I liked your comment about 12 readers. Which I believe is the result most of us have here.

I really can't see that changing. My sense of Medium is that we Medium contributors much prefer to be read than to read. And this sets up a strange psychological dynamic of Medium trying to keep many of us to win "The Medium Lottery" for a long as it can.

I have 836 followers. I believe at least 600 of them no longer participate on Medium. I believe just a handful of the other 236 see my articles on their feeds. That comes to 12 readers.

These days, I find a lot of Medium contributors with 300 followers or less. That kind of makes feel like a veteran. But my 12 readers per article really don't count for much.