Medium is a good platform to start writing and make an income online. With the Medium Partner Program, you might be eligible to earn as much as $8,000 a month.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to help me monetize the site. Rest assured the programs and/or products I promote works and use for my writing.
Imagine this—earning $8,000 a month for one post published on Medium alone. Just one post that makes a 4-figure income.
Is this possible?
I could say, it is. All you have to do is write interesting topics you love on Medium and have yourself included as one of their partners like I do.
Becoming part of their Partner Program is a big step to make money using the platform, which has been implemented recently.
I have been writing there for years, although not frequently as I should be.
At the time, before February 2020, my posts were available for readers for free. So, I wasn’t quite where I was heading except for sharing random personal stories and other inspirational thoughts.
Just when I logged in and resumed writing constantly had me informed about their recently implemented Partner Program.
According to Medium, this is their way of paying authors for writing on the platform by paying commissions.
That means if you have a bunch of articles lying around your laptop, it’s time to share them and make money from them.
How Medium Pays Writers—No, Authors?
The metrics will be based on the readers’ engagement with your post. Not the claps. Keep that in mind.
And engagement means how long the members (paid Medium reading membership), as well as the non-members (readers who read free stories), spend time to read your content.
The longer they stay, the more you earn.
For instance, they stayed until 50% of the content, you will receive 50% of the share as per subscription fee.
If you write a lot of stories within a single month, the chance of earning more is higher because Medium compensates for the number of commissions you get PER STORY.
Let’s say you have written 10 posts and all of them performed well based on the metrics. You earn at least $10 for each story. You will get $100 for that month.
This is why being an active author for Medium gives you more opportunities to earn more as long as you create the best content for the readers.
How To Enroll To Medium Partner Program?
The process is easy. But first, you must have a Medium account.
Once you have a verified account, you simply follow the simple steps which I did when I applied a few weeks ago.
1. Create A Catchy Profile
Create your profile with catchy headlines to market yourself as the author of Medium stories. This is your way to attract readers and follow you for future posts.
Learn how to brand yourself as a high-income writer. Click this post.
Other authors include a link to direct the readers to an offer or simply to invite them to visit her blog.
Also, don’t forget to include your social media accounts so your readers can follow you, too.
2. Write Valuable Stories
The second thing you need to do is write posts, which they call stories, for the readers.
By the way, you aren’t called a writer there. Medium considers you an author of each published story.
With that being said, make sure you value these and the content means a lot to you. The more intimate you share, the better.
It doesn’t matter if you publish shorter posts (around 800 words) or longer posts (around 5,000 words) as long as the goal of the content is achieved.
Medium requires the “quality of your perspective that counts.” Regardless if you share a funny thought or serious, reporter or opinionated, as long as you create the content—with the adherence to grammar and all that stuff—you are all set.
3. Agree To Their Terms Before You Enroll
To make sure you are eligible for the program, you have to read carefully the terms and conditions Medium wants you to agree before the commence of the partnership.
You can read the complete terms here. Make sure you understand every provision written to ensure no problems with your writing with Medium.
4. Enroll To The Medium Partner Program
Who is eligible for the Medium Partner Program?
Once you have a few stories written, you can enroll yourself in the Partner Program.
Simply visit this page and click the green button to direct you to the page where you have to fill in the required information.
Medium directs you to submit the following supporting documents to verify your eligibility:
- bank account
- home or office address
- tax information.
This process is apparent if you haven’t had a Stripe account before. Otherwise, you can simply connect your Stripe account to your Medium account.
These are important for transparency with the Federal Government, requiring you to submit these even if you are NOT an American citizen.
Although I am living in the United States, Medium required the same necessary documents as those authors living within the US.
Non-US authors are also required to submit the above-mentioned documents as part of the process. Once you submitted them, you are all set for writing with pay.
How To Write Stories For Medium?
As I mentioned before, the more intimate the story, the better. This is true to most of the stories I read on Medium.
Take a closer look at the platform, you would notice the lifestyle-personal development-ish vibe.
If you are familiar with Lifehacker or Tiny Buddha, you will notice the similarities and differences at the same time.
