptual the current offering during the pilot phase. It might change next year when it becomes production as more creators might consider to be freelancers. We don’t have enough data about it yet.

Please note that the following details are draft, and more services will be added soon. I will update you.

Tier 1: Free Membership for Creators ($0 Monthly)

This free service is provided by the new Friends of ILLUMINATION Support as reported in a story before:

Be a Friend of ILLUMINATION
Find Your Voice, Curate Inspiring Stories, and Build Your Audience with Support from a Thriving Community Leveraging…medium.com

Designed for writers who write for personal satisfaction, this tier offers:

• Submit one story per week to any of our Medium publications. We have 15 publications

• Submit 1 story per month featured in the Magnetic Newsletter Pro publication on Medium.

• Submit 2 stories per month to Curated Newsletters on Medium.

• Submit 3 blog posts per month for free on the digitalmehmet.com site

• We will offer a complimentary link to the community database on Medium, Substack, and the DigitalMehmet website if you are interested.

• Free access to our Slack workspace.

• 1 YouTube video submission to ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery channel per month

• Be part of the optional Friends of ILLUMINATION initiative

Tier 2: Freelancers’ Subscription ($5 Monthly)

Designed for writers who aim to generate income from their content on multiple platforms, and it includes all benefits from the Free tier, plus:

• Priority publishing across all our Medium publications, guaranteed within 48 hours.

• 30 blog posts monthly on your blog account hosted on the DigitalMehmet website.

• Free inclusion of all your Substack newsletters in our partner database, which will be publicly accessible.

• Free promotion of your Substack newsletters in curated collections published on Medium, Substack, Quora, LinkedIn, and the DigitalMehmet website.

• 3 monthly social media shares of our newsletters across LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora, Reddit, Pinterest, and X (Twitter).

• 1 monthly link placement in 3 newsletters on Substack (ILLUMINATION Library, Substack Mastery, and Content Strategy newsletters with over 100K subscribers).

• Unlimited YouTube video submission to ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery channel per month

• Full membership to Illumination Priority Club on Slack workspace led by Dr Mehmet Yildiz.

• All benefits of the Substack BOOST program pilot and later production product.

Tier 3: Founding Member Subscription for Entrepreneurs ($15 Monthly)

Designed for content entrepreneurs aiming to scale their business using the services of other freelancers, and it includes all benefits from Free and Freelancer tiers, plus:

• Unlimited blog posts on DigitalMehmet per month, boosted by WordPress Blaze.

• A monthly featured editorial introduction to your newsletters will be posted across all our platforms and social media channels.

• Newsletter posts to Substack Notes, managed by our six moderators from different accounts.

• A monthly special newsletter providing practical tips for audience growth and essential tools for successful content marketing.

• A featured blog of your newsletter posted by Dr. Yildiz, boosted by WordPress Blaze.

• 1 Formal Feature on ILLUMINATION and 1 on Curated Newsletter publications per month (It is possible to use these 2 credits in our other 14 publications) — This is a new feature on Medium, and the story must meet distribution guidelines. See our six rules.

• A free PDF copy of the Substack Mastery book and its updates

• Unlimited YouTube video submission to ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery channel per month

• In addition, productized BOOST facilities will be provided for Substack after the pilot is completed without extra cost.

I don’t have enough info about the sponsors as only a few companies showed interest in supporting the pilot, and formal engagement is still being discussed for the production phase.

Why This System and Service Matters

This system service will create empowerment for creators, freelancers, and content entrepreneurs. Revenue from freelancers and entrepreneurs will directly/indirectly support free services for creators, ensuring accessibility for everyone.

Financial independence will allow our creative team to delegate operational tasks to professionals like digital marketers or virtual assistants so creators can focus on writing.

It also will enable us to innovate new solutions, become more creative, expand our services, and respond quickly to community needs.

How to Join ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery Boost Pilot

Membership options are available through Substack by subscribing to one of the following 3 newsletters. You may subscribe to these publications to qualify for Level 2 or 3.

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community

ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers

Here is more information about the Boost pilot.

Here is the application page.

Our services during this beta testing phase will provide educational resources, promotional support like marketing newsletters, and privileged content curation and publishing, featuring across multiple platforms like Medium, Substack, DigitalMehmet, LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, and others.

As we did on Medium, soon we will soon introduce a first of kind community publication on Substack. It is called the ILLUMINATION Writing Academy. We will provide details in our upcoming newsletter on Medium and Substack. Stay tuned for this unique service.

Let’s Build a Sustainable Future for Writers

ILLUMINATION publications have a big community and it is growing rapidly. Our small arm, which might generate some revenue, will ensure that creators, freelancers, and entrepreneurs have the tools, support, and opportunities to succeed.

I invite you to join us today and become part of a freelancing community that empowers writers to grow and thrive while building a sustainable future for the creative, supportive, and joyful community.

I am a founding member of the substack Boost Pilot, volunteer editor/curator of ILLUMINATION Publications, chief editor of Health and Science pub, and proud member of this wonderful community.

An remember to watch this stunning video presentation by our generous Aiden posted in the Content Marketing Strategy Insights publication for free today. It is designed to inspire you and empower for a sustainable writing business. As editorial team of ILLUMINATION, we do everything we could for you.

Content Marketing Strategy Insights

Special 20 Min Video/Audio as a New Year's Gift for Substack Community for Sustaining Your Writing Business in 2025 and Beyond

Dear Friends, I trust this post finds you well…

Listen now

a year ago · 4 likes · Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Thank you for reading my story.

If you are a new writer, please check out our updated submission guidelines before sending your first draft so that our editors can publish them quickly. Here are the links to guidelines:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

I am a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I am also the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. I will be happy to read, publish, and promote your stories. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Substack: Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

If you are interested in being a writer for my Health and Science publication on Medium, you can send your Medium ID via our writer registration portal here.

