Can Indian Writers Earn Money From Medium And How
Can Indian writers earn money from Medium? I’ve been hit by this question a dozen times since the new Medium Partner Program was rolled out last month.
So, the short answer to this question — No, not in a traditional sort of way, at least! Sorry to burst your bubble if you were motivated to join this platform to earn some greens on the side.
However, if you joined this platform for the love of the craft, to write and read posts and articles on diverse topics, and to connect with people who share the same passion as you do, you won’t be disappointed (not for the large part, at least).
Coming back to the question — Why can’t Indian writers earn from Medium? We can post stuff, get follows, get curated, have the best of the stats and read counts, and still go home with just a smile on our face and a pocket full of empty dreams. Is that how it works? Anyway, here’s the deal:
Stripe
The Medium platform has a collaboration with an online payment processing platform called Stripe. This means you have to have a Stripe account linked with your bank account or credit card, all legit and everything, to be eligible for the Medium Partner Program.
The unfortunate part — Stripe is not available in India. At least, not in a permanent sort of way. Let me explain:
Stripe — BETA
In December of 2017, Stripe launched an invite-only beta for Stripe in India with a small group of companies. You can think of it as a test run — just dipping in the toes, testing the waters, until they launched a full-fledged payment service in the next few months, or so they had us believe.
Months passed, so did years, and here we are, 4 years later, and apparently, the toes aren’t wet yet!
Stripe BETA For Medium
So, now you are like — Well, I can sign in to Stripe and create an account because India is registered as a beta country. Yes, you can! As an Indian, you can sign up for Stripe, create an account, and everything.
So, why can’t I join the Medium Partner Program if I can have an account on Stripe? That’s another bummer for you — You can’t join the Medium Partner Program if your country is still in the preview or beta mode on Stripe, which includes India, Gibraltar, the Philippines amongst others. Stings right in the very feels, right?
What’s Next For Stripe India?
So, will Stripe ever go full throttle in India? Or do we have to wait for Medium to collaborate with some other payment getaway (Paypal, for christ’s sake! It’s right there!) to monetize our content?
Here’s the thing. I did a bit of research and found out that the Stripe guys haven’t actually forgotten about us.
See, the Reserve Bank of India requires the foreign payment companies to store data locally in the servers, the servers that are physically present in the country. Stripe didn’t have a local data server in India. Well, not until now:
“As part of our continued investment in India and to meet local data storage requirements, we’re moving the servers that store India data to be located within the country,” — Stripe Blog, March 2021.
With the migration of server hosts in India to comply with our laws, Stripe has made it clear that they are looking to enter the booming Indian market (which has only grown tenfolds since the Covid pandemic due to the increase in digital payments frequency).
Now, when are the Stripe guys going to take their toes out of the water, take off their clothes, and jump in the Indian Ocean is anybody’s guess (I hope they aren’t doing it literally, though).
But, looking at things from the outside, I think it shouldn’t take more than a year (hopefully) before the Indians will be able to join the Medium Partner Program and earn some greens for their troubles, too.
What To Do In The Meantime
So, no money no motivation, right? I mean, I know money isn’t the most important thing as a writer, but if you are a writer, money is probably the thing you lack the most. Ha! It’s crazy how it works!
So, what to do in the meantime? I would suggest you check out other platforms like Substack, ghost, even a personal WordPress blog IF it’s the money you desire the most out of your writing.
Or else, you can probably do all those things and still stay on Medium, keep writing, reading, growing your audiences because when the boom finally happens, you would be in the front of the pack, grinning like Chandler Bing, screaming ‘I knew it!’ (Believe me, a lot more writers are going to come in for that green once it becomes available).
Talking about growing your audiences, give me a follow if you found the content helpful. I promise to eat your brain with random posts, every week. Cheers, and have a nice day, or night, or evening, whatever.
