Don’t follow me! UNLESS…
You wake up in the morning and you prepare your coffee on the gas because domestic coffee machines were not invented yet. You then sit on your typewriter and craft your next piece. But how do you publish it?
Before computers were a thing writers got famous because their work was good, and oftentimes it wasn’t their first piece. So it annoys me that there are so many “follow for follow” posts out there. Don’t get me wrong, I am jealous they get followers fast.
But what’s the cost?
There’s a thing called quality which you achieve through hard and rigorous work. I have been writing since I was in my teens and only in recent years I’ve switched to English, which isn’t my native language. It’s a craft you learn each and every day by putting in words, one at a time.
And guess how you know whether you’ve written a good piece or not.
Your followers.
If people follow you it means your work is good because they are interested in more. Some will even comment and hopefully, you’ll get some good criticism which will further assist your development. This is how we grow and improve as writers.
So how cheap is it that we do “follow for follow” all to get a dollar fifty from Medium? Sure you can argue that quantity brings quality and once you start seeing the dollars you’ll have the drive to produce content. But since when are all the good artists driven by money?
And there’s also the notion that you’re ruining Medium.
Why do you think YouTube requires 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours? Because it is hard and attracts only the bold-hearted. So what do you think would happen when there are a lot of people out there who get 100 followers? It would become easy.
And if it becomes easy, who’s to say Medium won’t raise the bar?
I have another account with over a hundred followers. It was created back when Medium was completely free and you used it as a platform to share your work. I could leverage that crowd and change the name, but that would be cheap, especially since all the followers are interested in software development.
So. Why are you here?
Is it just for the dopamine hit of 100 followers? What would happen after? Will you continue writing or searching for your next dose?
If you’re here to write, then write. Good content gets views and gets people. It’s a bitch and it takes time but this is life. It’s supposed to be challenging.
What would be more fun?
Getting 100 followers from “follow for follow” or because you attracted an audience that loves your craft and your silly puns?
So follow me, but only if you like my work.
Now wouldn’t it be ironic if I got 100 followers out of this story?
