Jul 10, 2021
I Didn’t Get A Medium Bonus This Month
And I’m not quite sure why
If you’ve been living in the bliss of ignorance for the last few months, Medium recently rolled out a bonus program as part of the Medium Partner Program. Top writers in the program were awarded either $500, $100, or $50 as a bonus on top of the regular payments from their stories.
I was so excited that I was one of the top 1000 writers in April that earned an additional $500 as a bonus. That bonus was unexpected but greatly appreciated, and helped my husband and I buy a new car. In May, I was in the top 1001–1499 writers that earned $100 as a bonus for my writing. I was certain that I would also get a bonus in June.
Yesterday I got my email that said my June payment was deposited to my Stripe account and my heart dropped. $37.78. No bonus, just that $37.
How was this possible? I got more views and engagement in June than I did in May. I was sure that I would get at least the $50 bonus, but I didn’t get any follow up email with the bonus information.
Here’s the thing. Writing on Medium is a hobby for me. It’s an outlet that makes me an extra couple bucks every month that I can use to pay for gas or a few things at the grocery store. I work a day job; I’m not hard for Medium’s cash. But getting that extra money in April and May was incredibly helpful and validated my fourteen months of writing on this platform.
I’m not relying on a Medium bonus. But I will admit that it was a little surprising and disappointing that I didn’t get it in June.
I became a Top Writer in “Gaming” in June. How in the world did that not qualify me for the bonus program?
From what I can gather, based on what Medium has said as well as reading others’ stories, the bonuses were based on internal views and reads rather than external.
I had an article go semi-viral in June about The Sims 4, which prompted me to earn Top Writer status under “Gaming.” The story skyrocketed from about 80 views to 5.5k in two days. I was literally jumping with excitement when I looked at my stats. The story is about 95% external views.
Even though the 5k+ views and hundreds of claps got me a Top Writer badge, it wasn’t good enough for the writer bonus.
I don’t want it to seem like I am complaining. I’m incredibly grateful to have even found a platform like Medium that allows people like me to write about whatever we want and earn even a few cents. I’m a professional writer thanks to Medium.
The Medium bonuses are set to finish up in July, with the final bonuses being paid out in early August. Medium has said that they are going to be introducing more incentives come later this summer. I’m certainly looking forward to what is coming up.
If anything, not getting this bonus in June — albeit a little confusing — is just more motivation to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not going to let this discourage me; I’m going to keep writing what I want.
