I see where you're coming from, and I appreciate your perspective. But as someone who writes deeply personal, real stories that resonate with readers, I can’t help but feel frustrated. Even when we write with readers in mind, the earnings system has made it almost impossible to sustain the effort. I’ve had pieces that genuinely touched people, yet they earned cents. Poetry? I’ve stopped writing it altogether because pouring my heart into something only to get $0.09 feels like a slap in the face.

I got $0.09 for 183 reads on a deeply personal story—how is that fair? So while I understand Medium’s focus on readers, the reality is that even reader-oriented writing isn’t being rewarded fairly. It sucks big time.