Dear reader,
Long time no see. My current schedule doesn't allow me to make weekly posts, so going forward, I will write content when there's some news to share.
Now back to business.
In earlier posts, I have written constantly about keeping an eye on payment solutions because you are only close to monetizing your content as payment solutions accepted in your country. You can read more about it, in this post which also links to other older but relevant posts.
In this post, I want to highlight two key changes in Medium and Gumroad that address the payment gap in the creator economy.
Medium has introduced a tipping feature where you can tip the creator if you liked the content. Since Medium Partner Program only supports Stripe payments as a solution, tipping is a welcome move as it allows you to link your PayPal account. It doesn't guarantee an earning but shows a platform's intention and seriousness about content monetization.
Gumroad is working with more local banks in different countries and they announced this in their newsletter earlier this month. Currently, creators from Peru, Argentina, the Philippines, Mexico, Sweden, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, Israel, the UAE, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea can integrate their local banks (if on the list) and get paid directly. Now Gumroad supports PayPal by default. So, if your country isn't listed above, you can still work with PayPal.
These changes may look tiny to an outsider but it's a huge relief to realize that platforms are finally addressing the pay gap that has been called out by creators multiple times. I see this as a positive change for creators.
Before I conclude, I want to share anecdotal data. I came across a few social media posts from people with decent to large follower bases who were opposing the idea of content monetization. People are entitled to their opinion, but from one creator to another, it sounds silly to not expect remuneration for the creative time when some of us obviously want to.
If time is money, creative time is also money.
If you are serious about content monetization, keep two eyes on the creator economy because a lot's happening there, and for good!
On that note, I'll see you next time. Hopefully, soon!
Love,
Sangita