Lessons Learned from My Personal Stories

Thanks for subscribing to my Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

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Share ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers

If you can’t read this story on Substack I also published it on Medium.

Educational and Editorial Book Review

Greetings, fellow freelance writers. This is , editor, curator , and media coordinator or ILLUMINATION Integrated publications on Medium and Substack. Possibly some of you will remember me as the creator of long standing “Look What Aiden Found Today” series on Medium. I used to be a boost nominator and birthed 113 boosted stories until June 2024.

Today is a special day for me so I want to introduce a book that I can only describe as unique and exceptional.

Do you want to be an advanced freelance writer and shake the world? Do you want to build a loyal audience in multiple platforms like Substack, Medium, Patreon, Beehiive, Ghost and others? I do!

I’ve read many books aimed at freelance writers, but this one which I will review briefly today stands apart.

Why?

It is because it isn’t written from an ivory tower of theoretical advice. It’s grounded in decades of real-world experience, successes earned, and lessons learned the hard way.

What Makes This Book Exceptional?

Dr. Yildiz doesn’t lecture or overwhelm us with jargon. His tone is soft and conversational yet precise, offering insights that are as actionable as they are profound.

You’ll find yourself nodding along like me, not because the ideas are familiar, but because they’re presented in a way that resonates deeply with what it means to be a creator in today’s digital world.

The book is designed for advanced writers who are ready to scale thoughtfully. It’s a toolkit, yes — but more importantly, it’s a companion for growth.

Dr. Yildiz shares his writing and strategy journey with candor, offering a roadmap that feels both personal and universally applicable.

Written by my dear mentor, , A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery is not just another addition to the sea of freelance writing guides. It’s a symbol of clarity, care, and insights tailored for those ready to elevate their writing craft and grow their audience with intention and purpose.

If you’re a seasoned writer or someone still finding their footing, this book speaks directly to your aspirations. It really spoke to me. I felt like Dr Yildiz was having a lovely conversation with me while secretly injecting his insights to my brain.

Remember he is a seasoned cognitive scientist and knows a lot about subliminal things through his brain training and experimentation. He even wrote a book titled “Trained Your Brain for a Healthier and Happier Life” which will be released in March 2025.

If you read the following two stories you can understand his skills in brain training. I read them multiple times and followed his guidance.

The Brain Needs 4 Types of Workouts
Like muscles, neurons, dendrites, and axons need exercise to survive and grow.medium.com

The Brain Needs 3 Types of Rest
Like muscles, neurons, dendrites, and axons need intentional rest to survive, grow, function optimally, and rejuvenate…medium.com

What Stood Out to Me

I will only highlight 3 things not to overwhelm you because I could have written a book for my review. You don’t want me to do that, do you!

1. Authenticity at Its Core
   This book isn’t about mimicking trends or chasing fleeting ideas like many aspiring writers do. Dr. Yildiz emphasizes the importance of creating valuable and meaningful content that reflects your values and serves your audience genuinely for for a lifetime.

2. Lessons from Vast Experience
   Each strategy in the book comes from the trenches — what worked, what didn’t, why, and how can we fix. It’s like having a mentor who isn’t afraid to share their missteps to save you from making the same ones. He taught us about 12 deadly mistakes lately. I did some of them.

3. Community Building as a Foundation
   The emphasis on building a community, rather than just an audience, is a game-changer for freelance writers. Community building is about creating meaningful connections that go beyond clicks and subscriptions, building loyalty and mutual growth.

Why This Book Deserves a Place on Your Shelf

Dr. Yildiz has achieved something remarkable: a book that feels like a conversation with a trusted mentor.

This unique book is not prescriptive. It is guiding, inspiring, empowering, and encouraging you to find your path while providing the tools to navigate it effectively.

For freelance writers ready to scale their Substack publications, this book is a guide to thoughtful growth.

This exceptional book doesn’t promise shortcuts but offers something far more valuable — a sustainable approach to building a meaningful writing business.

Here is the introduction by Dr Yildiz himself.

Advanced Strategies for Substack Writers: New Book Released
Celebrating the launch with thousands of freelance writers who inspired me to write this first-of-a-kind book on the…medium.com

My Plans for a New Level Udemy Course of This Exceptional Book

As someone fortunate enough to work closely with Dr. Yildiz, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of his care and guidance. It’s only fitting that his work reaches an even broader audience through an interactive course.

Each chapter of the book will be transformed into a video module with its audio recording. These lessons will include:

• Practical exercises to implement the strategies.

• Templates and real-world examples to illustrate key points.

• Opportunities for live discussions and Q&A sessions to engage with fellow learners.

This course will enhance the book’s teachings and provide a space for writers to connect and grow as a community.

You can learn about my previous courses of his Substack Mastery book from my recent story including a special deal.

Do You Want to Go from ZERO to a Substack HERO in 2025?
I’ve a great educational solution for freelance writers to take them a powerful and joyful journey in the new year.medium.com

I’ll also be rolling out Level 3 before New Year’s and plan to create Levels 4 through 10 in next few months, covering advanced strategies for seasoned writers. I am pleased that the Advanced Substack book by Dr Yildiz is now available in multiple formats.

I finished listening to the audio version on my Google Play. It was exceptional content and narration for me. 5 hours 27 minutes was like a minute to me. He will upload the audio chapters to his Content Marketing Strategy Insights for his subscribers.

Now, I am part of the Friends of ILLUMINATION team as a curator and the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot as a founding member and boost nominator. So, I will help freelance writers grow their audience through community support.

This course is just a starting point for me. I have many other great ideas to help this community.

Here is the intro to video to the course on our YouTube channel.

