Medium

Anyone can write on Medium. Amateur writers have the opportunity to write alongside professional authors. Writing on Medium is free for all authors.

If you want a comprehensive list of all publications created, Smedian and TopPub. Both of these platforms list and organize Medium publications. If you are looking for a filtered list of actively run publications, whose editors won’t waste your time, I would suggest checking out Active Publications. Active Publications is a compilation of active Medium publications accepting article submissions. Writers can also create their own Medium publication.

Some of the writing tools that are very useful to new and experienced Medium writers:

• Medium Writing Course – Blogging Guide’s course is an affordable and extremely helpful tool for writers learning how to make money through the Medium Partner Program.
• Medium Article Capitalization Tool – This is a tool I built specifically for Medium writers who struggled with proper article capitalization (which affects, among other things, your ability to be curated on Medium). Just enter your title or subtitle and our tool will automatically format the capitalization to ensure it meets Medium’s expected style.
• Smedian – If you are looking for a comprehensive list of publications on Medium, then Smedian is an essential (and free) tool. One limitation of Smedian is that it shows you all the Medium publications that have been created, and not the most active ones (many are inactive and not accepting article submissions). This is why I created the next tool on our list:
• Active Publications – Active publications is a Medium publication featuring hundreds of Medium publications actively looking for writer submissions. While it’s by no means comprehensive, it is a great place to start.
• Signal – One of the most common complaints among writers is that they don’t know how to effectively promote their articles outside of Medium. This is especially true when it comes to social media platforms, such as Twitter. PenSignal helps address this issue by automatically tweeting links to your articles on a predetermined interval. I personally use this tool and have found it to be one of my most efficient article promotion tools.
• Medium Writing Facebook Group – I created a Facebook group for Medium writers to discuss the ins-and-outs of writing and monetizing content through Medium. There are several Medium writer Facebook groups, but my group is called Medium Writing. All writers are welcome!
• Medium Writer Newsletter – Last, but not least, is my Blogging Guide newsletter. Sign up to get access to the latest news in the digital publishing space and learn how to monetize your online writing.

Medium calculates its writer payments based on the total time Medium paying subscribers read an article, known as member reading time. Medium then pays writers proportionally, a share of the $5 per month subscriber revenue. Writers whose articles have a higher member reading time, are paid more.

More recently, Medium implemented a new compensation program which awards top earning Medium writers tiered bonuses.

Medium writer earnings range from $0 per month to over $40,000 per month. However, these top earning writers usually have massive followings on the platform or consistently write viral content.

Medium vs. Substack

Medium and Substack may serve an overlapping user base, but the actual offering of each platform are quite unique. Medium allows bloggers to easily create, publish and monetize their blog. Substack allows users to create a subscription-based email newsletter and charge readers for access to this content. Learn more about the differences between Medium and Substack.

Medium vs. WordPress

Medium allows bloggers to publish content to Medium’s platform. WordPress allows bloggers to create their own website/blog which is self hosted. While creating your own self-hosted blog requires more effort, it gives users a greater degree of freedom in designing the layout and customizing the features offered on their blog. Learn more about the differences between Medium and WordPress.

Medium vs. Quora

Medium was created to host longform content. It is both a platform and a publisher. The content is housed behind a metered paywall, in an attempt to get readers to subscribe to its vast array of content. Quora is intended to be a question and answer site. It does not put up a paywall but it does have an adwall which encourages readers to sign up and become users. Quora generates money through ad revenue. Learn more about the differences between Medium and Quora.

Medium vs. Amazon

Medium is a platform for publishing blog posts. Amazon KDP is a platform for publishing eBooks. Learn more about the publishing opportunities on Amazon KDP.