# Distribution & Boost — the depth behind SKILL.md §4

Load this when a writer's core problem is reach: "views but no distribution," "how do I get Boosted," or "what disqualifies a story."

## The three tiers, in detail

Medium does not push every story equally. A story is routed through up to three tiers, gated at each step.

### Network Distribution
The baseline. A published story reaches:
- People who **follow you**.
- People who **follow the story's tags/topics**.

This is why a story with no relevant tags reaches almost no one beyond direct followers — there is no topic surface for the network to match it to. Tags are the lever here (SKILL.md §6).

### General Distribution
Broader algorithmic feeds (the home feed, topic pages, "for you" surfaces). A story is eligible if it **passes the distribution guidelines** — original, not spam, not overtly promotional, well-formed, follows the rules. Most competently written stories clear this. Failing it is usually a content-quality or self-promotion problem, not bad luck.

### Boost
A **curated** tier that grants extra reach across the platform — the closest thing to amplification. It is not automatic and not buyable.

## The Boost two-step path

1. **Nomination.** A story is nominated by either:
   - a **community curator**, or
   - an **editor of a Boost-eligible publication** (this is the concrete benefit of being in such a pub).
2. **Validation.** Medium's internal **curation team** reviews the nominated story against distribution standards before it receives the boosted reach.

Both steps must pass. A nomination is necessary, not sufficient.

**Publication-independent:** you can be Boosted from your own solo profile — but you then depend on a community curator finding you, with no editor nomination path. That asymmetry is a real input to the solo-vs-pub decision (SKILL.md §5).

## The 5 Boost qualification criteria, expanded

A story must be all five. Use these as a pre-submission checklist:

| Criterion | What it actually means | Failure smell |
|---|---|---|
| **Constructive** | Adds something usable — a method, an argument, a resolution. | Vague hot-take with no takeaway. |
| **Original** | Your own thinking and words; not rehashed, not AI-slop, not previously published. | Reads like a summary of other posts. |
| **Insightful** | A non-obvious angle or hard-won lesson, not a list everyone already knows. | "10 tips" with the obvious 10. |
| **Well-crafted** | Clear structure, clean prose, good pacing, formatted to read. | Wall of text, broken flow. |
| **Memorable** | A reader could describe it to someone a week later. | Forgettable; blends into the feed. |

If a story misses one of these, route the fix to `medium-writing` — that is craft, not strategy.

## Common distribution disqualifiers

Stories get held out of General/Boost distribution most often for:
- **Overtly self-promotional** content (the post exists to sell, not to help).
- **Affiliate-link-heavy** or thin "content marketing" pieces.
- **Previously published / duplicate** content without proper canonical handling.
- **Misleading titles or clickbait** that the body doesn't deliver on.
- **Guideline violations** (spam, low-effort, policy breaches).

Diagnosing "no distribution": first check the story passes guidelines (General), then check tags (Network match), then assess Boost-worthiness against the 5 criteria. Do not jump to "post more."

## Boost-eligible publication landscape

Medium runs a **Boost Nomination Program** with 100+ participating publications whose editors can nominate. The strategic takeaway is not the specific list (it changes) but the pattern: **joining a Boost-eligible publication in your niche buys you a nomination path** you cannot get from a cold solo profile. When advising solo-vs-pub, weigh this concretely — if Boost reach is the goal and the writer has no curator relationships, an eligible pub is the faster path.

## Sources
- Medium Help Center, "Medium's Distribution Guidelines," help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006362473 (accessed 2026-06-02).
- Medium Help Center, "Browse 100+ publications in the Boost Nomination Program," help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/23964242497559 (accessed 2026-06-02).
- mediumcourse.com Boost guide (accessed 2026-06-02).
