Hezi, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Joseph Heller, wrote “Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.”
I am a strong advocate for writers to work on their craft and to write because they love to do it. But that doesn't mean, I ignore the built-in biases in the system.
If you look behind the curtains, you will see the Wizards of Medium are just regular people with their own set of agendas, biases, and a basic need to protect the site by selling their snake oil.
Just do the math.
To make big bucks, a person needs 2500 subscribers to read only their articles and never write their own. Subtract Medium's 20% (my guess, but they have stated they take a cut), and that leaves the magic $10,000 per month so many people write about.
Medium claims to have around 1,000,000 subscribers. That means the maximum number of people to make $10,000 would be 400. Since 5-7% of the writers make at least $100 per month, and assuming a Pareto-style distribution (where 20% of the people make 80% of the money), somewhere between 10-40 people make huge money on Medium, followed by a small group who make over $1000, followed by a slightly larger group who make over $100 per month.
And then you have the 93-95% left who make next to nothing, compared to the time they put into writing.
Social media uses gamification to addict users, and Medium is no different.
Don't let people gaslight you when you have a grasp of the reality of publishing. You have every right to ask questions and feel frustration.
No writer on this site is a Karen - even the ones who are named Karen.
