You want to write on Medium in hopes of money? You? A Filipino writer?

 

Think again, my fellow Filipino writer! 

According to Statista.com, the Philippines had the most internet users last year. What does this mean? More internet users=more audience! Emerging or professional writers need their work out there for people to see to gain more readers and clients as well, some create their own writing portfolio using web hosts and some rely on social media websites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But some websites build communities specifically for writers, like Substack and Medium, the difference is that the latter gives you money! 

Medium pays you for your published content and the audience you have built by applying to its partner program. Let’s cut to the chase, how do you apply for it?

Medium only needs three things (as per their post):

1. Publish a story 

2. Gain 100+ followers

3. Stay active

Seems pretty easy right? But there is one (important) thing that they failed to address, or at least failed to put in the main criteria on their main partner program page. 

Out of a hundred and ninety-five countries in the world, this program is supported only by rich countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. 

Where does that leave us fellow Filipino and fellow third-world country writers? Well, we are left to our liberal-arts-ignorant-STEM-biased and corrupt government to fend for ourselves. 

I read the whole deal before working hard getting a follow for follow. And it’s my fault that I chose to ignore it. I was also a little naive to think that a big platform like Medium would give opportunities to…well, all. 

What could we do? I don’t know either, but I’m kind of thinking of using a VPN, but I don’t know. To end, I just want to warn, not just my fellow Filipino writers but also the other 162 countries who weren’t allowed to join the program just yet, don’t get your hopes up with this one. 

However, I still have hope that it will change in some time, hopefully, their program will support a lot more countries than 33 soon because, honestly, it’s sad that the top internet users are not prioritized on a website where audiences are an essential tool to keep it going. 

A harsh world for writers but we are tough and stubborn. With our pens and papers (or laptops and Google Docs), we can create a better world than this.