Humorous Rant
“Sing For Your Supper”
Don’t be fooled by the number of followers
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Naïve persons get all excited about peeps on Medium that have 1k or more followers. Don’t be. Not all that glitters is gold. Growing up, I used to hear another phrase that is seldom heard anymore,
Sing for your supper!
The meaning behind this saying is, “if you want something from me, you’re going to have to do something for me first.” Another phrase was, “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back.” Also known as quid pro quo.
Twitter in the #writerslife sphere is infamous for that. I rode that wave up to 3500 followers and then flat-lined. Not only that, but I had little to no interaction with my so-called following. I deleted my Twitter account.
Now that I’ve been on Medium for just under a year and have had a second to catch my breath, because, whew, Medium is a hell of a ride… I see that the same thing has been going on right here on Medium.
And I don’t like it.
It’s bullshit.
It’s bogus.
It’s phony.
It’s fraudulent.
It demeans the real writers of the platform who work hard at their writing and their own publicity to make sure their writing gets seen.
Between whiners who need a warm cookie, a gold star, and a pat on the head for doing their job, you know, writing, and the scammers, spammers, and frauds-
It’s enough to make a girl want to pull her hair out.
But since mine is falling out all on its own I’d rather pull someone else’s hair. These lazy fakers, to be exact, would be a good place to start.* I just don’t understand. Maybe it’s because of the way I was raised. You worked for everything you needed and you waited for the things you wanted. Let me say that again for the cheap seats in the back.
Work for what you need.
Wait for things you want.
Hell, I want to be forever 25, a size zero, independently wealthy, and to travel the world. Ain’t gonna happen. Well, all but the traveling the world part. I still hold out hope for that one in a post COVID world.
What I need is a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach. That’s it. Regardless of what lies the people in your life have told you, that’s it. That’s all you need. As a society, we think everything we want is an automatic need. No. It isn’t.
You don’t need 1k+ bogus followers. You want them. You want them because of not what they bring to the table for you, your readers, or even Medium for that matter. You want the numbers. The numbers are what will get you what you really want.
Influencer Status
I hate to be the one to break it to you. Come in close so I can whisper in it your ear. Maybe it won’t be as much of a shock to the system if I tell you that way…
YOU AIN’T NO KARDASHIAN!!!
You never have been. You never will be. You don’t need to be. You just want to be because of all the crap you want, that you think comes with that status. It isn’t worth selling your soul or your integrity for. Maybe you’ve already flushed your integrity down the toilet.
But stop singing for your supper, and at least save your soul.
Thanks for reading.
For those of you who are not in the know, the follow-for-follow scheme is just that. A scheme. You follow me and I’ll follow you. And you do it over and over and over again with every random hard-up profile on the platform until everyone has 1k+ followers.
But it’s all for naught. If your followers don’t read your submissions, then you make no money. And the reverse is true. If you don’t read the work of these “writers” you’ve followed, they’re not making any money either.
The “real” money comes in when they apply online for various paying positions and these companies want to know their social media status:
10,000 on Twitter
15,000 on YouTube
125k on Instagram
Etc. I’m sure you’ve seen those laundry lists before. It’s those bogus inflated numbers that land them jobs they’re not even remotely qualified for.
So for all of your readers, fellow writers, editors, and publishers,
Numbers can and do lie.
T
*But since I’m too cute to go to jail, not a hair or anything else was harmed in the midst of this rant.
