5 Reasons You Should Write on Medium Even If You Can’t Make Money From the Partner Program

If you live in a country like India where Stripe isn’t functional, this article is for you.

Medium doesn’t allow writers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, or several other Southeast Asia, Africa, or South American countries to earn money from the Medium Partner Program.

But if you’re serious about writing, you should definitely still continue writing on Medium.

In this article, I’ll share exactly why you should do that. I’ll also share five ways you can make money from Medium that doesn’t involve the Partner Program.

Before we proceed, if you’d like to watch this as a candid video, here’s the link-

1. Build A Personal Brand For Free

Medium is not just a place where you can get money from writing online. It’s also a place where you can host all the articles that you write for free.

You don’t have to pay any money for hosting a website or adding high-res images. You can write as much as you want, for free.

And what makes Medium even more powerful is that it has millions of readers. So, if you are writing something from the bottom of your heart, there’s a chance that it might resonate with people from all over the world.

I have been a member of the Medium Partner Program since 2020, but even before that, I used to write on Medium for free. Even though I got zero money for that, I got a lot of people who commented on my posts that they really loved my writing. Some of them even chose to purchase my book and followed me on other social media platforms.

Basically, Medium helped me widen my digital footprint. It increased the number of places where my name was visible online.

If you are serious about writing, you should definitely write on Medium to leverage the immense power of its audience.

There are very few websites in the world with millions of high-quality readers where you can write for free and your words can potentially reach all these users.

Effectively it’s a great way to build your online resume or CV.

So, if you’re applying for a job as a freelance writer or as a content creator, and if someone asks you, where have you published your previous work, you can just show them your Medium profile.

If you are a good writer and they see high engagement in your articles (claps + comments + number of followers), then your chances of getting hired will definitely increase.

2. Build Your Follower Base on Other Platforms

If you don’t write on Medium, where else would you write?

Quora is a great platform, but it’s saturated with a lot of writers. With the advent of paid promotions, it’s very difficult for posts to get many organic views.

But Medium is still in the phase where new readers are coming in every day. It’s an ecosystem where new writers also start out every day. There is a very good chance that if you write something that’s really good, it might become viral. Then, you’ll get a lot of people to follow you there.

So if you have an email list or are open to writing gigs, you can just add a link at the end of your articles saying something like,

“Hey, if you like my articles and would want me to write for your business, you can contact me here (add your email/LinkedIn).”

That’s a great way to get more people to contact you. You can also get more email subscribers.

Basically, you can build your entire writing career on Medium for free.

That’s much more valuable than how much money you get from the Partner Program.

3. Improve Your Writing in Real-Time

If you are just beginning your writing journey, then Medium is a great way to get feedback from the audience.

You just have to publish a story and it will be available to potentially every reader on Medium in an instant. Based on the comments that you get, you can keep improving your writing.

A good writer can always become a highly-paid writer.

4. Build Other Income Streams

As you keep improving, you can grow your reader base alongside. Eventually, you can start your own freelance writing or consulting services. You can also do sponsored brand collaborations on Medium.

The creator economy is booming, and the possibilities are endless.

If you have a good following on Medium, you don’t need to be a member of the Partner Program to build other income streams. All you need is a dedicated audience.

And the only way to get that is if you keep writing.

Several people, especially writers from India, tell me all the time that they feel really sad that I could join the Partner Program, but they couldn’t.

I always wish I could tell them that the money that I make from Medium doesn’t even amount to 20% of what I make in the month. The rest comes from different opportunities that I got directly because of writing on Medium.

You can also do the same if you’re a new writer who lives in India, Pakistan, Brazil, or all the other countries where Stripe is not available.

5. Medium Has More Potential Than A Personal Blog

Now you might be wondering why should you write on Medium? Why don’t you start your own blog?

Getting traffic on your blog is incredibly difficult. You’d need to share your blog on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. Even then, only the people who know you would see your posts.

Your initial audience would be limited to your friends and acquaintances who follow you on social media.

But if you write your articles on Medium, you have the potential to reach millions of readers out there. Compared to writing on your own blog, Medium provides you greater exposure with a lot less work (I didn’t even know the full form of SEO for a full year when I was writing on Medium, and yet, several of my articles were ranking on Google).

Closing Thoughts

If you’re a writer who dreams of making a living just by writing, Medium is a great place to start. If it doesn’t pay you today, it definitely will start paying you if you keep writing for one year.

This might be through the Partner Program (Who knows? Stripe might start in India soon), or maybe through something else that you hadn’t anticipated at all.

If you have any questions or if you need any more clarification, please feel free to leave a comment. If you have any friends who are wondering whether Mediums still pays Indians or not, you can send them this article. Hopefully, it will help them too.

PS: I am relaunching Project Medium — my flagship course that helped 20+ writers earn $100+ on Medium.

If you’re excited to be a part of the community, gain exclusive early access here. Even if you’re from a country that isn’t a part of the Partner Program, I can surely help you get more views, reach more people, and build your personal brand the right way.