Subcribe to our YouTube Channel

So, if you’re ready to start this exciting adventure with me, here’s your chances with the lowest possible fees and highest possible discounts for the next 5 days:

• Level 1: From Zero to Substack Hero

• Level 2: From Zero to Substack Hero

You can learn more about my courses from the following censored stories. Medium is no longer sole place to amplify our stories. There are many better options indeed. But I still love Medium community and will continue to curate and feature your stories. ❤️

The Joy of Having My First 10 Students on Udemy

New Training Program: From Zero

Congratulations: “From Zero to Substack Hero” Education Program Is on Udemy

Final Thoughts

As I prepare to adapt this book into a course, I feel privileged to play a role in amplifying its reach. This isn’t just a book about writing — it’s a book about becoming an advanced freelance writer going beyond Substack or Medium.

To anyone serious about their journey as a freelance writer, I cannot recommend this book enough.

And if you’re not already part of Dr. Yildiz’s community, let me just say: you’re missing out.

Now, this outstanding and exceptional book is available on many bookstores, as digital and audio formats, and the paperback will be published tomorrow.

As my good editor friend said in his stunning review:

“Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery is more than just a book. It is a knowledge transfer tool and an empowering roadmap for writers ready to elevate their Substack publications. As an editor and beta reader for this transformative and exceptional work, I was inspired and educated by its depth and clarity.”

I believe this book might make you a newsletter ninja. And you are welcome to join our Magnetic Newsletter Pro, Curated Newsletters, and SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), all architected by the only Dr Yildiz to amplify your voices.

Sincerely,
Aiden
Protégé, writer, gamer, course creator, and dedicated student of the craft

P.S. I’ll be in the course forum, ready to guide discussions and hear your thoughts. Just don’t expect me to have Dr. Yildiz’s patience when it comes to skipping exercises — you’ll thank me later.

Thank you for reading my story. And thank you for subscribing to the ILLUMINATION’s Substack Mastry Channel. I am pleased that our channel gained 500 subscribers recently and we got this reward from YouTube.

A Bizarre, Funny, yet Serious Issue Handled Well by Dr Yildiz

And every journey comes with challenges. Silly robots and online trolls thougth that Dr Yildiz stole my YouTube videos and made a course about it 😊So you can read his intellectual stories about this bizarre event like Shakespeare comedy first he became a villain than a hero again.

The Shocking Plagiarism Allegation by Online Trolls or AI Creating Unnecessary Stress
How a Trusted Educator and Author Became a Plagiarism Suspect for Plagiarizing His OWN CONTENT with the Lessons Every…medium.com

Integrity Always Wins Despite Pain and Suffering for Creators
Although pain is inevitable, suffering can be prevented and turned into joy and serenity. Here is how to heal and move…medium.com

Congratulations to two Retired Healthcare Doctors

Many thanks to dr Mike Broadly, DHSc and Dr Albert Jones for being the first who complete my courses and getting their certificates. I link them for inspiration here:

If you are a new reader, check out some of my most loved stories from different topics from my writing collection on this platform.

Gaming, Fun, and Humor: The Lifelines That Rescued Me From Social Media’s Grip on My Life

What Car Shows Mean to Me and How They Enriched My Life

A Movie Makers Oscar Predictions

AI Can Now Create Photorealistic Videos From Just a Text Prompt

Meet Top Writers of Medium on YouTube

Finding Comfort in Blocks: How Minecraft Eased My First Time Loneliness and Intense Grief at 17

Here is my Minecraft story collection:

My Minecraft Collection

A Little About Me for For Those Who Don’t Know Me Yet

I write stories in my field covering gaming, film-making, social media, and design. I am also a YouTuber. Thank you for subscribing to my account to get notifications when I post on Medium. I also created a new blogging site to share my content for free and promote stories of writers contributing to my publications on Medium.

I have a Substack newsletter. Let’s connect on Twitter and LinkedIn. I became a guest blogger on digitalmehmet.com community blog site. I own two publications on Medium. One for video gamers and another for YouTubers and Podcasters.

I also support Illumination Integrated Publications as a volunteer editor and participate in collaborative activities in the Slack Workspace. Writer applications for my publications can be sent via this weblink. Please add your Medium ID.

Subscribe to My Newsletter Technology, Gaming, Movies, and Social Media 🙏

Technology, Gaming, Movies, and Social Media

This newsletter is to inform and inspire my readers.

By Aiden MC

You can find amazing stories on ILLUMINATION-Gaming. If you are a writer, you are welcome to join us. Please review our guidelines before sending your first drafts:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

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We published this exclusive interview for freelance writers on Medium.

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Dear members, the digital writing landscape is growing and evolving quickly, giving writers constant challenges. Platforms rise and fall, trends shift unpredictably, algorithms are tweaked, and audience preferences change almost overnight. We have 2 weeks to a new, exciting new year.

In this dynamic environment, writers will no longer be just content creators. However, they will have multiple roles, like strategists, marketers, business people, accounts, entrepreneurs, and storytellers striving to adapt and thrive. Our goal is prepare you for 2025 by informing, educating, and inspiring with our resources.

To help make sense of it all, we sat down with our chief editor, for a few hours to explore the future of media, technology, and online writing as we approach 2025.

Dr. Yildiz is known for his thought leadership and practical insights as a seasoned book author, content creator, digital marketer, and strategist. This exclusive conversation covers the challenges, risks, pitfalls, and opportunities facing online writers in 2024 and guide you on what you need to know for 2025 to survive and thrive.

What emerged from our discussion is more than a simple Q&A, which we turned into a 12-minute summary script. This exclusive interview offers actionable insights on 12 of the most pressing questions our writers ask about the year ahead. Each response has been carefully edited and distilled to provide brevity, clarity, guidance, impact, memorability, and inspiration.

We are delighted to share this conversation with our Medium Substack subscribers because we believe in offering value that goes beyond surface-level commentary. These answers represent the expertise of a seasoned professional and might serve as a comprehensive resource — essentially the summary equivalent of 12 expert-level articles packed into one cohesive interview.

By sharing this on Medium and Substack, we aim to support our work and the broader community of writers who rely on us for thoughtful, impactful content. We believe this investment in quality reflects our commitment to you, our readers, as we walk through this rapidly changing digital writing domain together.

