Hello Natalie Portman, Goodbye $500 Bonus

How $1.2 million for writers became just $100k

Two Updates

There have been two significant updates since I published the first version of this article:

• Medium have clarified the licensing terms for the contest and state “the license is nearly the same as the one you grant to Medium outside of the contest.” Full details here.
• A source close to Medium has confirmed “there is zero chance Portman is being paid six figures [for judging the contest].”

Now, onto the original article.

Hello Natalie Portman, Goodbye $500 Bonus

Natalie Portman — who has won an Oscar and two Golden Globes — charges a six-figure sum for speaking engagements.

I can’t imagine her accepting less than six figures to judge the Medium Writers’ Challenge — and that’s money which could be going to Medium writers (update received on this — a source close to Medium has clarified Portman wouldn’t be paid a six-figure sum for judging the contest).

Portman has a net worth of $90 million, and a monthly income of $800k.

I have nothing against Natalie Portman, she’s an amazing actress. But I do have serious questions about how Medium is choosing to spend its money.

Medium has reduced writer income by ending the $500 bonus. Some of that money is now going to judges who don’t really need it.

The choices Medium is making are bad for its most loyal and top-performing writers.

And even Medium’s own judges aren’t a fan of contests that pay writers as little as $100… (one of Medium’s judges told a contest to “go fuck themselves”, more on that in a moment).

Medium is Saying Goodbye to its $2.25 Million Bonus Handout

Earlier this year, Medium surprised its top 1,000 writers by handing them a $500 bonus for their performance in April. That’s a total bonus payment of $500,000. For many writers (including myself) this bonus was more than their baseline earnings.

Giving writers a bonus felt like the right thing to do — it rewarded them based on performance.

The bonus was exciting and got writers talking. Medium writing groups on WhatsApp and Facebook lit up discussing the bonus.

Giving writers a bonus also felt like the right thing to do — as it rewarded writers based on their performance. For me, the bonus transformed Medium from a hobby to a serious part of my monthly income.

The extra payment proved so popular that Medium continued it through May, June and July — and extended payments to include the top 2,000 writers each month. By the end of July, total bonus payouts will be $2.25 million.

Now, Medium is drastically scaling back the additional payments it makes to writers. If the current bonus scheme continued, Medium would end up paying almost $1.2 million in writer bonuses for August and September.

Instead, the amount of money going to writers during this time has been cut to just $100,000.

That’s an 87% drop in the amount of extra money that’s going to writers.

What’s more, the money is now going to just a tiny number of writers, most of whom will get just $100.

The prizes are:

• One writer gets $60,000
• Three writers get $10,000
• 100 writers get $100

I’d much rather the previous system, where a significantly bigger pot of money was shared more evenly between 2,000 writers, rather than just 104 writers, one of whom takes home more than everyone else combined.

Medium’s Contest Judge Saeed Jones was So Offended When He was Offered $100 by a Writing Contest He Told them to “Go Fuck Themselves”

The vast majority of writers who enter the contest will earn far less than $100 for their essays. In my experience, most creative non-fiction on Medium earns pennies, or maybe enough to buy a Starbucks coffee.

A lucky few will earn a $100 prize.

Yet when Saeed Jones (one of the contest judges, alongside Natalie Portman) was offered $100 to be part of a writing contest he said to his agent:

“You can even say ‘go fuck yourselves’ if you’re in the mood.”

And he didn’t even have to write anything! He was being asked to judge the contest.

Jones published a thread of tweets about it, in which he said:

“Many practices accepted as standard in the literary arts are, in my opinion, legitimatized scams that successfully target two demographics: clueless, but eager young writers and clueless, but eager retirees who want to start writing.”

I’m curious why his ethics have suddenly done a 180 degree turn for the Medium writing contest — either way it’s clear what Saeed Jones thinks of writers getting paid just $100 for their work. And most of the writers in this contest won’t even get that.

(As a side note, Jones was paid $300k for his memoir).

This Contest is Bad for Writers in So Many Ways… and the Rights Grab is Only a Tiny Part of It

Professional editor Lilly Dancyger was furious about the rights grab Medium made when it launched the contest:

If anyone was considering entering this contest, make sure you read the fine print, which includes one of the shadiest content/rights grabs I’ve ever seen. Medium takes full rights, including derivative, for all pieces ENTERED in the contest (not just winners).

Meaning if you enter but don’t win the prize cash, they can still publish your piece (w/out paying you) AND license it however they want. I’m truly furious on behalf of anyone who enters this contest w/out understanding what they’re signing away.

Medium reacted quickly and has since made amendments to the terms.

