I Will No Longer Make Any Money On Medium Starting January 2023

I won’t be leaving the platform though

Photo by Ryan Born on Unsplash

I created my Medium account in 2018 and became a member of the Partner Program in July 2020 while living in The Netherlands.

After graduating, I came back to Vietnam where Stripe is currently unavailable. The only reason why I have been receiving a certain amount every month for my articles is that my Dutch bank account is still active.

Well, it won’t be in another six months.

Staring at the card’s expiration date, I feel bittersweet knowing one of my income sources will be gone in January 2023.

I had hoped that Stripe would have become available in my country or Medium would have partnered with another online payment processing company like PayPal.

But since that doesn’t seem to be happening soon, I’ll just have to accept the reality.

However, this will not be the end of me.

I will keep on writing and publishing because I didn’t join Medium with the purpose of making money so I will not leave because I can no longer make a monthly withdrawal.

The intangible benefits of Medium

Back in 2020, joining the Partner Program meant subscribing to Medium and connecting my bank account to Stripe. I remember earning $0.54 for my first article after becoming a member when I only had seven followers, five of which were my classmates and teacher.

For 12 months straight, I made less than $1/month.

But I kept publishing for two reasons:

1. The writing community is extremely kind

They don’t have to be, but they are.

I have never been in a community where people are so supportive of each other, willing to read, clap, and give feedback in the most friendly manner.

It’s easy to find a friend, a mentor, and a supporter here, or more often than not, plenty of them.

There are still trolling comments for sure. But they are nothing compared to the kindness I’ve received here for the past two years.