Whether you are an established book author, a growing writer, an aspiring freelancer, or just starting your online writing journey with hope as a side hustle, this exclusive interview might offer eye-opening perspectives, practical tips, and a clear roadmap to help you succeed in 2025 and beyond. With this post we will start offering premium content to our subscribers in 2025.

We will share key takeaways from this interview and new premium content for free members in our upcoming newsletters. We also use this interview and other educational material to turn to an interactive podcast using Google Notebook learning and interactive podcast technology and will share it on our Substack Mastery publication as a supplementary resource soon. The writing academy for freelance writers as an extension of the Subtack Mastery Boost will also be piloted after January 2025.

Thank you for reading and sharing it. We look forward to your feedback. Dr Yildiz agreed to answer questions on both the Medium and Substack versions of this interview. So please feel free to leave comments or ask questions. He is also happy to be contacted via his Slack workspace or website to support our members.

1. Is Medium a Platform in Decline or a Sleeping Giant?

Interviewer: Hi, Dr Yildiz; many writers feel Medium has lost its edge. Is it still worth investing in, or is it in decline now?

Dr. Yildiz: Medium is not what it used to be, but it is far from dead. With 200 million monthly visits, it still has a large audience and excellent domain authority as a publishing platform with a rich content ecosystem. However, success on Medium requires a different approach now. It is no longer enough to churn out content and hope for views and reads.

Writers need a focused strategy and use it only as a supplementary source. It is definitely not a money-making machine. If anyone tries to sell you a course Medium as such, question their motives.

The platform favors high-quality, niche content that keeps readers (paid members) engaged and continuing their subscriptions. I am a proud tier two member (a Friend of Medium), paying 3 times more than standard ones, and I invite my friends to upgrade to it to support creators.

Writers who aim for a balanced and focused depth and breadth rather than trying to please everyone are the ones who succeed. Medium works best when combined with other platforms like Substack or Patreon. For example, you can publish and share generic, engaging posts on Medium and direct readers to Substack for more exclusive content that can encourage paid subscribers.

Medium and its publications are growing in areas like self-improvement, memoirs, spirituality, technology, science, business, and many other topics in storytelling format. If your writing fits these niches and you are good at storytelling, it remains a good content marketing tool. However, relying only on Medium’s internal distribution without promoting your work elsewhere will leave you stuck.

For new writers in 2025, Medium is still worth trying. Publications can help grow your audience. Community and meaningful engagement are key success factors. Intangible benefits like building an audience or getting new leads are much better than tangible benefits like earning income directly. Some established writers stopped monetizing to build their audience. I covered this unique strategy in my upcoming book for advanced Substack writers.

You can focus on writing valuable content and engaging meaningfully with readers. Medium is no longer a money-making machine and not a quick path to earning substantial money, but it is great for finding new readers, building an audience gradually, sharing your ideas with like-minded people, and gaining influence as a content developer and thought leader.

2. The Newsletter Boom: A Bubble or the New Content Standard?

Interviewer: Newsletters are everywhere. Do you think this trend will continue?

Read more

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This educational bulletin was written by our chief editor to inform the community. We will also publish this on Substack for our extended subscribers. We also published on Medium. We interviewed Dr Yildiz asking some important questions about 2025 and provide a summary of it in another post soon. Please enjoy our free newsletter and share it with your friends who are interested in joining our publications on Medium.

Dear Subscribers, Friends of Medium, and Friends of ILLUMINATION, Happy December to you all! I hope this message finds you in good health. It is an absolute pleasure to be part of this vibrant community and serve it with my volunteer task force of 175 editors.

This monthly update was delayed for a week due to a hectic publishing schedule. This weekend, while volunteer editors made a concerted effort to clear the massive backlog of over 2000 drafts, I had a chance to create this post to update you quickly. Some stories got delayed up to 10 days, but now we are in good shape.

November was fantastic with challenges but extra busy as the number of writers and readers significantly increased. It was great, but unfortunately, new writers bring new problems which I will briefly mention. Before going into exciting updates on our progress, I want to briefly touch on problems so you can understand our plans and strategies for 2025.

There were two major yet preventable problems. The new writers we added did not read our guidelines or editorial bulletins, so most of them sent unacceptable content, like fully copying and pasting from generative AI tools, falsely assuming that they would earn income. This is a huge mistake, as, unlike other platforms, Medium does not support and does not allow AI-generated content to be monetized.

Therefore, I invested several hours to update the onboarding pack and clarified our position in terms of what we accept and what we don’t. One of the biggest trends is a significant increase in AI-generated content intoxicating the platform. It is a massive problem that Medium and our editors are addressing with significant effort. Readers also don’t like such content and report offenders.

As you might have noticed, many writers lost the MPP, and now some of them contact me on social media and ask me why. I believe some of them did not follow Medium’s rules, assumed it was just another blogging platform, and might have sent content that did not align with platform rules. As a publication owner, one of my goals is to inform and educate new writers and help them succeed.

However, despite my efforts, I am disappointed with some writers who do not read the submission guidelines, do not follow instructions given by volunteer editors, and do not check their private messages. And they keep sending content no readers would be interested in seeing or reading. They lose a big opportunity to find a ready audience on this platform and through our publications.

In addition, unfortunately, our Slack automation to send auto-invitation to new applicants has stopped. When I contacted the Slack support team, I sadly learned that many writers sent fake emails, so the number of failed attempts stopped this free/moderated service. Now many authentic writers ask me why they did not receive invitation to our Slack workspace.

Now, this is an extra and unwanted workload for me to manually send each writer an invitation to ILLUMINATION’s Slack workspace. Because of some careless writers, the good ones lose benefits and our workload further increases. Our stakeholders think that those writers who don’t act ethically do not deserve our free and moderated services. I wrote a story about it lately and link below.

