Yes, I see what you mean, that is a shockingly low amount. But articles in The Shortform are under 150 words, and we get paid for reading time. I see your article didn't get any comments, and I think that's what matters. The time that people spend writing comments probably adds to the "reading time". When we write a piece in The Shortform to promote another piece, people are probably more likely to comment on the longer piece.

My Eckhart Tolle article is earning a shocking amount of money, and it seems that this is because lots of people have been writing comments.