Yeah, I think it's feasible to write a couple of 'boost-ready' pieces for each of 3 or 4 small, niche pubs per month. General interest titles, like Ellemeno, I feel are less bankable simply because they are likely to have a broader base of submissions, so there will be more competition for those 20 slos, especially as people become more aware of which pubs are boosting.

I'm focusing on Iberospherical (obvs - trying to write my 2 self-eligible killer pieces per month, and hoping both or at least one get picked), plus A-Culturated for more multilingual, multicultural stuff - you might want to get in touch with them as well, as they just recently joined the programme and will should have slots spare for a while, and Three Imaginary Girls for reflections on music.

As you say, building a rapport with editors is a big part of it, and I think indirectly something that Medium want to encourage, a genuine pub-writer relationship that helps shape the style and content of pieces, rather than just hitting the 'publish' button.

My preference as reader and writer is for 1000-1300 words, so 4-6 minutes in Medium currency? That seems to tally with what other nommers have said they prefer, though 10-12 minute pieces do get picked (but maybe underperform because of read ratios, as people click for the title, but then get turned off when they see the length?).

I just feel that if it's that long, it really needs to earn its length, like a 3+-hour movie. I don't have the discipline to keep a tight structure together for that long, in general, and will start rambling if I go on beyond 6 mins, I find.

Basically, I reckon that as reader/editor/curator, if you see '11 minute read', your first thought is, 'Bloody hell - this had better be good'. Maybe that's just me being a lazy goldfish.