Want to get the Medium Golden Star?
Wondering what that golden star icon means?
It means you’re a member on Medium, aka you have a Medium membership, aka you’re paying US$5/month to Medium.
For example, you can that I’m a Medium member because of the star beside my profile icon.
For me personally, all my articles are for Members-only because —
I believe in supporting other writers, and also in creating passive income.
Here’s an example of one of my articles, you can see above the title there is a star and it says “Member-only.”
Benefits of becoming a Medium member
You get access to ALL the articles on Medium, no limitations!
Medium Partnership Program
Once you’re not only a Medium member, but also get accepted into the Partnership Program — you can make money by others reading your articles, and through referrals!
Also, you can only create “Member-only” articles IF you are in the “Medium Partnership Program.” So that means —
You can only make money on Medium IF you are also a paying member.
Thanks Titus, Ma’ Man!
I pay, You pay, We all pay, We all make money!
This makes Medium kinda sound like a Network Marketing Company but it’s not haha. You don’t make earnings off of your referrals’ earnings. Not gonna’ lie though, that would be pretty neat!
To learn more about the Medium Partnership Program, read my article below.
Non-paying Medium members limitations
Non-paying members can only read up to 3 Member-only articles every month, after that they need to pay for membership to read more articles for that month.
For example: As a Non-paying member you click on a story to read. When you go to read another article you get this notification:
If you’re a non-paying member, then you do not earn a dime on the articles you write.
How to make your article open to non-paying members
In my opinion, the only purpose in doing this is if your article is directed to non-paying members.
Before publishing your article, uncheck “Meter your story” box.
If the writer checkmarks this box, then only members can read it or non-members with at least 1 free read left can read it. If this checkbox is checked, that means it’s open to earnings for the writer.
Non-Paying Member Loophole (sorta)
There is one way a non-member can read more than their free 3 articles per month and that’s if the author sends you their “Friend Link” for that particular article.
While writing your article, go to the “…” beside the Publish button, and click “More settings,” scroll down near the bottom to “Promotion” and click the link to copy it and send it to your non-paying friend.
How you can tell if someone’s a member
If they are a member, then on their profile page under the heading “About,” it will say “Medium member since…”
Also, in your notifications page, you can see who’s a member if they have a star next to their profile icon.
If you’re not a member yet I would strongly advise you to at least try Medium out for at least a month and see first hand the benefits. You’ll get to read ALL the articles!
If you’re interested in becoming a Medium Member I would really appreciate it if you used my referral link below. Full transparency — you would be supporting a fellow writer and I would make $2.27/month.
