The venture capital for Medium ran out quite a while ago, and Medium does not have sufficient money collected from readers to pay all its expenses. At a guess, Ev Williams is paying for this out of his own pocket. Medium is in the red.
I have been grateful to receive $500 since April, but one thing I do not kid myself about - I am NOT a top writer on Medium. I think the criteria is something else, but I'm not sure what. I suspect that, with the exception of April, 'top writers' merely means those who earned the most.
As Ev Williams is probably paying for this out of his own pocket, and as there is no profit yet, I have no problem with him cutting the bonuses. I was extremely pleased to receive what I did.
I was never motivated to write for the bonuses, and while I did consider entering the competition (simply in order to get readers), after realizing that Medium then takes ownership of my copy, I have changed my mind.
I've been writing for money on the web since about 1999 (Associated Content and Writing.com), and my opinion is that when 80% of the population is writing on the web, nobody has enough money to pay them all.
I constantly see it stated that all writers must be paid. As I have been a published writer since 1962/63, I find that idea bizarre. Essentially, only writers accepted for publication got paid. It was not right of every writer to get paid just because they submitted something to the editor.
By the same token, just because someone self publishes on the web, it doesn't mean that the people who own the website are making money out of them. Nor does it mean that if the particular website was looking for stories, that their stories would make the cut.
In any event, I will not be entering the competition - not if my writing is going to be owned by Medium. Not acceptable.
