Odd Man Out
My take on the Medium bonus
Yesterday, I was out in the country climbing a mountain and missed the big bonus news. Medium had apparently rewarded 1000 writers $500 each for their contributions to the platform. Good news for those 1000 writers. Not so good for the rest.
Googling what I’d missed, I found many stories from writers who’d opened their email to find $500. Gee! Thanks for sharing. I got some good news for you, too. Ya see that blond over there with the phat booty? I’m fucking her!
According to the wizards, those writers were being rewarded for their engagement with readers, number of claps, etc.
Ok! So I didn’t make the cut. But then, I found a story in which the writer took a screenshot of her Stripe account indicating she’d earned a whopping $77 in April. And another bonus recipient confessed she hadn’t earned $500 in total for writing on Medium in the span of 7 months.
That’s awesome that they were rewarded for their hard work. But here’s the thing: Very few people publish more than I do here, I’m quite sure. And my numbers are many multiples of those writers who got the bonus. So, Ev! What gives, my man?
I thought that maybe Medium wasn’t giving the bonuses to the elite 8% who make more than $100 per month. But a little more research informed me: Not the case. The top 8% were getting the bonus as well.
I’m just curious whether others like me (with more significant engagement than the aforementioned low-earning writers) were left out. Or was I singled out and all by my lonesome? Just curious.
