Differences between a profile and a publication

Medium allows you to share your writing through two primary channels: your profile and publications. Here's how they work and what sets them apart.

Profile

When you join Medium, you get your own profile page, which is linked to your account. This is your personal space where you can publish stories, customize your personal details, and manage your settings—only you have control over these features. Your profile address will be medium.com/@your-username. If you delete your account, your stories will also be deleted.

Publications

A publication works as a content hub, like a magazine. One person creates it and can invite others to join with different roles:

Writers can submit stories to the publication and edit their own content.
Editors can accept or reject submissions, edit any story in the publication, and publish their own stories.

Stories published in a publication appear on both the author's profile and the publication page. Publications offer more customization options than personal profiles, including different page layouts, newsletters, and the ability to create subpages. The publication address will be medium.com/publication-name.

Publications don't have separate login credentials—they're always managed through the owner's and editors' personal accounts and cannot be used to author stories. If a publication is deleted, all stories remain on their authors' profiles, but the publication's branding is removed.

Which one should you choose?

Use your profile if you want to build your personal brand and have full control over your content.
Join or create a publication if you want to reach Medium's broader audience, collaborate with other writers, or need advanced customization features.

FAQ

I have a branded publication, and would like the stories published by the publication to be shown as authored by the brand, not by individual people. How do I do that?

If you'd like your stories to be authored by your organization or brand, you will need to create a user account under the brand's name. You can use your brand's name as your username and display name, and upload its logo as the profile picture.

Once you've set up the account, add it as a writer or editor in your existing publication, and use it to publish content in your brand's name.

Can I delete the owner account and still keep the publication online?

No, you cannot. If you delete the user account which owns the publication, the publication will be taken offline.