Medium used to run a system of elevating good writing - there were no Medium run publications. Good writing would be picked up by Medium staff and distributed more widely.

Some time in the last two years, they made the decision to begin 'Medium Publications' - and pushed them very hard. As such the editors became gatekeepers rather than scouts. Instead of finding new and innovative voices, they waited for those voices to submit themselves to judgment.

Fast forward a year or so and you can see that the collective power of these individuals has meant that Medium now runs like a newspaper rather than a social media site. Each publication has its favourite writers and that small cabal of writers is responsible for a large number of the most profitable articles.

There's a beautiful irony at work here, the more left wing the platform seems to be, the more it relies on the right wing style centralisation of power in the hands of a tiny elite few. The platform ceased to have egalitarian appeal a long time ago - and I lost interest in applying to be in publications about thirty seconds after they came into existence.

Currently my Medium writing pretty much pays for my Netflix and Amazon prime subscriptions (largely because of the few high earning articles I created before Medium publications). The game is rigged in favour of those who toe the ideological lines of the publications. There's plenty of idealogues and demagogues on here doing very successful clickbait that offers little of substance.

These days to have a rewarding Medium experience, you have to dig a little deeper and find intelligent writing off the beaten track. This in itself is a shame, because that's exactly what Medium editors used to do.

Keep writing, and don't bother with the publications. Your audience will find you. :o)