Medium $500 Bonus

Who got one and who didn’t

Extra Cash for Extra Engagement?

Medium sent out $500 bonuses to people for extra engagement during the month of April. Almost everyone got one, though, even people who didn’t get any extra engagement.

The ones who haven’t got them say they didn’t post in April at all.

So things seem … odd.

Is the bonus for extra engagement or simply engagement? I’ve been doing some math about the site and its writers vs readers or active members and the numbers are greatly outweighed. There are by far more active Medium members than there are writers.

Medium has ~60 million members. Of that 60 million, only ~400,000 are paying Medium subscribers. When we start talking about how many people write on this site, the numbers get even smaller. We’re talking ~30,000 writers.

With Medium breaking down its editorial publications and most of the editors and writers for those sites taking the buy-out and moving on to greener pastures, I think there’s more of a need for Medium to want to keep its independent writers.

Without us, all of those active Medium members who come here to read would go elsewhere. Bet this bonus talk is going to make more writers flock to the site and push the writers here more into their practice on the site.

The Big Question

Did you get the bonus or not?

There’s lots of talk on social media about it, but let’s move the conversation to the actual platform. I want to hear about what you think the bonus is all about and if you got one or didn’t.

Further Reading

Aigner Loren Wilson is a queer Black Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer of America, Horror Writer of America, and Codex writer. Her work has appeared in and is forthcoming from WIRED, Lightspeed Magazine, Anathema, Tordotcom, Fiyah, and more. She is a Hugo Award finalist for her editing and is the author of several speculative fiction books and games.