I queried whether pay rates were falling in one of my recent articles, comparing read rates per minute for older stories and newer ones. Some comments were interesting. I think they pay more per minute, the more your story accrued reads. Incidentally, these figures are my top performing stories. I still have plenty that earn less than a dollar. https://medium.com/midform/trying-to-understand-medium-pay-rates-is-it-me-or-are-they-falling-3f3a98ec0f12