Good news for writers, Medium is experimenting with minimum payments. The company is looking to explore new ways to remunerate its population of writers.

Its new minimum payments are going to replace the ‘one-time’ bonus offered to top writers during April, May, June, and July.

The new minimum payment appears to be in the testing phase and is currently only being offered to a select few writers.

The current bonus system is set to end in July and Medium has promised that new incentives will take place from August onwards. Reports of the minimum guaranteed income are our first look at these plans.

I, for one, think it is very exciting.

Why Are Medium Offering Bonuses?

Like any tech company, the business is in a constant state of flux and flow. They try new things out and see what people like and what people don’t like.

The original April bonus came as a surprise to almost everyone on the platform. 1000 people were selected to receive the bonus and they got an email explaining they were a top writer.

Over at the 3 min read where Medium posts its updates they recently announced they were pulling editorial support for their publications. They also decided to pull funding from some of the bigger third-party publications on the platform. (A decision that lead P.S I Love You to shut down.)

It seems that Medium started to offer these bonuses as a way to give more money to the writers who get the highest engagement. Rather than spend the money on publications they are putting the money straight into our pocket.

One reason for this might to encourage more writers to join Medium. If there’s some extra money at play it could get more fingers typing. The very existence of the bonus prompted a lot of discussions.

The company has previously been investing in publications to draw in new readership but that method wasn’t working. Now we’re seeing Medium choose to invest directly in its writers.

Bonuses were extended for another 3 months and the top writer pool grew to 2000.

Who Will Get the Minimum Guarantee?

Since this new phase of the bonuses is in beta testing it is only available for invited people. If you are one of the selected writers you will receive an email from Medium inviting you to sign a contract.

This is because the minimum guarantee is based on a few conditions.

Although the conditions aren’t known currently I can imagine it is linked to the number of articles published and possibly minimum engagement.

If all goes well during the beta testing we may see this new minimum guarantee rolled out to include more writers. Maybe even all writers. During the bonus email that was sent out last month Medium has this to say:

“In August, we’ll announce more writer programs and Partner Program updates. In the meantime, thank you for all that you bring to our vibrant community — we can’t wait to see what you write this summer!”

Presumably, the minimum guaranteed income is one of the writer programs that Medium is working on. I’m definitely interested to see what else they have in store for us.

The minimum guarantee is a payment of $200 so it is a bit more modest than the $500 bonus. Perhaps with this reduced amount, they will be able to offer it to more members.

A lot of work goes into writing on Medium. Many articles and writers don’t see the return on investment that they deserve. If Medium starts introducing new ways to earn money that is directly linked to reading time, more people can have a slice of the pie.

Final Thoughts

As a writer, I’m really excited about the changes happening on Medium. As a recipient of the bonus, I’m sad to see that part of the program end.

However, with multiple writer programs in the works, it’s going to be an interesting time for writers. If you’re new to writing on Medium now seems to be a great time to throw yourself into it.

How do you feel about the idea of a minimum guarantee? Would you sign the contract if they invited you into the program?