My top-earning stories ($800 -$2,000 each) are in cooking, history, and health, Auctor. I’ve written stories in the top four topics, but they haven’t gone anywhere. I make it a point to read the writers I like, not publications, because most of the writers I like submit to multiple publications.

I agree that those who got in early and built a huge audience have a distinct advantage, but not everyone who got in early has done well.

Medium announced it has discovered that most folks like to follow particular writers rather than publications so that’s their new focus. Most popular writers have a niche. Some of them write about their freakishly horrible life, their enviable existence, or endlessly rant about how awful everything is. I get why some are popular, others, who knows? People will watch any kind of crap on TV. I guess they’ll read almost anything, too.