7000+ Writers Miss an Opportunity By Not Joining Our Slack Workspace
Out of 33000+ writers contributing to our publications, 25,000+ of them use this free and moderated service joyfully…medium.com

I established these publications on diversity, inclusion, and equality principles, so I have no intention of supporting unethical behavior to intoxicate the platform and the community. While the majority of writers are excellent, a small group creates a large portion of problems, consuming our resources and wasting our time.

We understand unintentional mistakes, and I am particularly very tolerant of newcomers. I have been in their shoes before. Therefore, I open my doors and guide them to the best of my ability, like all our volunteer editors. Our goal is to create a pleasant environment where all writers benefit from the community resources to delight our readers. If you are joining our publications for the first time, please review the policies and rules linked to the updated onboarding document linked below.

Master Copy for 2025: Onboarding Information for New Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated…
Welcome and information pack for new contributors to our supportive Publications on Medium, now integrating with…medium.com

The key points are not to send harmful content against Medium rules, to use only copyright-free images and caption them, not to send AI-generated content, to send a maximum of one draft a day, and to check the private notes from editors. And not to cheat the system. It is that simple.

After highlighting these challenges, I will give you a quick update on the KEY stats of ILLUMINATION.

November Stats for ILLUMINATION

In November, we had the highest number of unacceptable content, but we published many great stories, too. ILLUMINATION gained an extra 15,000 followers, and 1000+ new writers joined our multiple publications. Now 34,000+ writers contribute to our 15 publications.

Despite increased followers and writers, views and reads were relatively lower in November. Still, one million readers viewed our stories in November, indicating an average of 6 stories read per reader, so it is okay but not at the desired level for this popular publication, which used to get over 2 million views with fewer followers.

We believe that some of these followers are non-members and don’t have a chance to read much. Therefore, I invite non-members to try Medium membership for at least one month and see the richness of content on Medium and fresh stories published by our publications and 20K+ other great publications.

You can find content about anything and everything in this rich ecosystem daily updated by thousands of authentic writers. I also invite those who can afford to join Friends of Medium and support authentic writers.

Over the past year, ILLUMINATION’s writers and audience have grown significantly. While we remain committed to delivering quality content, we have eased some style requirements to support new writers.

Updated Submission Guidelines

As editors were very busy publishing, I updated submission guidelines for large publications to make them easier for writers while maintaining our quality standards. Below are the links to the updated guidelines that every contributor should review before posting their stories. I will tag some new writers, as it appears they may not be reading or adhering to these guidelines, as evidenced by poor-quality drafts:

ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, and ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, Magnetic Newsletter Pro.

As outlined in the new submission guidelines for each publication, the most important rule is a maximum of one draft per writer — no more submissions of old stories. Some new and passionate writers have submitted many self-published stories every day, clogging the publishing queue.

We are tolerant of ignorance for such things, but editors are exhausted seeing too much useless content that our readers will not enjoy reading. I want to highlight that editors will remove writers submitting AI-generated content from our publications immediately. Furthermore, Medium does not permit the monetization of such content.

Despite these challenges, we remain committed to our mission and will explore various solutions in 2025.

Introduction to Friends of ILLUMINATION

In November, I introduced a new program called Friends of ILLUMINATION. The program’s purpose is to increase quality content, reading times, reader satisfaction, and writers’ earnings.

This team supplements 30 editors of ILLUMINATION as Medium restricts the number of editors. I created a new account for them. So you can follow or subscribe to it.

They started curating stories they publish and nominated ones in our Slack workspace. They created 8 episodes of collections in November. Here is the latest one.

I wrote a story about this initiative titled Be a Friend of ILLUMINATION. I am pleased that many writers showed interest. You can read the details in the attached story.

This initiative will serve as the first tier of the Substack Mastery Boost program, which I will briefly introduce in the next section. My goal is to integrate Medium with Substack and create a competitive advantage for our writers.

Update on Substack Mastery Pilot Program Integrating Two Large Creator-Friendly Platforms

Medium and Substack are currently the most creator-friendly platforms therefore I produce innovative solutions to integrate them to support our writers and help them build their audiences. These platforms are different in many ways but they complement each other.

For those unfamiliar, in the past four months, I have conducted an in-depth analysis of the data collected from various channels, and I identified three main types of writers in our community. I explained them in a blog post on my website.

ILLUMINATION Substack Community Support & Boost Program - Dr Mehmet Yildiz
This is a summary of 3-tier service offerings for creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs on Substack…digitalmehmet.com

The first group consists of occasional writers who post infrequently — perhaps once a week, once a month, or even once every three months. They tend to submit something and disappear for a while, contributing minimal additional workload. They are ideal free subscribers and will fit the Friends of ILLUMINATION initiative.

The second group includes writers who enjoy writing and engaging with readers and fellow writers. They write for the joy of it, without concern for statistics or income. If their stories are delayed, they remain understanding and appreciative of our services, adding little to the workload since they don’t complain. They are also a good fit for the Friends of ILLUMINATION initiative.

The third group, however, consists of a large group of writers who post at least one story a day, with some submitting three to five stories across multiple publications and repurposing their work on other platforms to generate income as freelancers.

When their stories are delayed, they tend to express their frustration, leading to complaints that end up in my inbox, Slack messages, social media, or Substack Notes, which consumes significant personal time for me. While I would love to support these dedicated writers, our Medium publications are not structured for commercial pursuit.

I have developed a solution for the third group of contributors, which comprises about 25% of our writers. To better support these dedicated freelance writers or content entrepreneurs, we created a priority service to help them achieve their goals outside Medium, leveraging our external network. I briefly introduced this concept in previous stories, and editors introduced it in bulletins.

I also noticed that writers in the second group want to grow and try other platforms like Substack. I invite them to join the Substack Mastery Boost initiative to leverage the low-cost marketing offerings.

We began piloting it in November. 100+ writers joined the initiative. We support them through our Slack workspace. It is a challenging program for me but it looks promising. So it is worth the effort. My goal is to test it for 12 months and, if it becomes successful, offer it as a supplementary service in 2026. I remain optimistic and will continue to invest my time.

