Medium’s New Tipping Feature and Ko-fi Creative Funding
And how creatives can now monetize the offshoots of our writers’ platform more easily!
What’s the undercurrent in the big news, really?
At long last the tipping feature, of other writing platforms, has arrived at Medium.
I won’t go into some long or quick-witted rant about why this should’ve happened sooner, or how it’s a lazy attempt to placate users/writers who want more payments per minute read ($0.024 PMR I believe).
I won’t go into that rant because I don’t really care enough to write something long, and I’ve been driving all day through Idaho and Montana so I’m a bit too tapped out to be tippy-tappy clever, okay? Okay.
I will mention though that I made a brief..uhm.. “street” photography POV video on Youtube in North Idaho with the Ricoh GRiii X , if you’re into that kinda thing.
I will however mention that, in defense of our platform overlords, some of yall are getting paid $0.024 PMR payments for hot-garbage articles that you took 20 mins to write, on a laptop you use to watch Netflix and porn on, twice a week.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of photographers post photos to Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest for free. Photos that took hours of prep, travel, and editing effort AS WELL AS thousands of dollars in gear.
So, as one of those photographers (former professional camera guy for car companies like Mercedes-Benz and Subaru), I think it’s pretty cool that Medium pays me anything at all to just tell people what my photos were about.
Also, before someone gets mad, yeah yeah yeah I get it, there’s a spectrum of writers and photographers where some are making ZERO and others a making MILLIONS. However, my stock photography websites only pay me when someone buys a photo, not when they look at it for more than a minute.
Hey Medium? Medium? Y’all wanna make a photography version of this site and call it even? Cool? Cool.
But I digress.
What is the Tipping Feature?
Medium has added the ability for writers to add a tipping option at the bottom of every article. This option is seamlessly and cleanly integrated by Medium and seems to be a way to advance Medium’s in-house vibe of being your one stop writing platform. Medium is a type of social media platform, so if they can keep readers on platform to perform tipping, rather than leaving to Patreon or OnlyPenPals, thats better for them.
Either way this opens the door for me to introduce you to the OnlyFans for creatives…which I think is what OnlyFans was supposed to be anyways? Whatever. Enter Ko-fi. One of the external funding platforms you can integrate with Medium’s tipping feature.
How To Enable
- Go to your settings page.
- Scroll down to the “Audience development” section.
- There you’ll see the brand new “Tipping” option.
What is Ko-fi?
Ko-fi, pronounced like coffee, is a basic donation and funding site that’s recently picked up popularity with creatives and content creators. It’s sorta like a mixture of GoFundMe, Patreon, and OnlyFans. You can hide content behind paywalls, add just a basic tip jar, give long time followers a bonus, or create funding goals.
It’s kinda a closet full of funding tools that most writers and artists can find a way to use easily in a way that fits them.
If you’d like to find an article on how to setup your link and integrate it with Medium.com, click here.
Why do I care about Ko-fi?
I truly don’t expect to make much, if anything, from the basic tip jar feature. The paywall feature seems appealing because I’ve considered selling a more user-friendly version of Adobe Lightroom Presets, as jpeg “formula cards”. I could hide these “trade secrets” behind the paywall feature. I can also sell prints and commissions via the Ko-fi platform as well. Also, if I’m trying to crowdfund for a specific documentary project, Ko-fi might be my next partner for this.
It seems Ko-fi is also trying to create their own type of posting platform, so we’ll see how that goes too.
Why should you care?
If you want more ways to make money on your “craft”, then sure, more options means more money I guess. Most of us will get zero utility from this feature. I do think this mostly useless feature is a step in the right direction to keep Medium users active and attract new or established writers to the platform, and that means Medium can continue to give us our “measly” $0.024 PMR payments.
Seriously, if you want to make a living off of writing, complaining about Medium.com won’t be your hot ticket to stardom and luxury. Or maybe it will, I’m sure you’ll tell me when or how I’m wrong anyways.
Check out my previous article: I Hate My Canon R5
Thank you for reading; follow me and clap a couple of times (it’s free).
Sign up to be a Medium member here, I promise it’s better than Instagram.
If you sign up using my link, I’ll receive a small commission when you sign up AND when you read (at no extra cost to you). This also supports other writers on the platform whenever you read their stories too!
Cheers!
Other platforms: Instagram: IG@elijahmakesphotos Pinterest : PT@elijahmakesphotos
