Deciding when not to make a story member-only
Fighting the allure of easy money…
The Medium Partner Program is great. Writers that have never earned money for their writing are now earning through their creative work. Often, it’s not a lot, just a few dollars here and there, but it’s certainly validating.
It naturally follows that we’ll begin to ask ourselves the question: when should I make my stories member-only?
Always? Sometimes? Never? Should I only switch a story to member-only if it gets featured by Medium? Does making all my stories member-only reduce my readership?
I don’t have all the answers but I can certainly present some observations and reasoning.
Why I don’t like making all my stories member-only
Firstly, making all of my stories member-only would restrict my ability to encourage readers to subscribe to my email updates. If you read the Medium Partner Program content terms, you will notice that you’re not allowed to put call-to-actions (adverts, sign-up forms, etc…)
I quote:
Do not ask for claps or include other calls to action, including gifs of clapping, requests for donations, email list sign-ups, or other links or embeds for the purpose of capturing user information or soliciting money.
So that means I wouldn’t be able to get away with including this sign-up form (hint hint):
It’s a good thing I can include it though, right? Because you just signed up, right?
If you’re trying to build a mailing list, then this member-only content rule sucks. But hey, I totally respect where Medium are coming from. We want to make money and get sign-ups? Who do we think we are!? That said, I have seen this rule ignored on occasion. I don’t think Medium review every member-only story; probably only the posts that earn above a certain threshold. Could be wrong.
Secondly, making all of my stories member-only would also be a little antisocial to those who aren’t on Medium or who aren’t paying members. You get three free member-only articles per month if you’re not a paying member but this hardly goes very far.
Why I’d make my story member-only if it was featured by Medium
Unfortunately, I haven’t had a story featured since the Partner Program began. (What’s up with that Medium Staff?)
Anyway, if I did, and if that story wasn’t member-only, I’d probably attempt to “cash in” and benefit financially from the extra traffic generated.
I’m only human, after all.
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