Everything A Medium Contributing Writer Should Know

Our process, terms, and everything else

Basic Contract Terms (share this early on with writers)

• Medium has a 1 year general exclusivity to the work starting from the day it’s published.
• After the 1 year period, Medium retains exclusive digital rights to the work, and a non-exclusive license to distribute the work in physical print, e-book, and audio narration.
• Posts will be behind a metered paywall for Medium subscribers.
• No advertising or affiliate links are allowed on a commissioned Medium post.
• Medium pays net 30 days after the work is published AND a contract is signed. No invoicing necessary. See more Payment terms and details below.

Medium Profiles

In order for us to publish on Medium, you’ll need to sign up for an account if you haven’t already. It’s really easy! Just go to Medium.com and click Get Started in the top right. You’ll see the different sign in options.

If you need more details, check out our helpdesk basics.

It’s required that you include a recent picture in your profile as well as a professional bio. Include where you’ve been published, a link to your website or book, places you’ve worked, universities you’ve taught at, etc.

This not only allows readers to know who you are and your expertise when they land on your story but it helps people find your stories on google, Google news, and other search engines.

Also, we highly recommend that you connect your Twitter account once you’re set up. You can do that in Settings under your avatar.

Once you’ve setup your account, please be sure to send your medium account handle (@yourname) to your editor.

The Editorial Process

• Please submit drafts on time. Someone from the editorial team will bug you if you don’t! We prefer google docs with share settings set to allow anyone with the link to edit/view.
• Another editor will also do a top edit after you’ve completed edits with your editor.

Medium’s Style Guide

Production

Once your final edits are made, our internal team will do the following:

• Copy edit. This is a final pass on the text to fix typos, errors, etc. but does not change the content.
• Normalize layout/styling to conform with our style guide.
• We’ll handle the art and photography for your story.
• Medium membership is ad free, please don’t include any endorsements or calls to action.
• Finalize headline and sub-headline.
• Schedule it to be published.

Promotion

Member stories will appear in a special module on the homepage and will be distributed into the relevant curated topics as well. Each Medium publication has a weekly digest that serves readers stories from the publication that are relevant to them.

We suggest that you turn on your email notifications, so that when we publish, you’ll get notified. Once live we encourage promotion on social and any other distribution channels you have (newsletter, etc.). Tag your publication’s twitter or Instagram handle. Also, feel free to clap on the responses on the article if they’re decent, and responding when appropriate.

Payment

• Payments are sent within 30 days of publication (NET30), provided that Medium also has a signed contract and a completed tax form on file.
• No invoicing is necessary. Our accounting department sweeps published stories every two weeks to processes payment.
• If you are writing several stories, you will be paid for each story published during the time that accounting processes payments.
• If you have travel or expenses for your reporting, please refer to our policy here. Once travel is complete, freelance partners should send in 1 PDF WITH AN INVOICE + ALL ACCOMPANYING RECEIPTS for initial approval by your editor.
• Do note that if you choose to use Paypal or wire transfer, fees may be applied by Paypal or your bank.

Domestic Vendors

• For new domestic vendors, you will receive an e-mail from Bill.com approx. 2 business days after Medium receives a signed contract inviting you to set up your account for ACH/direct deposit or to confirm your address for a physical check. Once you set up your Bill.com payment method, you will be set up in our system for all future payments. Otherwise, the system will default to a physical check mailed to your address on your tax form — please note, depending on when you sign up for Bill.com, you may still receive a physical check for your first payment.
• You can go to Bill.com and change your banking information at any time. Please note: ALL writers are responsible for updating your personal information on Bill.com for address changes and/or banking info changes BEFORE your story is published. Otherwise, a $25 check cancellation fee may be incurred if Medium needs to re-issue physical checks.

International Vendors

• For new international vendors, please complete the wire/PayPal international transfer form that will be attached to the W-8 in your contract.

Expenses

• If you have reporting related travel expenses, you must get approval in advance from your editor. Please read through Medium’s partner travel expense policy, and submit 1 invoice with all accompanying receipts and documentation to your editor. Expense reimbursements will be processed within 30 days of invoice receipt provided all documentation is correct.

Payment Issues and Help

• If you have any payment related queries to address separately/outside of the above issues, please contact your Medium lead/contract signatory listed on your contract.
• If you have opted to receive a physical check and have not received your check yet, it may take up to 10 business days due to mail delivery times to receive your payment. If you still haven’t received payment after 10 business days from Net 30 days, please reach out to your Medium lead.