Essential Checklist for Writers
By: Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Tags: Self Improvement, Freelancing, Content Marketing, Business, Writing

Service Excellence

Essential Checklist for Writers

Improve the quality and readability of your stories

Photo designed by the author

Introduction

I prepared this checklist for writers planning to submit to ILLUMINATION-Curated publication. However, these points can be used for any publication on Medium or other content platforms on the web. I prepared this article to serve as a giveback to the writers’ community.

Many thanks for the feedback provided to the story raising quality bars of ILLUMINATION. Our readers are impressed and delighted by the improvement. Please review our position as we will implement the rules in these guidelines.

Some writers at Level 1 want to move to Level 2, and many writers at L2 wish to progress towards L3 goals. This initiative is an ongoing process. As an editorial team, we will continue to support these transitioning activities and help you transform your writing to the desired levels.

Based on the request from some committed writers who take personal responsibility for their progress, I prepared a checklist to help with the submission process. You can use this checklist before submitting your stories both to ILLUMINATION and to ILLUMINATION-Curated

Well written stories from ILLUMINATION can be nominated to be transferred to ILLUMINATION-Curated using various ways. You can learn the approaches from this article.

Checklist for Quality Submissions

Here is a summary of our editorial criteria in a checklist format.

1 — Did I write my story for the reader?

Who is my audience? Did I write this story for a specific or a broad audience? Is my writing at an appropriate level for my intended audience?

2 — Does my story have value for the reader?

What value do I give in this story? What takeaway points did I provide? Do these takeaway points matter to my audience? Does my story make an impact?

3 — Is my story easy to read?

Did I use a logical structure? Did I choose simple and useful words?

4 — Does my story meet high editorial standards?

If I were the editor to review this story, would I accept it? Did I use Hemingway Editor to check the editorial quality of my story?

5 — Does my introduction paragraph align with my conclusion?

Is there a clear link between my introduction and conclusion? Can I make my introduction more attractive? Can I make my conclusion memorable?

6 — Did I make my content interesting and engaging?

Did I use a dull or exciting style? Did I choose lively words? Did I use analogies and metaphors to make my content enjoyable? Did I use a conversational tone to make my story engaging?

7 — Does my story provide my intended messages?

If I were the reader of this story, would I understand the intended message? Are my points clear?

8 — Is my story rigorous for facts?

Did I check the facts from reliable resources? Did I provide adequate citations for borrowed content?

9 — Did I write my story honestly?

Do I believe in my content? Did I write this story to create a sensation or provide useful messages? Are the messages align with my genre, e.g. fiction, non-fiction.

10 — Does my story give a pleasant reading experience?

Did I reflect the correct mood aligning with my content? Would the reader show disgust with my points?

11 — Is my story formatted attractively?

Did I check my paragraphs to ensure they are short? Are my sentences complete?

12 — Is my story clean and uncluttered?

Did I remove unnecessary objects from my story? Did I remove obsolete words or phrases?

13 — Are my title and subtitles formatted correctly?

Did I use a standard title formatting style? Did I check titles are not all caps?

14 — Are the photos of my story appropriate and captioned?

Does my photo align with the theme of my content? Did I use copyright-free images? Did I caption photos with correct source links?

15 — Did I address potentially ambiguous points in my story?

Is my story understandable from the level I set? Did I remove obscure words and phrases?

16 — Did I choose the right tags for my story?

Did I use relevant tags representing the messages of the story?

17 — Did I add at least one of the publication tags to make my story visible to the followers?

This is optional but highly recommended. Our publication has seven tags: business, science, technology, self-improvement, philosophy, fiction, poetry. Using these tags capture your story in the relevant tab. Some readers only follow specific tabs which are interest to them.

18 — Did I apply one final spell-check and grammar check for my story?

Is my story free from spelling mistakes? Are the sentences grammatically correct? If I purposely use incorrect words, did I indicate their use to the reader?

19 — Did I read my story backwards to ensure no typos remained?

Did I remove all typos? Did I ask a friend or colleague to read it for me?

20 — Did I check numbers and bullet points are correct?

Are numbers in my lists correct? Are bullet points standard and aligned?

21 — Did I test the web links?

Does the link go to the correct address when I click on the link?

22 — Did I disclose affiliate links?

Are affiliate links mentioned clearly in the beginning and at the end of the story? Are the affiliate links relevant to the theme of the story? Do the affiliate links offend my audience?

23 — Did I check Medium Rules to ensure my story complies with rules?

Does my story meet Medium Rules? Did I particularly check my story to ensure it does not include hate speech? Is there a possibility for my story to offend my readers? If there is a potential offence, how can I prevent it?

24 — Did I ask a trusted editor to help with blind spots?

If my content is controversial, did I ask an editor to provide guidance on my blind spots? Did I follow the advice from the editors?

25 — Did I provide relevant references at the end?