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Zulie @ Medium
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Manage new and existing writers in one place, filter submissions, and customize extra settings to optimize your submissions flow
Image created by Jason Combs
Publication editors now have the option to manage all their publication submissions from both new and existing writers in the Stories tab of their publication. All editors will also be able to manage submissions more easily, in ways detailed below.
Publications are our communities on Medium. This improvement is aimed at making it as simple as possible for editors to curate and edit stories their readers will love, and for writers to find and contribute to publications they’re interested in.
What are the improvements from an editor’s perspective?
You can choose to manage submissions from existing writers and new writers in one place, and the publication inbox is now more streamlined, with better filtering and feedback options.
Managing all submissions in one inbox
You have the option to allow any writer to submit stories to your publication, not just ones you’ve added to your publication as a writer. This means you don’t have to manage two separate inboxes of submissions from new versus existing writers — they can all live in the same place.
In the submission settings, you’ll now be able to choose who you allow submissions from:
- Approved writers (that is, writers you have already added to your publication)
- All writers, including approved writers AND new writers whom you have not yet added to your publication
- No writers at all, if you want to close your pub to all submissions
You can set what kind of stories you’ll accept — unpublished drafts, published stories, or both. You can set a link to your submission guidelines, which all writers will have easily accessible before submitting stories to you. You can also set limits on how many stories a writer can have submitted to you at any one time.
Screenshot of your new submissions settings
A streamlined, better-organized inbox
Inside your publication inbox, you’ll be able to see a filterable list of submissions, including stories only from new writers, existing approved writers, or both.
If you’ve made requests for edits via private note, you can set the status as “edits requested,” which will show up in a writer’s stories page — or switch it to approved or declined if you’ve made up your mind with no further feedback needed. You can filter by all those statuses, too.
Any status change one editor makes will be reflected to all editors of the publication in the inbox, which makes multi-editor collaboration easier.
We’re expecting to make several updates in the coming months, so stay tuned for more improvements to publication submissions.
What will writers experience?
Writers who have already been added to your publication will see your publication pop up in the “Contributing” page below, which pops up when they submit a story to a publication. If you’re open to new writers, and the writer follows you, your publication will show up in the “Following” tab.
Mocked-up screenshot of what a writer might see
Once they select a publication, the writer will need to confirm they have read your submission guidelines.
Mocked-up screenshot of what a writer might see
From there, the editor can change the status, which the writer (and other editors from the publication) will see on their end, too.
How editors can opt into the new publication submissions flow
All editors will be able to use this improved submissions flow once this feature is fully rolled out. If you want to be able to manage both new writer submissions and existing writers in the same inbox, you can easily opt in by going to the Submission settings tag and selecting “Open to all” in the Submission mode section.
I’ve created a video here to walk through what the new flow looks like from both the writer and the editor perspective. You can also check out the Help Center for additional details.
Publication submissions should be simple and seamless
Editors have often told us they wished managing submissions were easier. Previously, editors had to design an application process from scratch to allow writers to be added, since there was no way for writers to find and apply to write for publications. It was manual and cumbersome, and it made creating and running a publication challenging.
Now, editors can easily see and manage the state of their submissions in one place. Writers can control their submissions to publications in one place and easily discover new publications that are open to submissions.
We hope this makes publishing and writing on Medium simple, rewarding, and fun.
FAQ
Q: How do I opt in?
We’re rolling out the feature — when your publication gets access, you’ll be able to access this new management system for submissions from your existing writers. If you want to also manage submissions from new writers in the same place, go to your Submission settings tab and select “Open to all.”
Q: What if I try it and change my mind?
Editors go through seasons of life, just like everyone else! You can change the submissions settings as frequently as you want. If you get busy and can’t manage any new submissions, you can close your pub to all. If you only want to work with only existing writers for the moment, that’s fine. If you only want to allow submissions from new writers one week per month, you can do that. It’s up to you how you manage publication submissions.
Q: How do I control my submissions?
You have multiple ways to control your submissions, from choosing to open your publication submissions to all writers, or keeping it just for existing writers. You can set limits on how many submissions each writer can send at a time. You can choose to allow only unpublished drafts, published stories, or both.
Q: What if I get spammy submissions?
You have a few ways to control this. You can block the writer from submitting to your publication (this won’t block the writer from your account, only from submitting to your publication). You can add stringent limits on submission numbers, so for example, only allow one submission per writer. And if you want, you can always set it so you only get stories from existing writers, and manage new writer submissions the way you did before.
Q: What’s coming next?
We want to improve communication between writers and editors, streamline workflows for multi-editor publications, and investigate new (and fun!) ways for writers to discover publications that are open to submissions.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on these improvements.
Publication editors, welcome to your new submissions inbox was originally published in The Medium Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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