Learn how to improve your storytelling techniques with the world-renowned best-selling author with MasterClass.
Below are some of the stories I wrote on the platform that received good feedback from the readers.
- Just Because You Quit The Job You Like, It Doesn’t Mean You Failed
- 21 Painful Truths To Accept After Growing Up With Narcissistic Parents
- I Don’t Have A Choice But To Strong To Survive
The tone does sound like any lifehack and personality development posts, though. But some authors write about science, technology, etc. Medium welcomes all niches.
Further, the format is different. The setup is minimal and functional that it doesn’t take time for you to understand how Medium works versus writing a blog post on WordPress and other content management systems (CMS).
You can take a look at the short video below to show you how you can curate viral and valuable content on Medium.
[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/QPc4IvUlY6U” width=”800″]
How To Make Stories Eligible For Commissions?
Any stories are eligible as long as you are one of the members of the Medium Partner Program. It is up to you whether you like this or that story is available as paid.
Once you tick the small box, it means you agree with Medium’s distribution of the content to both paid members and non-paid readers.
Also, you agree to take part in the program, qualified to receive commissions.
How To Make Stories Viral & Make $8,000 A Month On Medium?
Unlike typical blogging, writing stories on Medium is a bit personal. Oftentimes, the stories are from either a first-person point of view or a third-person point of view.
If you are a fan of reading memoirs, imagine writing one on this platform.
As I mentioned earlier, most of the stories I publish promote inspiration and motivation as most of its audience is personal development savvy.
To make sure the stories go viral, ensuring high-income on your part, I recommend you do these things:
- Learn how to write catchy headlines. The more personal and intimate, the better.
- Make use of the subtitle for SEO purposes. Learn more about it here.
- Never underestimate the power of alt tags on images.
- Make sure your content resonates with your readers. Read this post to learn how you can exactly do that.
- Choose the right tags for your posts.
- Write stories frequently. If you can write every day, the better.
As I said, any random story is eligible. You may think about something interesting, you can write it down.
Most bloggers I know use Erin Condren planners to help them organize their posts while on the road. Get a 40% off from your 2020 planner and calendar purchases here.
You can also take note of some random events that happened while you stroll around the park or take a coffee break. Get some ideas here.
Is Medium Partner Program Worth Your While?
Yes, it is worth your while. Although writing every single day on the platform makes a difference, spending some time writing your stories matters the most.
Medium’s target audience is hooked with self-development, scouring the internet for inspirational and motivational posts and thoughts from people.
So, writing your side of the story is a great way to help others, too. The more striking your headline is, the more readers’ traction will more likely to take place.
At the same time, you earn a fair share of the commissions on your Medium Partner Program dashboard. The metrics used to pay you is fair enough. You can refer to my previous point.
Hence, you have to make sure you keep the readers interested to read the whole content—from the beginning towards the end of the post.
How to make sure your content resonates? I’ll teach you how.
Read this post to learn the step-by-step process on how to transform your boring content into something meaningful for your audience.
Conclusion—Join The Medium Partner Program Now
I am not in any way affiliated with the Medium Partner Program. So, promoting this program to you as a writer will not give me a cent at all.
For me, joining this one-of-a-kind writing program is a great start for beginner writers who want to make use of their writing prowess.
At the same time, you, as an author, are given the chance to share your story with the rest of the world.
By being personal with your audience, the more relatable you can be.
And the more relatable you are as the author, the more they follow your posts. More followers, more chances of earning.
Just so you know, Medium has millions of readers every single month so you better not be hesitant whether to apply or not.
If you already own a blog, this is the best way to direct users back to your site.
As long as you have an account and verified documents required, you are all set to make some bucks.
If you write one good story, you might get the chance to earn as much as $8,000 in a month for one story alone. It is possible. Writing frequently is the key.
Now, what?
Are you up for the challenge and make money as a writer?
If yes, start taking action.
You are born to tell stories. You aren’t just a writer. You are a storyteller. You are an author.
If you like this post, feel free to share this with your friends and family. Comments? Share them in the comment section below. 🙂
Leave a Reply