That might be accurate for some publications. The good news is that the Illumination family doesn't fit the description, and I'm not saying that because I'm an editor. I've been impressed by the genuineness and servant leadership of the editor-in chief, as well as the generosity and kindness of the volunteering editors when I first discovered the publications' world! Starting from that moment, I almost never self-published for a very simple reason: I exclusively write on Medium for the engagement and the priceless opportunities to build healthy relationships with like-minded and light-hearted writers/readers! I never exceeded 15 bucks 😁🙃🙈 I'm okay with it even if it would have been fabulous to get rewarded for the effort (nurturing my physical dimension) because I started writing at all to share my inner world and journey and maybe... just maybe get even one person to see there is another narrative and truth whenever we clean the lifetime of conditioning dust, destroy the persona, and reconnect with the True Self, at least to some extent! 💙 The last newborn of the Illumination family is "Readers Hope". Here are some details about it, should it feel worthwhile: https://medium.com/readers-digests/what-if-we-can-transform-readers-into-micro-writers-be56902d8734