Keeping your story open and accessible for everyone to read
Common questions about Medium and its Partner Program.
The UX Collective is a platform that elevates unheard design voices all over the world. One of the channels we use for knowledge sharing is Medium, an online publishing platform that enables anyone to share their thoughts and build a community around ideas.
Below are some common questions around your options as an author when sharing your content on Medium.
What is the Medium Partner Program?
Medium has recently introduced a Partner Program: a way for writers to get paid for their writing. Writers can choose to submit their stories to the Program and, if the story is approved, they will get paid based on how readers are engaging with their articles. As members read longer, writers earn more.
Is my story going to sit behind a paywall?
- No. By default, every new story is open for everyone.
- Writers who are enrolled in the Medium Partner Program will have the option to place their stories behind the metered paywall. If they choose to do so, their stories are eligible to earn money. (Source)
Here’s what Ev Williams, the founder of Medium, has to say about the topic:
“It is free to publish on Medium, your content is always yours, and we will host it for free, indefinitely. This applies whether or not you choose to make money by putting your articles behind the Medium paywall or make them completely free. Yes, there is a paywall, which blocks reads after a few articles per month — but only if they were put behind the paywall by the writer (which, again, is optional). Many writers choose not to do so. But if they do, know that they are getting paid when members read their posts.”
How does the paywall work?
- If you decide to close your story, it becomes “member-only”. In reality, readers who are not members will be able to see a number of closed stories for free per month, before they are asked to sign up for a Medium membership (US$5/month in most markets). Medium will also give you, the author, a “Friend Link”, which is a specific URL you can share with your network so they can read your article for free, regardless of having a Medium account or membership.
- If you choose to keep your stories open, your story will remain free and open for every reader, including logged out users.
But why pay the writer?
Writing, like any other work, takes time. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to write and publish content for free, so it’s fair to give authors the option to get paid based on how many people read and engage with their stories. If you’re a writer and you don’t depend on making money on your writing, you can keep your stories open.
I believe in keeping design knowledge open and available to everyone — can I keep my articles open?
Yes. When you are about to publish your story on Medium, you’ll see a checkbox that gives you the option of whether your story will be open or closed. Your story will only be put behind a paywall if you check that box.
When your story is open, anyone can read it, without restrictions. The story will remain open and accessible to everyone.
As publication editors, we don’t have any influence or control over whether your story is part of the program or not. It’s your choice, and your choice only. As it should be.
Does Medium own my content?
- According to the founder of Medium: “It is free to publish on Medium, your content is always yours, and we will host it for free, indefinitely.”
- For more details, check Medium’s Terms of Service.
How much do writers who decide to close their stories get paid?
- According to Medium: “Partner Program writers are paid monthly based on how much time Medium members spend reading their stories. The longer members read, the more writers earn. In addition, part of each member’s subscription is distributed in proportion to their reading time every month. So if a member spent 10% of their time reading your story, you’d receive 10% of their revenue share.”
- Writers do not get paid based on claps.
- US$ 37,871.89 is the highest amount earned (so far) by a UX Collective writer.
- US$ 6,127.77 is the highest amount earned (so far) by a single story on the UX Collective.
- US$ 120 is the average earnings a popular story (one of the top stories on any given week) gets on the UX Collective.
- Most writers make a little less than US$ 11 per story.