Who can benefit from the priority service?

This service is designed for freelance writers looking to earn income from their writing across multiple platforms and who require marketing support to grow their audience with community backing. Writers who create solely for fun or as a hobby may not need this priority service. However, you are welcome to join if interested.

Participation in the priority service is optional and can be canceled at any time if members do not find value in it. I have documented the program’s details on my website, and interested freelance writers and content entrepreneurs can apply through the provided link.

We will amplify the newsletters of our partners on the page soon. For further information, you can send me a message through my website.

On Medium, we created an account to provide educational sources and updates on our program. You may follow or subscribe to this account.

Updates on Guest Blogging on Our Community Blog Site

I opened my website to guest bloggers by creating a community blog to increase the visibility of our writers’ work beyond Medium and Substack. Around 200 writers joined and began sharing their blog posts to create back-links to their stories, newsletters, and websites. All authentic and ethical writers are welcome to join and benefit from this free service.

Blog Posts by Digitalmehmet Contributors — Dr Mehmet Yildiz
This site covers eclectic stories & newsletters from 100+ topics on Medium & Substack contributed by 32,000+ writers…digitalmehmet.com

Update on My Recent Book Projects for Substack Knowledge and Skill Building

To support the writing community and help them gain new knowledge and skills for a competitive advantage in the market, I authored a book titled Substack Mastery, which is now available in popular online bookstores. It was well received by readers and is now trending as a best-selling book in its categories. Here is the universal book link for Subtack Mastery for purchase.

I published a new version of the Substack Mastery for busy people and explained the reasons in a new story. How I Will Help Freelance Writers Save $600 by Condensing My Bestseller 5 Times for Them.

My new book is for advanced writers, which will be available on 31 December 2024. I introduced it in a story:

Preface: A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery
How to Scale Your Newsletters and Reach Thousands for a Successful Writing Businessmedium.com

In addition, Aiden created a new training program by using the Substack Mastery book audio version offering 21 videos. It will offered through Udemy, Skillshare, and other educational sites. He also made it available through my Substack publication Content Marketing Insights. I wrote a story about it titled Creating a Solid Plan and Flexible Strategy to Boost Your Newsletters.

I will continue beta reading for the next version of the Sustack Mastery. So, if you enjoy reading and providing feedback, here are links to chapters for free: Preface of “Substack Mastery” for Beta Readers, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19…

In closing, I want to thank you for your continued support and commitment to our community. Your contributions make ILLUMINATION Integrated publications a vibrant place for writers and readers. I encourage all of you to review the updated submission guidelines and consider the new priority service if it aligns with your goals.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or thoughts on how we can improve. Thank you for being a part of our exciting and joyful journey.

One of our exciting projects is the first-of-its-kind and innovative ILLUMINATION Writing Academy for freelance writers, which we will roll out in 2025. I will introduce it in another bulletin soon.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

I wrote many stories for new writers and compiled them in a list which you might find some relevant ones.

Writing, Content Development & Marketing Strategy Guides

I am here to help my readers, so reach out when you need support. You may take a quick taste of some of my inspiring stories in this collection. If you wish, you may subscribe to my Health and Wellness newsletter to benefit from my decades of health, science, and technology experience.

If you are a new writer on this platform, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 34K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. You can contact me via my website.

You are welcome to join the ILLUMINATION Community on Medium and Substack and our education tool, Substack Mastery, curated by ILLUMINATION-Curators. Here is the Importance and Value of Medium Friendship for Writers and Readers.

You can join my newsletters, where I offer experience-based content on health, content strategy, and technology topics to inform and inspire my readers.

Health and Wellness by Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights

Technology Excellence and Leadership

Get an email whenever Dr Mehmet Yildiz publishes.
Many thanks to Aiden (Owner of Illumination Gaming) for adding new writers to our publications in addition to his editing, publishing, and curation support.

I will also reach out to you via Substack using my newsletter Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights, ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers, and Substack Mastery of ILLUMINATION Community.

Thank you for your contributions. We are here to support you as you delight our readers. Let’s make December a great month for writers and readers on this vibrant and supportive community.

New writer applications for our publications are made via our writer registration portal. Please send your correct Medium ID to get access. Here is the direct link: https://digitalmehmet.com/contact/

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This story was written by , our founding member. He published it on Medium and asked us to distribute it for free to empower our new writers like Veronica. and wants to create a collaborative spirit among writers and readers across multiple platforms. We will soon start to provide curated stories of our founding members.

G’day Dear Subscribers,

As Medium does not distribute important stories like this, I will also publish this on Substack, distributing it to a large audience. Talented new writers need to be supported and nurtured to shine. An intro I did yesterday only got seven reads on a publication with 156,000+ followers. Do you reckon Medium has distributed this story to a fraction of this colossal publication? The answer is obvious in the following screen capture, which tells a thousand words. 

But I don’t care about Medium’s boost or alleged distribution system anymore because we can now amplify Medium stories of new writers on Substack, which is ironic. Despite all, I enjoy the community on Medium; therefore, I support writers of all levels through my Health and Science pub and others. I know this lack of distribution is not exclusive to me. Dr Yildiz also wrote about it related to his interviews.

Dear Subscribers,

As an editor, content curator, and now a founding member of the Illumination Substack Mastery community, I started introducing my editor colleagues and writers contributing to ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium and Substack to empower them. It is a great pleasure for me to do so as every ethical writer deserves recognition. 

My latest ones were about Dr and . If you missed them you can read at the end of this story. There are several more great writer profiles at the end. Please consider exploring their stories and engaging in them. You never know which gems you will find on this platform. 

Today I will introduce another great writer, web developer, and application developer of Illumination Substack Mastery boost pilot program. 

