I joined Medium before the Partner Program. And, I'm glad. I didn't have pennies or dollars to worry about. I just concentrated on writing and building a community. The only measuring tools I had were claps and comments. And, back then, we could only clap once. I am so grateful that money wasn't an issue when I started. My advice, don't pay attention to how much you earn. Just write and build your community by reading, clapping, highlighting, and commenting on what others write.

And, if you don't depend on your writing to earn a living, write what you want. Those who make big bucks here are anomalies and they write about writing, politics, finances, tech, or very specific human-interest topics, like illnesses. If you don't want to write about those topics, don't. It's that simple.