The Contest Risks Turning a Community of Writers into Dog-Eat-Dog

I love the community I’ve found on Medium. I’m connected with writers at all levels — from beginners to those with tens of thousands of follows. And we support each other. We want one another to succeed.

I’ll be happy for one of my writer friends if they win the contest. But I much prefer the current system, where the money is shared more evenly between us, based on performance.

The bonus system was fair. With a $500 bonus for everyone in the top 1,000, and smaller bonuses for everyone in the top 2,000, it’s much more about writers supporting each other.

Now, thanks to the contest, with far fewer winners, the competition heats up.

Worst of all, where the bonuses motivated me to keep writing, the contest leaves me with a sense of despair. I feel why bother taking part, when there’s only a tiny chance of winning? It’s a lot of effort for what will likely be zero reward.

I’m also concerned about how little of Medium’s extra money is now going to writers. In May, June and July Medium handed out $575,000 per month to writers (in addition to the Medium Partner Program)

For August and September, this will be just $50,000 per month — an 87% drop.

Where’s the extra money going? It’s possible Medium is adjusting its budget priorities — and I’m sure some of it will be going to the new writing program paying $200 minimum to some writers. But my bet is that much of it is going to the contest judges, who need the money far less than the writers who make Medium the wonderful place it is.

The contest makes Medium less egalitarian, more elitist, and turns it into a dog-eat-dog world.

I hope Medium will reconsider, and will go back to paying bonuses to its top-performing writers. Let’s support the many, not the few.

Or as the contest judge Saeed Jones put it:

“You can even say ‘go fuck yourselves’ if you’re in the mood.”

Are More Changes Coming — and Where’s the $1.2 Million Going?

In June, Medium emailed me to let me know the bonuses would end in July. In that email, they said:

“In August, we’ll announce more writer programs and Partner Program updates.”

When I wrote the first draft of this article, I assumed this contest was the “writer program” that was replacing the bonus.

Yet Zulie Rane rightly points out that it’s highly unlikely that all of the $1.2 million that would have gone into writer bonuses is being spent on celebrity judges.

In Zulie’s view, Medium is likely to reassign this money in a variety of ways — some of which will go direct to writers. Zulie says:

“I suspect they’ll do something different with those spare millions of dollars — maybe put it back into the Partner Program, so now we’ll get that money as the regular part of our performance rather than separated out as a bonus. Maybe it’ll be something completely different.”

Since I published the first version of the article, it’s already emerged that some writers are now being paid a guaranteed income of $500 per month for August, September and October. I see this as a welcome development.

It has also been helpful to see that source with close contacts at Medium has confirmed in a private Facebook group:

“There is zero chance Portman is being paid six figures.”

It could be that Medium’s main mistake here is announcing the contest ahead of other measures that are replacing the bonuses — rather than including it as part of a wider package of measures. As of now, the verdict’s out on this.

Responses, Updates and Additional Insights

Plenty has been written in response to this article. Understandably, there’s a lot of energy around this issue.

The Faceless Judges

Zulie Rane (28k followers) expresses skepticism about some “slightly dodgy aspects” of the Medium Writers’ Challenge:

• Lack of transparency about the judging process, and the role celebrity judges will play.
• Unclear motives from Medium as to their reasons for launching the contest.

Zulie writes:

“Despite giving us the names of all the judges, they’re not even the final word on the winners. They’re an influence, to help “Medium” make the decision. We don’t even know WHO at Medium would make the decision. This made me believe that the judges were mostly there for star power rather than to provide helpful judging decisions.”

In other words, it’s not clear who has the final say on the winners of the contests. Nor is it clear how much the celebrity judges will be involved in making the judgments as to the winners. The real judges, as Zulie says, are “mostly faceless”.

Am I ungrateful for the bonus?

A couple of comments have noted my assumption that the bonus should continue after July.

I am incredibly grateful for bonuses rewarded over the past 4 months. I believe the bonuses were a much fairer and more transparent way of rewarding good performance than a writing contest. That’s the main point of my article.

I would like Medium to continue rewarding good performance through bonuses — rather than expecting most writers to work for pennies, while a tiny number get a huge prize.

Saeed Jones and the “Go Fuck Yourselves” Email

In the article I explain how Saeed Jones — one of the judges in the Medium Writers’ Challenge — once told a writing contest to “go fuck yourselves” when he was offered $100 to judge that contest.

Meanwhile, Medium writers are being offered a $100 prize in a writing contest.

Saeed Jones has also said that in his view, many writing contests are “scams” that target “clueless writers”.

My writer friend Ria Tagulinao points out that:

“Medium writers and Judge Saeed is not an apples-to-apples case. It’s not a fair comparison or argument.”