This talented businesswoman is a founding member and works with . She solves technical issues like a wizard, codes applications, manages projects, and writes stories and blog posts too. I guess you are now wondering who is this wonder woman 🤠

So Let’s Meet Veroonica O E 👏

Veroonica O E is a multi-talented creative whose work has quickly become one of my favorites. She has a remarkable way of blending expertise with practicality, making even complex topics feel approachable and actionable.

Recently Veroonica volunteered to update our community blogging site and our Chief Editor, Dr Mehmet Yildiz (Main) who opened his website to guest bloggers is very happy with Veroonica’s contributions and he will write a story about her contributions soon. 

During our conversations on Slack workspace, I learned that Veroonica is an explorer at heart, and her passions span four fascinating areas: Product Management, Travel, Personal Finance, and Personal Growth.

With years of experience in product management, she has a gift for turning visionary ideas into real-world solutions. Veroonica shares actionable insights on how to build better products, successfully launch them, and ensure they genuinely delight users. If you’re an experienced product manager or just starting out, her strategies and tips might be pure gold.

But that’s just one side of her. 

Veroonica is also a travel enthusiast who believes that travel is more than reaching a destination — it’s about welcoming the journey. Her practical advice makes globetrotting smoother, more enjoyable, and filled with memorable experiences.

When it comes to personal finance, Veroonica advocates financial freedom. Her writing empowers readers with smart saving habits, investment strategies, and tools to make informed financial decisions that secure their future.

And we can’t forget her passion for personal growth. 

Veroonica is constantly on a journey of self-improvement and she loves sharing the small habits and mindset shifts that lead to big transformations. Her goal is to inspire you to take small, actionable steps toward becoming the best version of yourself.

I’m genuinely excited to introduce you to Veroonica’s work. If you’re looking to improve your career, finances, travel experiences, or personal development, her insights and stories are something valuable for everyone.

Here are some examples to give you a quick taste:

How to Become a Product Manager: Essential Steps to Start Your Journey — Part 1

How to Become a Product Manager: Mastering Essential Technical Skills — Part 2

How to Become a Product Manager: Cracking the Code to Ace PM Interviews — Part 3

Mastering the Path to Becoming a Product Manager — Part 4

Unlocking Your Best Self: Overcome Laziness and Thrive in Your 20s

Unlocking the Power of Atomic Habits: My Journey from Small Changes to Life-Altering…

Proven Strategies for Boosting Productivity: Master Your Day with These Effective Tips and…

7 Clever Pricing Tricks Stores Use to Make You Spend More

Your Ultimate Guide to 80C Investments: How to Save Tax Efficiently in 2024

Thank you for reading and sharing these great stories and following Veroonica O E on Medium and soon on Substack. 🙏You won’t regret it.

If you enjoyed this story you may also check out an interview with businesswoman Shamim Rajani conducted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz (Main) recently. 

Woman in Tech: Interview with Shamim Rajani
An Award Winning Business Woman, Thought Leader, and Technology / Entrepreneurship Writermedium.com

If you want to take your substack to another level, join our exciting Substack Mastery team and reap benefits of this supportive community. More info is in our website drafted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz. He also informed us in the latest newsletter on Medium.

ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications: October 2024 Updates
Changes, new submission guidelines, and kick-start of our Substack Mastery pilot for membersmedium.com

I have also introduced several writers,so please consider exploring their profiles and inspiring stories.

Meet Mr Sylvain Zyssman, a Tech Expert Sylvain Zyssman

Introducing Dr. David Mokotoff David Mokotoff, MD

Why I Like Hidden Gem Timothy Agnew and Why You Should Explore His Writing on Medium Timothy Agnew

“Magic Is Present. An Introductory Story About Substack Mastery” Dr. Gabriella Korosi

Meet Naya Monroe on My Health & Science Publication of Illumination on Medium.com Naya Monroe, BCBA, LCDC-I

Meet Dr Adam Tabriz, MD, on Health & Science Publication of ILLUMINATION Dr. ADAM TABRIZ

Congratulations, William F. Spivey, for the Recognition by the “African American on the Move Book Club” William Spivey

Meet Lawson Wallace on My Health and Science Publication on Medium Lawson Wallace

I will introduce many more great writers soon so stay tuned.

As editors were extremely busy, I also attempted to create my first writer onboarding pack and will continue to do it when I get a chance. New writers might like this short intro to our pubs.

Onboarding New Writers Joining ILLUMINATION Publications Today: Episode #77
Welcome and a quick acknowledgment of your acceptance to ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium with helpful…medium.com

I also enjoy reading interviews conducted by Dr Mehmet Yildiz (Main) which can be found in this collection. Each interview helped me meet a new writer and develop my relationships with them.

My good editor/curator friend Aiden also introduced a few writers and he said he will continue to do so. I link a few I found from his collection.

Meet Meet Karen Goldfarb — Film Director Karen Goldfarb

Meet Tejus Yakhob — Film Director Tejus Yakhob

Meet Douglas Kwon Douglas Kwon

We also introduce our editors and compile them in a collection.

Thank you for reading my thoughts and feelings.

By the way, I heard that two editors were made redundant on Medium today and felt sorry about them. I liked both. Please say farewell to these two great leaders.

A Heartfelt Tribute and Gratitude to Directors Ariel Meadow Stallings and Buster Benson, Who Left…
No one’s job is secure, and losing our jobs goes far beyond financial concerns, impacting our psychology, sense of…medium.com

As a disclaimer, my stories, of course, never include health or professional advice.

I am a retired healthcare scientist in his mid-70s, and I have several grandkids who keep me going and inspire me to write on this platform. I am also the chief editor of the Health and Science publication on Medium.com. As a giveback activity, I volunteered as an editor for Illumination publications, supporting many new writers. I will be happy to read, publish, and promote your stories. You may connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora, where I share stories I read. You may subscribe to my account to get my stories in your inbox when I post. You can also find my distilled content on Subtack: Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

Lessons Learned from My Personal Stories
Thanks for subscribing to Health Science Research By Dr Mike Broadly.

