How I Got Paid by Medium Even without Being Approved by Medium Partner Program
The lessons I learned
It has been a long time effort for me to meet up with all of Medium’s criteria for monetizing my stories. As a writer who has tried and given up on writing, especially publishing my stories on Medium for lack of visibility. I’ve had self-doubts about Medium until I eventually grew my reading time and got to the 100 followers threshold as one criterion for monetization and that was a breakthrough and a good motivation for me.
However, a few days after I got the number of followers that were required, and as I have been publishing consistently, I applied for the partner program, and guess what I got? Check the screenshot below to see the feedback.
I was rejected. Even though the details of my rejection were not stated, I know it is one out of the 3 criteria, and that was not living in the country that is approved for the partner program (I hope Medium partner program increases its reach soon). And you know how it feels right? Daunting! The truth is, no matter how you come to love writing, you would wish at some point to be appreciated for your work. Especially when people have got value from your writings and appreciate them.
The good news is that I have made over $1 from Medium, but not as if I was paid directly by Medium. And I am going to explain it to you if you are ready to read on.
Medium some months back introduced a feature to the stories which was “give a tip.” The idea behind this feature is for readers to directly encouraged writers whom they appreciate their works.
And flipping through my email that Saturday evening, I got two e-mail notifications which were a notification from ko-fi and as well from Paypal. It was a donation of $25 from a reader towards my planned courses and purchase of equipment for my content creation (by the way you can buy me a ko-fi). That I believed came from Medium’s Give a Tip, as my posts have begun doing well.
I will list here some observations that earned me that amount.
- It was consistency and quality for me; when I was introduced to Medium in 2020. I went all in as someone who has a passion to write and wanted a bigger audience to read my work; I wasn’t motivated by the money so much. Even though I left publishing, I came back again to take it seriously this year, and relatively, my posts have been doing well. Consistency on Medium gave me that fund.
2. I created content people resonated with; I have always advised that when you study any platform you are in, develop your skills around what the platform requires from you. This too applies to writing on Medium. Amongst all my posts, one is doing so well. This is because many people can connect with that story, and it is true and sincere. I wrote the problem and offered a solution to the best of my knowledge.
3. I kept on learning; I have kept on following top writers on Medium to Twitter, signed up for some of their newsletters, and subscribed to their YouTube channels, and all. And writers like Sinem Günel and Ayodeji Awosika inspired me a lot. I followed their recommendations on how to caption your stories, how to write your posts, and tag suggestions as well. Check out this story title and know if you wouldn’t want to open up, ‘You are Being too Creative, that is why Nobody Wants to Read Your Story.’
4. It has been the excitement for me; even though I haven’t been signed up for the partner program yet, and don’t know how soon and when that will happen, any day I write and publish on Medium, I get so excited. Because I get better at it and my ideas crystalize well enough to be written. I have also learned to use a notepad to sequence my story ideas. That gives me a sense of demand each time I look and see it.
5. Last, I have this belief that money would locate anyone willing to put in the work; once you decide to keep pushing yourself beyond your limit and following the steps required, one way or another funds to expand will come your way, and you will be rewarded for the efforts you have put in the past years.
If you enjoyed this post, you can do well to buy me a ko-fi. This would go a long way to help my content development.
