THOUGHT THINKERS

How I Add New Writers to Thought Thinkers

Revealing my “vetting” process to the world

Accurate representation of me drinking a coffee and reading through potential new Thought Thinkers writers / Photo by on

To read the official guidelines for the publication, click here. To read this piece for free, click here.

This piece may be a bit overdue. It’s also possible that this information may have been wiser to simply include in the submission guidelines for the publication like a normal person. And the truth is, I actually began adding an additional couple of paragraphs to the guidelines to explain my process.

But as often happens with tangents, a paragraph turned into a page and I found myself staring down the barrel of an entirely new essay.

Many owners have created application processes for their publications, whereby prospective writers email drafts to the owner of the publication or fill out a form in hopes of joining. With 450 people who’ve now asked to be a part of Thought Thinkers (excluding the unspecified number of prospective “writers” who were removed during Medium’s last few rounds of bot sweeps), I’ve begun to see some sense in the full application submission process that many larger publications have instituted.

But the system we have in place is still unburdensome enough that I haven’t felt too strong a pull to reexamine this more casual…