4 Simple Bonuses Medium Should Pay Writers to Boost the Best Content

Revamping the Medium Partner Program with a clear bonus plan would improve the Medium experience for writers and readers alike

There is a lot to love about Medium. For just $5 a month, I get access to a seemingly endless supply of articles on a vast array of topics. There’s lots of high-quality, timely writing as well as evergreen stories that pop up in my feed every day. All in all, it’s a bargain.

I also enjoy being a writer on Medium. I love being able to write on any topic I want and get it out to readers instantly. I appreciate being able to pitch and submit to the many publications on Medium and usually get much quicker responses than in the non-Medium world.

After three months of writing on Medium, however, I’m still working for pennies — barely enough to cover what I pay for membership — and that’s in spite of having 64% of my articles curated and being published in some of the top Medium publications.

I think most writers on Medium would agree that the Medium Partner Program’s payout system is obtuse, impossible to predict (or even decipher after the fact), and, given the hit-and-miss quirks of curation, it does not consistently reward quality writing.

Medium moved to the current payment system in 2019 and since then even some of Medium’s top writers have seen their earnings drop considerably. If Medium wants to continue to attract dedicated and talented writers, they should be willing to tweak their Medium Partner Program to ensure that writers are able to earn reasonable pay in a way that is transparent and easy to understand.

Moreover, there are ways that Medium could structure their payment system that would not only reward writers but also create a more satisfying platform for readers.

Here are my suggestions for a bonus plan for Medium writers that would also improve the readers’ experience:

1. Pay a bonus when a reader joins Medium to read your article

Currently, non-members of Medium are allowed to read three locked articles per month. After they hit their limit of stories, non-subscribing readers will hit Medium’s paywall and the next time they click on a locked story, they will be invited to become a paying member. If a reader accepts that invitation and becomes a member in order to read that story, the writer of that story should be rewarded with a bonus. The more writers produce stories that readers can’t bear to walk away from without reading, the more Medium will grow its membership. The reader gets better content, Medium gets more paying members, the writer gets more money. Everybody wins.

2. Pay a bonus when you have X number of articles curated

The whole system of curation is mysterious, but one thing seems to be clear — getting articles curated often leads to higher earnings, especially for writers who don’t have a huge number of followers. But curation also creates a better experience for the reader. Curated articles that match readers’ interests are more likely to come up in their feed and daily digests and are also easier to search for by topic.

Writing for curation takes time and planning, so it makes sense to reward writers who make the extra effort to research, write, and format their articles so they are more likely to be curated. A bonus for every 10 or 25 articles that get curated would encourage writers to make that extra effort.

3. Pay a bonus each month you maintain a publication that publishes X number of articles

Medium has so many terrific publications, but it is also a digital graveyard of publications that are no longer being maintained — and some that never even got off the ground. As a reader, it’s discouraging to find publications in your areas of interest that haven’t published new content in a year or more. Medium should encourage publication owners to keep their publications current by paying a bonus for every month that they post new stories.

4. Pay an extra bonus each month you maintain a publication that publishes X number of articles from other writers

Maintaining a publication that is open to publishing other writers requires a whole other level of time and commitment. Most editors are inundated with submissions that they must review in order to cull the very best content to publish. Those editors also act as a first level of review for curators; stories picked up by a publication seem to be much more likely to get curated. Medium should reward the owners of those publications that extend their platform to other writers and give their readers a richer, more diverse portfolio of content.

I won’t even attempt to suggest how much the bonuses should be. Medium can certainly come up with a good plan. And I’m sure there are other criteria that Medium could establish for a clear and simple bonus structure that would benefit readers and writers alike.

How about it, Medium? Isn’t it time to take the Medium Partner Program to the next level?

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