Helping writers build a portable email audience

Email subscription is now easier than ever.

Medium has two important jobs: connect readers with the stories and writers they care most about, and help writers find and grow their audience. It’s in that spirit that we’ve moved towards a more relational Medium: re-orienting the app around following, prioritizing writer discovery, and launching email subscriptions, which let writers send Medium story notifications to their readers’ inbox and build an audience list of readers who have agreed to receive emails off-platform.

Based on writer feedback, we’re making some important updates to email subscriptions that make it even easier to build a lasting, direct relationship with your most loyal readers.

Here’s How It Works

The “Subscribe” button is now front and center on your profile page, right next to Follow.

We’ve introduced a new section in the Stats page to give deeper audience insights. You can also find a downloaded CSV file on the Settings page if you want to port your email list.

Promote email sign-up to your readers by adding a customizable subscription unit. You can add a personalized headline or a short bio. The unit lives at the bottom of every story page and you can turn it on by going to Settings page > Audience Development.

Want to promote email subscriptions on other platforms? You can share a link to your dedicated landing page where readers can sign up. It’s a quick and easy way to connect with more readers, even if they’re not on Medium. Go to Settings page > Audience Development to find your landing page link.

As always, if you publish a free story, readers get the entirety of the story in their inbox. If you publish a story through the Partner Program, readers receive a link back to the story on Medium. This ensures your earnings will not be impacted.

To learn more, check out email subscription and audience stats in the Help Center.

Stay tuned for more updates. We’re working on additional features to make connecting to devoted and new readers even simpler, like importing email lists of interested readers and more.