Medium Invited Me to Apply for the New Creator Program then Rejected Me

This is why I was rejected

Screenshot taken by Author

On the 16th of July, I received an email invite to apply to Medium’s new Creator Fellowship. I was ecstatic because according to Medium the Creator Fellowship offers creators a monthly minimum guarantee of earnings through the Partner Program from August through October. The minimum guarantee payment would start at US$200 but could be much higher as Medium would determine the minimum guarantee for each writer based on past performance on the platform.

Although Medium did mention that there were limited spots for the Creator Fellowship I was convinced I stood a good chance of being accepted. I was even more hopeful when I realized that not everyone on the platform had been invited to apply. This meant that Medium had already sifted through their writers and I had been deemed worthy of applying.

A part of me had begun to dream of my Medium contract, all the stories I’d churn out as part of the fellowship. I’ve never really thought of myself as a writer, just someone who occasionally types out my thoughts and shares them with the world, but, this invite had me believing in my writing — I thought wow, Medium recognizes me. I felt special, the email was strategically drafted to make me feel like the chosen one. Unfortunately, that feeling lasted a very short time.

On 30 July, I received an email update on the Medium Creator Fellowship and unfortunately, I was not selected to be part of the Creator Fellowship. I was gutted because I’d built my hopes up. However, now here I am sharing my sadness with other Medium writers who suffered the same fate or weren’t even invited to the Creator Fellowship in the first place. Part of me wishes I had been in the latter group as that would have kept my expectations in check. The invite was a carrot dangled in front of me then taken away.

According to Medium, I was rejected from the Creator Fellowship because of one or more of the following reasons:

1. The quality of my writing isn’t up to standard

Although I have written numerous articles on Medium, I am hardly one of the best writers out there. My writing probably screams amateur and I think…