I also published this story on my blog site.

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Dear community members, today we want to share an important story of our chief editor who kindly agreed with us to post to our library for free for all members to read and learn from this insightful story. Departure of these two directors on Medium concerned us about the situation of Medium so we wanted to keep you update and focus on diversifying your content on multiple platforms including Substack. We never know what will happen to any platform in this economic climate. Thank you for reading this valuable story, commenting on it, and sharing with your friends.

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Professional Memoirs

I felt compelled to write this tribute after a LinkedIn post sent by my editor colleague reached me today. The news of Ariel and Buster’s departures struck me suddenly and touched my heart, bringing an initial wave of sadness. However, after reading a story by Ariel, which was also shared by another editor colleague, , I felt somewhat comforted.

Redundancies always sadden me. During my 42 years of employment, I felt the pain of saying goodbye to colleagues and friends who had become like family. I felt the same when I heard that Ariel and Buster’s roles were made redundant.

For those who have not experienced the pain of redundancy, I hope this post provides some insight. Before my retirement in 2021, at one point in my career at IBM, where I held an executive role, my position, along with 80% of my department, was made redundant.

Although I was financially secure thanks to my investments, I felt a profound sadness. They gave me 90 days to find a role in another department, and my employment with IBM — an organization to which I had poured my heart and soul — would end.

I started reaching out, connecting with colleagues across departments, calling frequently to inquire about opportunities, hoping for a chance. My wife would say, “Why worry so much about work? You are capable of opening your own consultancy business and perhaps earning even more.”

But what she didn’t understand is that losing one’s job reaches far beyond financial concerns, often impacting our sense of purpose and identity. When I learned about Ariel and Buster’s redundancies, that old, familiar pain resurfaced, inspiring me to write this story.

Scott Lamb introduced me to Ariel as a candidate for the boost pilot program in 2023. Ariel approached me professionally and maintained an excellent onboarding experience, guiding me with relevant resources and references. She even joined my Slack workspace, kept me up-to-date, and reviewed my updated submission guidelines, providing valuable feedback.

Ariel and I collaborated effectively throughout my time as a boost nominator. We had a few heated discussions, but they were always professional and productive, with each of us gaining something valuable from every conversation. I respected her approach, even when facing challenges outside of her control.

Some of her points — such as no feedback from curators — never sat well with me, as I have never seen a pilot program without feedback. I am currently running a supplementary boost program for a Substack initiative to empower freelance writers for sustainable income with community support, where I continuously seek feedback not only from stakeholders but also from the public to refine the program.

After ten months of an excellent working relationship with Ariel, I decided to leave the boost program for my own reasons. Even my resignation announcement to Ariel was met with grace, as she thanked me for my contributions and wished me the best.

Another boost nominator colleague, Aiden, who was made redundant from the pilot program said the same good things about Ariel who honored him. Unfortunately, two other directors at Ariel’s level did not respond to my resignation email, which left an impression on me.

I am deeply sorry to see Ariel leave this role, as she made significant contributions and, in my view, helped stabilize Medium during challenging times. Before the boost program, it seemed to me that Medium was on the brink of collapse. While the program is still not perfect, it has contributed greatly to the platform’s stability, and Ariel deserves recognition for her part in this.

Reading Ariel’s story made me feel reassured, as she has a colorful life filled with skills and interests. I believe she will not have a dull moment in her new role. In fact, she seems to view every job as a temporary adventure — a meaningful life philosophy.

Now, let me speak a bit about Buster. Although I did not work directly with him, I had the opportunity to meet him online and exchange a few valuable messages, which left a deep impression on me.

Buster is a thought leader, problem solver, and excellent communicator. On several occasions when issues related to my publications needed escalation, Buster was understanding and attentive, asking for my input to address them and proposing alternative solutions.

From my experience, Buster was the first Medium director who truly valued publications managed by volunteers, who donated their precious time to make Medium a better place — a better part of the Internet. He was also the first director to inform me that Medium appreciated the efforts of our volunteers.

His professional and supportive approach left a lasting impression on me. I have continued to follow his insights on Medium and beyond, as Buster is an inspiring writer, book author, and communicator. One of his most impactful works, in my opinion, is his viral post on cognitive biases titled Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet: Because Thinking Is Hard. It is well worth reading.

If you want to learn more about Buster, you may check out this creative diary titled Life in Weeks, which might stimulate your mind and warm your heart.

I wanted to write this tribute to recognize the valuable contributions Ariel Meadow Stallings and Buster Benson made to the Medium community and invite my readers to thank them and say farewell.

Their departures represent a meaningful loss to me and to all of us who value the spirit of collaboration and dedication they brought to our community. I am also grateful to my editor friends who helped me uncover Ariel and Buster’s stories across platforms — without them, I may never have known amidst our busy lives.

To my knowledge, Medium has not publicly acknowledged these departures or shared details of any replacement roles. If I learn otherwise, I will share an update with you.

Above all, I hope this tribute encourages my readers to pause for a moment and recognize the valuable contributions Ariel and Buster have made and learn from their experiences.

Whether by commenting on this story or taking a moment to read their work, let us honor the lasting impact they have had on our community. Their presence has left a meaningful imprint on this platform—one that we will carry forward and not soon forget.

Let’s remember that losing our jobs goes far beyond financial concerns and has a psychological impact, affecting our sense of purpose and identity. I see Medium a large family so let’s take this opportunity and say a proper farewell to these two valuable family members who touched our minds and heart with their meaningful contributions.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a happy and healthy life.

You can also comment on the Medium version of this story.

Or the you may leave a comment on the version of our community blogs.

I am here to help my readers, so reach out when you need support. You may take a quick taste of some of my inspiring stories in this collection. If you want to receive distilled content, you may subscribe to my Health and Wellness newsletter to benefit from my decades of health, science, and technology experience.

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Health and Wellness by Dr Mehmet Yildiz

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Technology Excellence and Leadership

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