It depends, Eddie. I don’t do any of that, and I have a moderately healthy readership on Medium and make some money.

I’ve spent a couple years carving out a niche as an outspoken, clearly spoken LGBTQ advocate and fiction writer. I write carefully, and I’m relentlessly aware that my article’s image and title are life and death to my click rate.

Some of my biggest stories have been personal essays, and while I do have a healthy number of followers, I’m nowhere close to Shannon’s league.

I don’t really know what to credit my readership with. But I’m just saying it’s possible to do OK on Medium without writing about Medium or writing about writing.