There probably isn’t much of a middle of the pack. A year or so ago when Medium was still sharing earning reports, about 95% of all active writers made less than 100 dollars a month.

The problem is simply that writing success — as any popularity contest — follows strong Matthew effects: a tiny minority rakes in a huge portion of the money while the vast vast majority fights over scraps.

But I do believe Medium is aware of this problem. At least I interpret the bonuses they’ve been giving out recently as an attempt to spread the money more evenly.