Additionally, Paul Brouse says:

“[Saeed Jones’s] primary complaint in his initial tweet was that it was a scam that writers had to pay an entry fee to even be considered in that contest. Unless I’m missing a huge, important detail about the Medium contest, there is no entry fee.”

I appreciate that other writers may not want to consider Saeed’s opinions on writing contests and the amount writers should expect to be paid for their services. In my view, these opinions are relevant to his position as a judge for a Medium writing contest.

The Contest Encourages More Diverse Writing

EllenEastwood makes an excellent point that the contest is likely to “get people writing about more diverse subject matter.”

She continues:

“Medium has become highly centred on a few topics that can become old very quickly. I would love to see the entries in this contest rekindle and inspire an interest in writing and reading about a wider array of topics.”

I agree the contest is likely to encourage this. Equally Medium could have encouraged this by:

• Awarding bonuses to writers that perform well in under-represented topics.
• Adjusting the algorithm to serve more articles on under-represented topics to readers.

In my view, either (or both) of the above would be a more fair and transparent way to encourage writers to explore a wider diversity of topics.

If Medium becomes toxic due to the contest ‘that’s on us’

Ria Tagulinao makes several important points here that I want to quote it in full — interjecting with my responses:

“The contest risks turning a community of writers into dog-eat-dog” — How exactly? Will people start to bash each other’s entries? Will the winners start criticizing the “lesser” writers?”

I hope that’s not what happens! It’s dog-eat-dog in that Medium have created a winner-takes-all scenario, rather than spreading around the money among a wider range of writers.

“Or maybe we’ll all just become too busy elevating our stories — fully knowing that writing an entry does NOT come at the expense of someone else’s stories) — maybe even read each other and uplift one another, and in the long term, amplify the quality of this platform, which will drive more readership, which will all give us more opportunities? Could this be just as much, maybe even more of a possibility than becoming a “dog-eat-dog world”?”

The winning entry does come at the expense of other people’s income. If there are 1,000 writers who are willing to do their best with a creative non-fiction piece, I’d much rather each of them was paid $100 than one of them gets $60,000 and most of them get pennies.

I agree with the premise that Medium should be doing things that make the platform more viable and profitable for all of us.

“If this place becomes toxic, that’s on us.”

Not entirely — environment plays a huge role in how people behave towards one another. See for example the Stanford Prison Experiment.

I would encourage Medium to foster an environment where writers encourage and nurture each other — the bonus system did just that.

“‘The contest makes Medium less egalitarian, more elitist, and turns it into a dog-eat-dog world.’ — I’m bothered by this because it’s such a loaded, matter-of-fact statement. It’s only really “less egalitarian” compared to the past four months.”

We’re in agreement here — the contest is less egalitarian compared to the past four months, and I preferred the more egalitarian system.

“Medium has been a meritocracy. But with big Medium writers going on about not making as much money anymore, maybe Medium is on its way to becoming more equitable for everybody (but yes, progress could be MUCH faster).”

Again, I agree, I’d like progress to be much faster at making Medium more equitable for everyone.

“Elitist? Why? Because such contests are reserved for Creative Non-Fiction writers and professional journalists and essayists? Because Natalie Portman as a judge is SO important to the literary and publishing world???”

It makes Medium more elitist because it concentrates resources on a tiny group of writers.

“Here’s another consideration: What about those brilliant indie writers we’ve never and might never hear of because of Medium’s inadequate algorithm? Those people who have been telling great stories, and have A LOT more to tell, but have no interest in playing the clickbait game or studying the patterns and topics of viral articles or submitting to pubs or self-promoting in ten other platforms?”

My solution here would be to adjust the algorithm rather than launch a writing contest. This would have a wider benefit for readers and writers.

“I guess this is just me again with rose-tinted glasses. I earnestly believe that this is Medium’s way of finding more of those people and those stories and shining a light on them. Maybe they’ve realized they haven’t been doing a very good job with that.”

I’d be happy if the contest was about shining a light on more writers — in actual fact it’s about shining a light on just 104 writers. Adjustments to the algorithm or the Medium Partner Program could allow for changes that benefit many more creators.

I Am So Happy to Be Writing on Medium

I love writing on Medium. I’m invested. I care about what happens to Medium. That’s why I’ve raised concerns about this contest — I don’t think it’s good for Medium writers.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to share a point of view that questions Medium’s decision on this very platform. That’s one of the things that makes Medium so special.

I think there are much better ways for Medium to grow its readership and support its writers, who provide the content that make it a viable business.

I’m grateful for this platform and this community. The bonuses over the past few months have changed my life, and I would love for them to continue.

For writers who decide to take part in the contest — I wish you all the best.

And to Medium — I hope you will continue listening to writers and doing what’s best for Medium readers, Medium’s revenue and Medium writers over the long term.

Read more: