Hi Mark, Maybe this article helps you for further clarification: https://medium.com/illumination/bad-news-for-publications-and-good-news-for-self-published-writers-781ef33c8924

As Mr. Curiositiy pointed out it's an overall statement made by Medium that they want to help self-published writers more. HOW? they will for sure show within the next weeks. There are new incentives for writers, such as the referrel link or the audience stats, newsletter subsribers and so on.

Here's more: https://medium.com/illumination/bad-news-for-publications-and-good-news-for-self-published-writers-781ef33c8924

In case you have any further questions feel free to reach out to me.