Medium Writers: Embrace Change and Roll With It
My thoughts on the new Medium changes
I’ve been writing on Medium since before writers were paid anything. I left for a bit, came back in 2019 and have since amassed nearly 4K followers. Not that it did me much good under the old distribution methods. My posts, curated or not, in a publication or not, would get around four hundred views.
Although I have posts with over 4K views, I think the most I’ve earned for one post is $31 and some change.
I went from being in “curation jail”, back when it was a thing, to nearly all of my posts being curated or chosen for distribution more often than not. It took time and effort to figure out what Medium wanted at first, and then patience to learn it all again every time something changed.
But distribution for me was frustrating as it didn’t translate into more money.
It took me awhile to figure out the why behind that too. The one thing I’ve always done well at, likely due to honing my SEO skills as a freelance writer, is attract attention from Google search engines.
A reader who finds my post through Google though, is often not a Medium member. And Medium was only paying for reads from Medium members initially.
Internal views mattered more on Medium. But that’s changing slowly.
SEO matters even more now than before
My Medium posts often rank on Google’s first page. The reason this matters is because that first page of Google is where most people choose what to click on after they’ve done a search.
Getting your blog posts on that first page is how you get more traffic.
If you’ve created a great headline and SEO description, more traffic to your link then translates to more readers.
If your blog post does it’s job, more readers translates to more conversions (ie. sign ups, followers, or customers).
Below is a screenshot of a Medium post I published in June of 2020. It still ranks #1 today on Google, right after the three paid ads. My ability to do this for clients is what makes me a valuable freelance writer.
But on Medium, that didn’t help me much at first.
Paying you to bring in readers is not new
Some time ago, Medium quietly started paying retroactively for non Medium members who find your post, read it, and become a member within 30 days.
When that began I often got retroactive earnings because most of my audience was coming from Google and many of those people were not already Medium members. When they found my post (through a Google search) and read it, some of them joined Medium.
And I would see those pennies, sometimes nearly $1, come in about a month later. My hopes soared. But those earnings from non members joining were hard to track and unpredictable.
Medium has been making a lot of changes to their blogging platform, content policies, and payment options over the last year or so. Not all of them have favored individual writers, up until this year.
Medium joins the affiliate income game
Just this week Medium formalized what they’ve already been doing behind the scenes.
If you as a writer can convince a non member to join Medium, you get paid a portion of their membership fee every month that person remains a Medium member.
Keep in mind, this was already happening, for free for years. And then it would earn you pennies and based only on read time from non members who then joined Medium. And there wasn’t a good way to predict it or track it.
As of this week, every Medium writer in the Medium Partnership Program now has a referral link of their own.
You can choose to use it or not.
But if you do use it and it converts a non member to a member, Medium is going to pay you for that. And it’s more than the pennies they were paying before. It can be as much as $2.27 on top of the money you earn from member read time.
And you can now share your referral link (to join Medium) and/or your subscription link (to get people on your Medium email list) on your Facebook page, your Twitter, or your own website.
Per Medium “remember to let your readers know that you’ll receive a portion of their membership fees. Here is a helpful Federal Trade Commission FAQ about affiliate referrals.”
You can read more about the Medium referral program and how it all works directly from Medium.
There’s some grumbling about this from some writers who don’t think Medium should ask them to bring in writers.
But your content was already doing that, especially if you’re good with SEO, Medium just wasn’t paying you at all at first and then later, not much at all. Now they’re going to pay you actual affiliate income. And you can track it much easier through the Audience stats page under settings.
Others are wondering if the referral program will take away coveted read-time income from writers. I wondered this myself. And only time will tell for sure.
My hope is the referral income is coming from what Medium used to allocate to pay staff and publications. So if that’s true, Medium is paying out more money directly to writers, not less. Because you’ll get affiliate income but you’ll also still get paid for member read times.
From what I can see right now, I don’t think Medium’s referral program is much different than any other software program or business that offers an affiliate link.
If you bring Medium a paying customer, they will pay you a portion of that income. ConvertKit does this. ProWriting Aid and Publisher Rocket do it. That’s how affiliate income works.
Medium has just finally joined the affiliate game.
And as a writer, you can take advantage of that to cultivate yourself an additional income stream.
Embrace change and roll with it
When Medium made changes last year and even big name writers were losing income rapidly, I looked for other platforms just in case. I found Newsbreak, a platform with a goal of bringing back local journalism. I was able to get into their early-bird creator program and I went for it.
As a single mom, I have to focus my efforts on getting paid as much as possible for my writing.
From mid-November to March of this year, that meant Newsbreak for me.
In just a short time, I made more money on Newsbreak then I’ve made in three years total on Medium. Newsbreak changed its policies rapidly too, but I was convinced at least initially, that writers could make more money there than on Medium.
Newsbreak was clear, write an article, get paid “X” amount plus another “X” amount per 1,000 views. And until August 1st, writers could make predictable money there.
But now, Newsbreak has changed it’s payment policies. They are now only paying per article for a select group of writers until the end of August and everyone else is paid based on number of views/reads.
Just like Medium used to do.
Medium appears to be placing more value on individual writers
In April, Medium who was only paying based on reads/views, offered $500 bonuses to 1000 Medium writers. They expanded that in May and June and July. In August, they started a pilot program for a select group of writers where they are offering a minimum monthly amount.
I didn’t make the cut for that program, probably because I haven’t written on Medium since earlier this year. Several people I know who did were offered $200 monthly, $500, and as much as $1,000 minimum per month. Writers who made the cut were varied, brand new, intermediate, and experienced writers. I’m hopeful that this program will expand to other writers after October.
I hate change, always have. Most people struggle with it I think.
But after nearly two decades of feast or famine as a freelance writer, I’ve gotten better at embracing it and rolling with it.
I’m choosing to see changes as opportunities. To write something different, try something new, or see things from a new angle.
For Medium, I’ve found it helps a lot to keep up with changes as they happen by following publications like Creators Hub and 3 Minute Read, and Medium founder, Ev Williams. Following those who know, let’s you hear about changes as they are announced so you have more time to adjust and plan your next move.
If you struggle with all the changes in technology you need as a writer on Medium, I’ve started a tech tips list of Medium feature how-to articles. Some are mine, most are from others.
I’m also making lists of the inspiring articles I read each month that are my favorites. If you’re following me, thanks for your support! Check my profile often to see what new things I’ve added to my lists, or you can join my tribe and get notified when I post.
Meg Stewart is a full-time freelance writer who is passionate about helping others do the same. She founded the Freelance Filter to help writers get paid more and help solopreneurs do business better. She’s a multi-passionate skill hoarder and the intersection of freelance writing, technology, and teaching is her sweet spot. She lives in Ohio with her two youngest daughters, dog-Reese, and cats Scattle and Moo. Join her tribe for more posts like this one.