V — what is maybe more important to remember for readers who love a lot of writers here, is that even if you were consistently only giving everyone 1 clap, you would not be “helping financially”. What giving 50 claps does, aside from making authors feel like they’re not wasting their time, is raise the visibility of the story in general so maybe people who have not read that author before might be interested in reading — and THAT may well help them financially as they get more people who like their work, who clap and recommend and respond.

This idea that anything you clap is going to help someone make money is ludicrous. You have $5 per month to share around. If you like to read and we all do, then forget about the finance side of it. If you like an author, clap your fucking heart out for them and help their story to be seen by the masses on Medium. Share them on other platforms if you can. Spread the word. Those things help the authors we love.

For authors, I would add — get your tags right. If you write FICTION, use Short Story, Fiction and something on the subject. If you write NON-FICTION don’t use Short Story or Fiction, choose forms or subjects that help readers.

Here endeth the rant.