Updated: June 21, 2021
How to Write for the Ascent Publication on Medium
Your stories are what keep us growing.
The Ascent Publication’s journey began a little over five years ago when our founder, Steve Campbell, published this story.
What started as a personal blog quickly became an after-hours side hustle, and eventually, a full-blown community. Today, we curate and feature the work of countless writers, driving millions of story views a month.
Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the internet’s most gifted storytellers, from Anthony Moore, Shannon Ashley, and Nicolas Cole to Ayodeji Awosika, Amardeep Parmar, and Tim Denning. And we’re getting to know more, like Eva Keiffenheim and Kirstie Taylor, every day.
One thing we’ve come to learn is that no matter who someone is, what they believe, or where they come from, everyone has a story to tell on the path to happiness & fulfillment, and those stories add value to the world.
Whether you’re in the midst of a major lifestyle adjustment, career change, relationship transition, productivity streak, or self-improvement journey, your unique perspective can help inform and inspire so many others.
We believe in authentic, personal storytelling.
The stories that perform best for us are rooted in firsthand experience and packed with tons of value in the form of personal lessons, actionable advice, and profound takeaways.
If this feels like a good home for you and your story, we’d love to help you get published. Below are the necessary steps.
An Elevated Focus on Quality
Like Medium itself, we value quality content. We want readers to walk away feeling empowered, ready to conquer any challenges they may face.
For every story we review, we ask ourselves the following questions:
✔ Is this story written from a personal perspective?
Does the writer provide empirical evidence to support or justify their claims? Is the story rooted in real-world knowledge or experience?
✔ ️Is this story written for the reader?
Does it provide meaningful advice, offer an original take on an important issue, or share a new insight or perspective beyond conventional wisdom?
✔ ️Does this story offer a good reading experience?
Is the story well-formatted with a clear beginning, middle, and end? Is the language clear and concise, with a mobile audience in mind?
✔ ️Does this story meet a high editorial standard?
Is it well-written, easy to follow, narratively compelling, properly punctuated, and free of typos or grammatical errors?
For automated assistance in catching typos and other trivial mistakes, we highly recommend installing Grammarly. This will not only help you submit error-free work but also helps us streamline our reviews. You can sign up here using our affiliate link.Here are some additional things to keep in mind:
- We only accept unpublished drafts. This is so we can ensure proper scheduling and that each story spends ample time on our front page.
- We only accept Partner Program stories. This qualifies your story for curation, exposing it to a much larger audience (and potentially earning you money in the process). You can join the Partner Program here.
Joining Our Growing Community
Once you’re familiar with the above, the next step is to get you added as a contributor. Anyone can be added as an Ascent writer, but at this point in our Medium journey, we prefer writers with previous experience.
When you’re ready, all you need to do is fill out this quick form:
We review new writer applications on a weekly basis. Once approved, you will receive an email from Medium confirming so, depending on your settings, and be able to see us in your list of publications.
Then, you can start sending us your polished drafts!
When submitting a story, please consider it a rejection if you don't hear from us within 72 hours. We pride ourselves on being quick but don't always have the ability to respond to everything.You should receive an email or notification from Medium once your story is accepted or rejected. If accepted, we typically will leave a comment at the top of your story letting you know when it will be published as well.
That’s it! If you focus on the guidelines above, you’ll be on the fast track to getting published with us. Good luck and welcome to the Ascent.
