Publish your stories to the world. Earn money from a community of readers that believes ideas and creativity are worth paying for. Get rewarded for how deeply you connect with your audience, not for the clicks you drive for advertisers.Join the Medium Partner Program 

 

What’s an open paywall?

Instead of every writer and publication on the internet having to build their own subscription audience from scratch, we’re taking an open platform approach. To empower thinkers, storytellers, and experts from around the world, the Medium Partner Program is open to everyone. You can register for free and instantly publish behind our open paywall for all our members (who each pay $5/month) as often as you’d like. 

 

WRITE A STORY

                                                                                    

Members are paying for your most insightful, in-depth ideas, so write your best content for members because those stories tend to get the most engagement. 

 

WRITE FOR MEMBERS 

                                                                               

Set your story to be for members within our editor before publishing. Your story will feature a star icon so members can spot it easily. 

  

BUT STILL REACH EVERYONE       

                                                                     

Your stories still reach anyone on the internet. Each month, readers can access a select number of stories for members for free, even without a Medium account. 

 

VIEW WEEKLY ESTIMATES       

                                                                          

Every Wednesday, your Partner Program dashboard will update to show you how much money you’ve earned so far for each story you’ve published for members. 

 

EARN MONEY MONTHLY          

                                                                                

At the end of every calendar month, we’ll pay you based on the performance of all the stories you’ve published for members. (When members read stories you published in previous months, you’ll earn money for that new engagement, too.) 

 

BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE             

                                                                                    

Stories for members are distributed in the same way as public stories on Medium, so be sure to promote your work and grow your following. The more members that love your stories, the more money you’ll earn. 

 

How payment is distributed

Our system is designed to reward quality content, not clickbait, so we focus on the depth of engagement on your stories. We distribute a share of each member’s monthly contribution in proportion to his or her individual activity on stories written for members that month (with reading time and claps as the primary signals we use).Select publications can join the Partner Program and publish stories for members. When stories for members are in a publication, publication owners earn the money from the content and are responsible for negotiating their own business terms with writers and other contributors. Email partnerprogram@medium.com if you own a publication and would like to see if you can enroll. 

 

What content is allowed behind the open paywall?

Our Partner Program seeks to foster original writing that entertains, informs and educates, expresses truths boldly, and seeks ways forward thoughtfully and inclusively. So we’ve set additional guidelines for member-only stories to create a fair environment for writers in our Partner Program and a richer reading experience for members.See all the guidelines 

 

GUIDELINES

YOUR WORDS ONLY

We believe it’s important for creators to be rewarded for their work, so all the writing and images you publish for members must be your own (or be used with permission or citation).

AD-FREE ZONE

Our members are paying for an ad-free experience. We’re not showing any ads, so member-only stories shouldn’t either. Stories cannot primarily market yourself or other products, feature advertisements, or include requests for claps, donations, or email lists.

YOUR BEST WORK

Our analysis shows that members tend to clap for deep, insightful stories — not listicles or fluff. So save your best analysis, reporting, essays, and stories for members to perform well in the open paywall.