***As one of the nominators, I wanted to update this response to say that they have changed the rules, and the nominators are no longer allowed to nominate their own stories. ***

It seems ethically questionable at best.

And yes, some of the stories I've nominated have done better than others, but most of the nominators I know are picking smaller, relatively unknown writers to lift. Some of them have less than 100 followers and are new, but good writers. The idea of doing it to help real people and real writers is more appealing than $45. Many of us are working extensively with the writers to polish up their pieces, as well.