Inspiration and Motivation
An Unexpected Move From Medium
A game changing approach to keep talent
Talent is vital for any venture. I highlighted its importance in my leadership books and articles such as this one: Empowering Talent And High Performing Teams for Digital Ventures.
Out of three content platforms for freelance writers, Vocal Media started the leadership awarding their creators with several bonuses recognizing their efforts. For example, Vocal pays $50 for the first 50 stories and $100 for the first 100 stories. Many writers enjoyed this bonus.
In additions, tips are a compelling reason for some creators to enjoy writing for Vocal Media. I received my first tip in my life from this platform. It was a dollar, but regardless of the amount, it created a fascinating warmth for me. I shared my experience in this story: The Real Meaning of $1 Tip.
Then News Break started giving bonuses to freelance writers. They award their creators who refer qualified creators to them. News Break also offers bonuses based on a referral of their app. For example, if a reader installs the News Break app from a writer’s affiliate link, the writer is awarded a certain amount of bonus.
Now Medium has joined the bandwagon. It is a timely decision for Medium because we witnessed substantial negative sentiments on Medium recently from writers whose views, reading times, and income declined considerably, to a rate around 80% or more since last November.
We heard that several top writers left the platform as they did not see value in publishing on Medium. Some of those comments resonated with me, but since my purpose is not generating income on Medium, I continue writing and engaging meaningfully despite the challenges of the platform. Instead, I focus on the intangible benefits as pointed in my annual progress story titled What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories on Medium.
I love sharing good news as depicted in this story Something Good Started Happening On Medium: ILLUMINATION Reading Times Doubled and Curated Stories Quadrupled.
The good news today is that the hostile atmosphere has changed on Medium. It was like a ray of sudden sunshine after many cloudy days.
I read several articles on my publications ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated and SYNERGY about a $500 gift medium sent to selected 1000 writers with a high engagement rate in the platform.
There are different views and sentiments in these articles and comments. However, most of them are positive and uplifting.
Let me share some of the stories that I reviewed and published today in my publications. I extracted interesting points to give you a taste of these great stories. I hope you find them valuable.
This is an important milestone on Medium so it is worth reading thoughts and feelings of contributing writers.
Medium Just Handed Me An Extra $500!
Perhaps the $500 was Medium’s way of saying, “News Break isn’t the only platform with a big pile of money to throw at writers. We’ve got a pile of money too — and here’s some to persuade you to stick around!” Roz Warren
Congrats to Those Writers that Earned the $500
Money isn’t everything, of course, but it isn’t a bad way for a platform to give writers some recognition and show some appreciation for our efforts. I hope though that Medium is a lot more transparent in the near future about exactly what the criteria is to earn the $500 bonus (assuming they continue it). It would be nice to know what writers need to do to get it. In that Vocal and even News Break with their wonky policy changes are far more open and clear than Medium has ever been. Steve B Howard
I am Grateful to Medium for the $500 Bonus
And I hope that the creators of Medium and their business development department come up with such incentives for the high-performing writers on a regular basis. This way Medium is sure to surpass even its competitors such as the ‘Newsbreak.’ If Medium provides such bonuses to writers on a regular basis, the current lot of writers will be motivated to write even more valuable content, and this, in turn, will draw more people towards this writing platform. Bhavna Narula
Is Medium Trying to Bribe Us?
NewsBreak was coming on strong and doling out all kinds of financial benefits for writers which must have had Medium concerned. Every writer on Medium was talking about how good it was over at NewsBreak and why it was time to make a move. NewsBreak was a direct competitor that was essentially using the same format that Medium was. Paying content creators for sharing their work. Medium was doing it through a subscription model while NewsBreak was doing it through an advertising model. Medium was doing a pretty poor job of compensating their writers. Only a few content creators (6–10% they said) were earning $100.00 or more. People could immediately start making $1000 on NewsBreak when they signed up. What was a company to do when their strongest competitor was dishing out lots of money to content creators? Vishnu*s Virtues
I Received a $500 Medium Cash Bonus
I’m writing this article not to brag, but to encourage and hopefully inspire other writers to keep going and pursuing their writer’s dream. The success may not come right away, but if you’re persistent and keep producing quality content, Medium will reward you for your work. I believe anyone can do it with consistent effort. You just have to keep writing and keep publishing and your work will pay off! I know it’s a cliche, but honestly, if I didn’t commit myself to write every day, I don’t think I would’ve been one of 1000 writers to receive this bonus. I put in the work and it payed off. It’s that simple. Kristina Segarra
Surprise! $500 Extra Received! How Did That Happen Overnight?
