Per-minute yield for my most popular article was about 2 cents on its best day, 2 months ago, but it keeps trickling in now at rates that range from 5 to 15 cents.

I read an explanation of the payment algorithm just yesterday or day before. Claps are irrelevant. Reading time is the primary factor, but not as a straight per-minute rate, since what matters is the proportion of each member's time they spend with your articles. If I spend an hour a day this month reading Medium articles, each of my minutes will be worth almost zip ($5/31 hours) to the writers whose works have gotten my attention. But if someone reads 1 article this month, and that article is one of yours, you get their whole $5, minus whatever Medium keeps.

Actually, I think it's more complex than that. I wasn't reading carefully and taking notes, as I would have been wise to do. What matters more to me is the algorithm that determines which articles are featured in the daily digest and in members' feeds, because that's what really has the greater impact on earnings. I think claps from lots of readers (not how many claps, just how many clappers) and even non-member reading time is part of that equation. Right now, something I wrote over a month ago is suddenly getting a lot of views, yielding $10 in the last 3 days after less than $1/day before.

Ed