Thank you for sharing your experience. I am sorry you couldn’t benefit from Illumination. Some writers really gain a competitive advantage as their stories seem to click with the audience, and with their amplications, they gain virality. However, some writers get hardly any views. Unfortunately, it is not within our control as the Medium algorithm determines the distribution of stories to interested readers. For example, if too many readers mute a writer, they hardly get any views. We have no visibility to that data. Congratulations on your publication. It is a great decision. I also own a personal publication to support my subscribers, as they want to see my stories in one place. I recommended this strategy to all our writers last year.

Here’s Why You Need Personal Publications on Medium.