Medium.com has changed quite a bit in recent years. One of the biggest changes: They’ve hired real editors and created publications that pay freelance writers.
Here are nine publications on Medium, mostly owned by Medium, including direct links to their submissions guidelines pages. Many of these publications appear to pay up to $1 per word – and sometimes more.
Keep in mind that this path to publishing on Medium is different than making your own money on Medium.
If you don’t know how to get started as a freelance writer, your next step is to watch this free webinar.
Forge is Medium.com’s home for personal development articles. They cover productivity, self-improvement, optimization, personal progress, mindfulness, and creativity. They don’t specify pay rates, though other Medium publications pay up to $1 per word or more. To learn more, read their guide to pitching.
GEN is a publication by Medium about politics, power, and culture. They are looking for 3 to 4 pieces (on music, art, books, food, etc.) by critics of color each week. They pay $1.00 per word for essays/stories and $2.00 per word for reported pieces. For details, refer to this Twitter thread and this page.
Zora is Medium’s online publication about women of color. Their topic areas include: “current events, culture, identity, race, justice, equality, work/life, family, self, sexuality, parenting, psychology, spirituality, career, friendship, aging, habits, love and dating, body image, trauma and recovery, caregiving, hobbies… and the list goes on.” According to payment reports, they pay up to $1.00 per word. Writers can send pitches to their editor-in-chief at vanessa@medium.com. To learn more about them, refer to this page.
OneZero is a new Medium publication about technology and science. Their senior editor is seeking pitches for future-facing science stories. She is especially interested in “big ideas in biotech, genetic engineering, climate science, and all the weird stuff in between that’ll shape the next 10, 20, 50 years.” According to one payment report, they paid $1.25 per word for a 3,200-word feature. For details, refer to this Twitter post. To learn more about them, refer to this page.
FFWD aims to offer the smartest takes on YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. According to their editor, they are seeking “agenda-leading stories about the online video space.” They pay $1.00 per word, and run 3 stories (1,000 to 1,500 words) per week. Learn how to pitch them here. Read their editor’s Twitter post here.
Heated is a food publication from Mark Bittman (a food journalist, author, and television personality) and Medium (an online publishing platform). Their “goal is to showcase the links between food and just about everything else: agriculture, politics, history, and labor; culture and cooking; identity, family, and love.” They are actively seeking pitches. According to one payment report, they paid $0.83 per word for a 1200-word feature. To learn more, visit this page.
Tenderly is a vegan lifestyle magazine that is launching on Medium (an online publishing platform) on July 8, 2019. They will talk about recipes, living well, loving animals, and saving the planet. Most of their pieces will be 1,000 to 2,000 words long. Their pay will start at $200 per post. For more information, refer to this page.
Gay Magazine is a new publication partnership between Roxane Gay (an author, editor, and commentator) and Medium (an online publishing platform). They offer interesting and thoughtful cultural criticism. They are looking for personal essays, short fiction, illustration and photography. They pay $1.00 per word for work up to 3,500 words. Details here. Note, we have heard rumors that they may be shutting down soon.
Serious Eats @ Medium is the member’s only version of the website Serious Eats. They publish articles about food, cooking, and eating. They pay $100 per article – 800 to 2,000 words. They prefer essays, but not “gauzy introspection that ends by evaporating into a puff of scented vapor.” They pay $100 per article/essay. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
