Medium goes Big with first published book

Content platform Medium is moving into the book business with The Big Disruption, a novel by ex-Google communications vice-president Jessica Powell.

The book was published on the Medium platform last year and the firm says it has been read by nearly 200,000 people.

Medium Editions has now published an ebook of the novel available at $5.99 and a paperback at $12.99.

Medium editorial vice-president Siobhan O’Connor says, ‘Our decision to publish former Google executive Jessica Powell’s novel The Big Disruption as the first full-length book on Medium exceeded all expectations. It’s been so successful we are taking the unprecedented step in publishing a print edition.’


How Medium Partner Program pays writers

Writers can get paid for contributions to Medium on the basis of how many reads an article receives. The company set up a paid membership scheme two years ago for a subscription of $5 a month and writers can get paid out of this fund, with some earning substantial amounts.

Those writers taking part in the Medium Partner Program can view a full range of statistics for their stories, including traffic, views and number of people who have read the entire article, sources of traffic and readers’ interests. It can be a valuable source of research for writers looking to test out an idea for a book.


Medium seeking new publications

Medium is also looking for Partners to launch new publications which it will help fund and distribute. It wants to hear from people who are a current or aspiring editor-in-chief, an expert in your field, or an existing publisher with extra capacity.

A ‘publication’ on Medium is a digital magazine. Readers can follow publications and can also see stories from publications in their feeds and email  if those stories are relevant to them. The Medium publication feature set includes back-end editorial controls, newsletters, stats, etc.

Medium says it is looking for quality publications that can help people understand the world more deeply and find worthwhile ideas they can apply in their lives. You can find out more about the publication scheme here on the Medium website.