I do know that some publications pay for stories. But as far as I knew I was never contributing to those. I did try to get into Better Humans a while back. They pay a flat fee of $500 per story. But my stories were rejected. So that can’t be it either. Okay, so what else? I’m a top writer in some categories on and off. At this moment, I’m hot in ‘future’ and ‘science’, but that doesn’t get me payment either. I passed the 5K followers mark. Does that get you an extra payment from Medium? I really don’t know but I haven’t heard it mentioned before. Of course, I could spit through all my emails to see what I missed. It will take me a while because I’m an editor too and my inbox keeps being flooded with emails about all submissions. So, I transfer all my Medium mails to an archive. No time to spit through that at the moment… Desiree Driesenaar
Receiving Medium’s Mysterious $500 Bonus for Writers
All I could think was “wow!”, I guess this isn’t a glitch. When I checked my Partner Program dashboard, I saw a small green notification letting me know that I’ve received a one-time bonus, along with 1,000 other writers.I’m rubbish at maths, but that’s a whopping extra $500,000 USD that went out to writers for April. I am so overjoyed to see that my writing was recognized as being impactful on members in April, however, if anything, this raises so many questions in my mind. I wonder if Medium will be doing more of these one-time payments in the future? I highly doubt they would happen monthly, but could this be something that happens again? What were the criteria that determined who received a bonus and who didn’t? Angela Phan
Medium Rewarded 1,000 Writers With $500 This Month
It’s incredible what recognition and money can do when it comes to morale and attitude. This gesture by Medium goes a long way to show me that they do appreciate the work that the writers do. If you think I’m a sucker and I’m naïve, please keep that opinion to yourself. This is my hope-filled moment; please, don’t ruin it. Linda Kowalchek
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the Golden Ticket!
The story is about my experience as I struggled if I needed to buy a second monitor to make myself a “more productive writer.” It resonated with many readers, who probably think the same thing if a second monitor would improve their remote work desk setup. Big shout out to ILLUMINATION-Curated and Dr. Mehmet Yildiz for always supporting my submissions from the very start. Even if I only know him by name and the editors who work tirelessly and never fail to support every writer, big or small, their treatment is the same for all the writers who submit their stories. Illumination publications feel like a family. Xin Xin
Can I Call Myself a Writer Now
Why Me? So, the payment is genuine, but do I deserve it? Am I discerning enough? (embarrassing admission; I had to double-check the definition of “discerning”). They say I made it into the lucky 1000, due to reads, claps, and follows. But I am still so small and inconspicuous, my stats aren’t bad for a new writer, but they are nothing to shout about. The Medium $500 bonus has caused quite a stir. I am still dumbfounded and incredulous that I am one of the lucky 1000 Medium writers to receive this bonus. This is not false modesty. Nor am I here to brag of my fortune, and make others feel resentful of my luck. If I can achieve this recognition from Medium, anyone can. I am just starting to find my groove on Medium and with my writing in general. I want to share why I think I may be one of the lucky 1000. Ali Hall
Medium’s Got a Surprise for You — Your payment summary for April 1 — April 30, 2021 — $500
Upon opening my email, it was a massive shock to see this amount staring at me. This was definitely a mistake. The money would hit my account then Medium would instantly ask for it to back. There was no follow up email explaining why I had graced with this bonus? Then, before I knew it, articles kept popping up left, right and centre all over Medium. Publications had been flooded with articles, and people were excited, while others were disappointed — the writers of Medium left in shock. Medium gave a $500 bonus to 1,000 writers for the month of April. What a fabulous surprise! What a way to create some interest in the site. Liam Sturt
Here is a beautiful and meaningful tweet from Anangsha Alammyan which is trending on Twitter.
Conclusions
Recognition and rewards are essential for the growth of creators. They give them a meaningful purpose. Therefore, not just money but also a simple thank you message showing gratitude to the readers can be very useful.
I gave three examples in this post reflecting the care for creators. First, I am pleased Vocal Media, News Break, and Medium are leading the way in motivating their contributors. Secondly, Medium exceeded its leadership, creating a noticeable impression because it was a surprise for the reward receivers.
Surprising people nicely can be a good motivation factor to keep talent. This is indeed a thoughtful strategy to keep talent. I hope many more writers are rewarded and motivated to improve collaboration in this platform.
Thank you for reading my perspectives.
I look forward to reading your comments on this important development on Medium.
You can find more stories like this on the ILLUMINATION Blog on Medium.
Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers
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Reduce the Risks of Neonatal Disorders to Prevent Infant Mortality.
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I also write about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients that might help to improve metabolism and mental health.
About The Author
I am a top writer covering several topics on Medium. I established ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapter, Technology Hits, and SYNERGY publications supporting 15,000+ writers and serving 135,000+ readers on Medium. You can Join my publications requesting access here. You are welcome to subscribe to my 100K+ mailing list, collaborate, enhance your network, and receive technology and leadership newsletters reflecting my industry experience. You can show your interest to support my publications as an editor. My free content strategy and marketing newsletter can be accessed from Substack. I also write for News Break and Vocal Media. I collect my personal stories on Transhumanism Leadership on Medium.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. I wrote several articles on major diseases and valuable nutrients for health. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
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