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You are an Indian Writer , and as you know, it is often incredibly frustrating for you. You spend countless hours trying to research an article carefully. You create it, put it on the Content posting platform in india, and it is being read and getting tons of engagement. When it comes time to get paid for your work, however, you get stuck at the wall.
That wall was called Medium's payment system. For years, Medium has been one of the most-used writing platforms around the globe, and Indian authors have been one of the most invested groups on Medium. But when they tried to monetise their writing through Medium, Indian Authors were left out in the cold. The process of getting a payment from Medium was complicated, requiring an Indian Author to enter foreign tax documents and losing a chunk of the earnings from each payment due to the international transfer fees.
This is why GuestCountry existed to make the process easier for Indian Authors. This document explains how GuestCountry's payment process works for Indian Authors, and demonstrates that it is both better than Medium throughout the process of setting up your account to getting money into your account.
The Medium Problem for Indian Writers
The Partner program on Medium began officially just for Indian partners in mid-2024; however, this means that prior to July 2024, the vast majority of Indian users could not earn money through writing on Medium not due to lack of quality content, but because the entire payment infrastructure was never designed with Indian creators in mind.
Once Medium finally opened up to Indian writers, the process of receiving payments remained challenging. Medium pays for writing via Stripe, which has systematically had limited access to and support for Indian accounts. Currently, Stripe only accepts companies/invite-only in India, and individual freelancers rarely pass the qualification process.
There are many steps before an Indian writer can receive their earnings from Medium:
1) The writer must establish a Payoneer account;
2) E stablish a Virtual U.S.-based bank account number;
3) Connect the Virtual bank account to Stripe;
4) Wait for a maximum of 30 days while the Funds are leaving their U.S.-based bank account, and being transferred to the Payoneer Account; Lastly, the writer then waits a maximum of 7 days for the funds to leave Payoneer and travel through the various intermediaries before it appears as a balance in the Indian Writer's bank account.
Each stage adds up, with Payoneer having an annual maintenance fee when earnings drop below certain amounts, fees for converting currency (e.g., USD to INR), transaction charges and FX markup on each transfer. A lot of money will have been deducted prior to reaching your Indian bank account, with little or no detail explaining how each step took place.
Besides these deductions, there are further tax issues to consider, with a 15% withholding imposed on earnings from Indian Medium writers under the US-India tax treaty. This is better than the typical 30% withholding tax but only if the proper treaty claim is made when establishing the account by filling out a W-8BEN form and selecting the appropriate articles for the treaty while navigating through unfamiliar US tax documentation. If any step is not completed correctly, the writer will have additional deductions from their earnings.
While the Medium payment system works (technically), it is anything but straightforward and anything but equitable to a writer looking to get paid for work done in India.
How GuestCountry Is Different
GuestCountry is a platform that has been created in India; this should be a point of pride but also a reason for how the payment infrastructure functions. The system was built with Indian authors from the start instead of being adjusted as an afterthought once the platform grew to encompass an audience of 1.4 billion people.
Here is what that actually looks like in practice.
1. Direct Bank Payments (No Middleman Required)
GuestCountry, writers receive direct payments into their bank accounts in India, without the need for a Stripe account, Payoneer workaround, or a virtual US bank account; and without having to rely on three different platforms for payments. Writers can simply give their regular bank details (the same you would use for a UPI transaction or NEFT transfer) and you will receive payments directly from us. This means that one area of major friction for Indian writers prior to writing their first article on Medium has been eliminated entirely.
2. Payments in Indian Rupees
GuestCountry makes all payments in Indian Rupees (INR), therefore there will be no currency conversion fees or FX spread losses and you can rely on knowing exactly how much money you get once your payment has been completed. You receive exactly what you earn on the GuestCountry and you will receive the same currency that you earn every day.
Medium pays USD, and while that may seem like an attractive payment method on paper, the payment chain for USD is done in three separate currency conversions (USD to Stripe, Stripe to Payoneer and Payoneer to INR). The result is, as a creator, you will never receive as much as you expect to when receiving your Medium payout. You will receive your full amount from GuestCountry once the payment is processed.
3. Multiple Ways to Earn
GuestCountry offers writers three distinct earning streams rather than relying on a single algorithm-driven payout mechanism:
• Reader Tips Readers who enjoy your work can tip you directly, creating an immediate and personal connection between your writing and your income.
• Premium Subscriptions Offer exclusive content to paying subscribers and build a source of monthly recurring income that is not tied to one-time article views.
• Partner Program Earn based on your content's read time and engagement, similar to Medium's model but without the payment friction for Indian users.
4. No Foreign Tax Complexity
Getting paid on Medium requires Indian writers to navigate W-8BEN forms, select treaty articles under the US-India tax treaty, and correctly claim reduced withholding rates just to avoid losing 30% of their earnings at source. One wrong step during setup, and a significant portion of every payment is withheld. GuestCountry, operating as an Indian platform under Indian financial regulation, removes this layer of foreign tax complexity entirely for Indian writers.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Who Should Use GuestCountry?
For Indian writers just beginning out as authors, GuestCountry provides a convenient way to begin earning money without having to spend an extended period of time trying to figure out how to navigate an international payment system. For other more experienced writers who have lost money every time they were paid due to Stripe and Payoneer fees
For those writers who create content in Hindi or another Indian language, GuestCountry will be an attractive option because it has the ability to support all types of content and is designed to be used in India (as the majority of global platforms are not).
Any writer who is looking for another way to earn money through a single publishing source and has previously attempted setting up Medium.com payments from India and has given up due to the difficulties they have faced in attempting to do so, will find all of the obstacles that they have faced gone, as they will not experience any of them on GuestCountry.
Ready to Start?
If you've avoided monetizing your writing due to the complexity or high cost of payment options, then you've no longer got an excuse! It's absolutely free to join GuestCountry. You can write your very first story today and as soon as you start making money from it, it will be deposited straight into your bank account in India with no hassle, no intermediary, and no unexpected fees.
