A Sweeter Deal For Writers With Two New Features

Now, writers in Medium’s Partner Program can earn money for stories they publish in publications and can share Friend Links that guarantee that fans and followers can view their work

Today, we’re making two improvements to the Medium Partner Program that have been among the most-requested features since we launched the program in 2017. Both changes are designed to reduce trade-offs for writers: Writers no longer have to choose between earning money and submitting their story to a publication, and writers no longer have to worry about their fans not being able to read their work because of our metered paywall.

Partner Program stories can now appear in publications

First, we’ve removed the limitation that writers could not add Partner Program stories to publications on Medium. Now, all stories — whether in a publication or not — can be published behind the metered paywall and stand to earn money.

How do you do this? If you’re enrolled in the Partner Program, when editing your story, select that “Yes,” you would like to make your story eligible to earn money from the menu in the editor.

All Partner Program stories get a Friend Link that bypasses the paywall

We are also rolling out a new feature to all Partner Program writers: Friend Links will give anyone free access to your metered story, even if they’re not a subscribing Medium member and have read their complimentary stories for the month. You can share a Friend Link directly or on any social media platform, and anyone who views your story through that link gets complete access with no restrictions. And, you’ll still get paid based on member engagement with your stories.

To get the Friend Link, simply go to the published story and click or tap “Share with friends” at the top left of the page. (This works for stories in publications, too — the link is at the top right of the page.)

Learn more about Friend Links in our FAQ. Happy sharing!

About the Medium Partner Program

We launched the Medium Partner Program in October 2017 to reward writers for their work. Any writer can join the program, publish stories behind our metered paywall, and earn money based on the value their stories provide readers, not advertisers. Learn more about the Partner Program and enroll here.