Writing Platform News

The Editor Partner Program For Kids

Now your children can edit pieces and get paid

Medium editors busy earning their 25% cut (Photo/Pexels)

If you haven’t heard, Medium has extended its Partner Program to editors as well as writers — the Editor Partner Program (EPP).

In the past, only writers got paid and editors got nothing. Now, provided your publication qualifies (more on that later), each editor will receive 25% of what the writer earns.

If the writer earns $100, the editor will earn $25.

It’s a step in the right direction. But here’s the question: what sort of editing is required? A comprehensive edit? Or simply deleting a comma?

According to Medium

With this new Editor Partner Program, we hope to scale easily and quickly since there’s nothing new or special editors need to do. Just edit your publication as normal.

Shall I edit and rewrite this and explain what this actually means?

With the Editor Partner Program, there is absolutely no way we have the technology to monitor how much an individual editor actually edits. Therefore, even if you do nothing and just press Publish, you’ll get your 25%.

I might be wrong here, but I can’t find anything else to suggest otherwise. With no minimum number of edits required, you could spend eight hours editing a piece, or two seconds, and still get 25%.

In short, your 4-year-old kid could edit a piece and would still get paid.

I understand the thinking behind it. If editors can improve pieces, writers might earn more and so will editors. Editors, therefore, may take their role more seriously, and more people might get involved in editing.

As a result, Medium could evolve into a more editor-led platform rather than a centralised one.

It might work. If, and it’s a big if, the money diverted to the editors isn’t siphoned off from funds earmarked for writers.

Medium has said that “We have increased the total amount of Medium subscriber funds we pay out to our community to make this program happen”.

This is also good. But it'd better stick to its claim because any further reduction in earnings could quickly erode trust in the whole platform (again!).

My publication Pitfall is small, with just me as the editor, meaning I will reap all the rewards if I am selected. But what about large publications with lots of editors, let’s say, Illumination?

Unless there’s a strict system in place, it’s going to become a bit of a free-for-all. Editors may grab all the articles, or just cherry-pick the best ones — the ones that need minimal effort.

This could create conflict. What if someone changes a comma and another person does a complete rewrite? All for the same money.

Of course, big publications are often run by good communities. If an editor starts doing zero work and collecting 25%, the editor-in-chief could strip their editor status to keep other editors on board.

Another problem, which isn’t new, is the risk that the system could be gamed.

Editors and writers may assign themselves to each other’s stories without actually reading or editing a single word. Then hit publish and unlock an extra stream of income by doing nothing more than clicking a dropdown menu

Medium claims this cash is an entirely new injection of subscriber funds. But if these peer-to-peer loops start proliferating, that pool is going to disappear fast, and it won’t be long before genuine writers start seeing their share diluted to pay for empty clicks (again!).

And why is there no application process?

When I heard of it, I naturally looked for the form to apply. I’ve had my publication for four years, so I thought I might be worthy. So I looked for the application form.

It doesn’t exist, and it seems Medium is inviting its initial group of publications.

I’m not a fan of the word “inviting.” It feels exclusive, like a closed shop. Like when you hear someone has got married, and you weren’t invited, you can’t help but feel left out.

Despite everything, I hope it works. I like Medium, so perhaps this is a step forward rather than two steps back.

I guess, we’ll see.

In the meantime

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