Good thoughts Stephen! I don’t follow the big publications. I follow people who write what I like to read and I try to follow writers who respond to what I write. I don’t think number of followers has much to do with responses to posts. Most of my followers don’t seem to read what I post. Maybe they don’t even see my posts, given the number of stories pumped out daily on Medium! The main thing I try to do is write good stuff, have fun, and support and interact with othe writers as time allows.