MEDIUM THINGS
Medium Bonuses Will Be Gone By August
It was short but oh so sweet!
As with every good thing that happens, it will eventually have to come to an end and that is the case with the recent bonuses that a few thousand writers have been able to experience over the last few months.
Just as some writers were getting excited and motivated to try and be part of the monthly bonuses of $500, $100, and $50 respectively that Medium has been giving, it will no longer continue come August 2021.
I was notified of this by an email which I received this morning which said:
Benny,
As you may know, Medium awarded top writers in the Partner Program with cash bonuses in April and May. The first bonus was originally planned as a one-time surprise to thank top active writers in April. The response was so enthusiastic that we awarded a second bonus in May, and we’re thrilled to announce that we plan to distribute bonuses in June and July too.
Many of you have understandably had questions about the bonus, so we wanted to share further details:
How long does Medium plan to give out monthly bonuses?
The bonus program will run through June and July. The last bonuses will be given in conjunction with July Partner Program payouts, which will happen the first week of August.
How do I make sure I’m eligible to get a bonus?
To be eligible to receive a bonus for June and/or July, make sure:
You are fully enrolled in the Medium Partner Program (including having approved tax documents).
You publish at least two stories in the calendar month (so two stories in June, two stories in July).
Who will receive bonuses and for how much?
We’re keeping the same tiered structure that we implemented for May. We calculate rankings based on your monthly Partner Program earnings, which is a direct reflection of member reading time, and use the following tiered structure:
Top 1,000: $500 bonus
1,001–1,500: $100 bonus
1,501–2,000: $50 bonus
In August, we’ll announce more writer programs and Partner Program updates. In the meantime, thank you for all that you bring to our vibrant community — we can’t wait to see what you write this summer!
-Your friends at Medium
Needless to say, I was a little disappointed but not entirely surprised. I did question before if Medium will be able to sustain giving out an extra $575,000 a month in bonuses to their writers.
And from this email, the answer is not beyond July 2021.
However, they did mention that in August, they’ll announce more writer programs and updates to the MPP. Will this mean a change in earnings or anything that may affect earnings?
We’ll probably find out in August.
What now for writers?
Well, the only thing we can do is to just keep writing and for the month of June and July, do our best and hopefully be part of the 2,000 writers who will be receiving a bonus from Medium.
There really isn’t anything else that we can do.
I’ve said it before that we should treat the bonus that Medium has given as what it is — a bonus. It’s an extra above what we have already made on the MPP.
And as with any bonuses, it’s not a given. This is the case for Medium too.
However, I’m sure Medium would have taken notice of the impact the bonuses have had on the writers, as well as the platform as a whole and I believe they will come up with something else to continue to reward the very people who make up the core of their existence — together with their readers.
With competitions rising in the form of Newsbreak and other platforms, Medium knows that they will have to keep their writers happy and continue to contribute to the platform as much as they can.
How they do that — aside from giving out bonuses — is still a mystery but one thing’s for sure, they are well aware of the importance of keeping their writers happy in order to keep them on the platform.
Come August, we’ll find out more of what’s in store for us but for the rest of June and for the entire month of July, let’s just try our best to get our hands on the last bits of bonuses that Medium will be giving out.
All the best!
