Mike Essig , this was truly eye-opening! Thank you for sharing this. You earned a staggeringly humongous amount of money compared to what I earned in the same amount of time with the MPP. It is now obvious to me that I need to quit writing short stories and start writing poetry. (And quickly gain about 20,000 followers.)

I can certainly understand your decision to go back to PayPal donations instead of utilizing the Medium Partner Program. I took a serious cut in pay when I quit using a donation/tip box and switched to the MPP. That’s one of the main reasons I was unable to pay for a year’s membership. I, too, have thought of switching back to using a tip box but I’m going to hang in there with the program a little longer. It only pays in pennies but it is at least consistent. While the tip box paid more, it was very erratic. Some months brought good tips but others brought zero tips. I need the consistency of getting paid every month because I live from month to month not knowing if I will be homeless the next month.

Okay, I better get cracking on improving my poetry skills….