If something is time sensitive, I either self-publish or submit to smaller publications that usually publish within 24 hours of submission. I’ve also had editors contact me and ask me to submit one of my self-published articles to them.

My highest earning story to date, well over $2,000 so far was published in a relatively new publication with only a few hundred subscribers. The few times I had something accepted into the big publications, I earned practically nothing, so I gave up on that after my first few months on Medium.