I have never had a boosted article. All I know from my own stories is that my MPP is up significantly this month. The amounts are nothing to brag about but they provide context, so I will give them. The past few months I was averaging $30-$40 a month publishing about 10 new stories a month. In the first 19 days of this month, I'm at $98, about $52 of which is from the 9 new stories so far and the $46 spread across older content spread across the gamut of my profile. I was speaking to a friend last night who was averaging about $10 a month and has seen the same percentage increases.
It seems to me that the payment algo is somehow redistributing the pool as lets never forget that Medium is about making money for itself and there is no way they are paying out more in total. I saw one article because a friend send it to me where a big earner was griping and screenshotted tons of gripes from other big earners, none of whom had I ever read or even heard of, and he said he would be leaving and suggested that readers cancel their subscriptions. Sour and obnoxious grapes.
The quote from Tony is correct. I've said for years that Medium is not a place that writers looking to make a living from writing should be writing. Yet for years, that carrot was dangled. In April of 2021, another time there were algo changes and earners were griping, in my essay https://medium.com/illumination/is-medium-a-malignant-narcissist-1f3d55793bf6 , I quoted this comment of mine that I had made to a complainer:
"I do need money, but I do not expect to make money here as I see through the curtain — I came here to grow as a writer, which I have, and as a place to share my ideas as a stepping stone to a career change that may be primarily as a writer or may be primarily as thinker, and in the process I have also gained more spirituality in the last 30 days than I would have doing decades of 12-step program work, so, while on a macro level I am bothered by what I see through the curtain (30 editor limits and other obvious-to-the-aware [competition] dampening policies), I am personally thrilled with my Medium experience."
Perhaps Medium under Tony's guidance is embracing what it should be. It's too soon to know, and some things under his reign have disturbed be, like James Knight being kicked off the platform, but I am encouraged.
