Thanks, Karen, for your well-researched and wealth of experience on the topic.

I can't agree more with the last two points:

* You’re not doing it for the claps.

*You’d do it if there wasn’t money in it.

Obviously, you should continue writing regardless of whether someone reads your work or not—not a bad thing in itself—but shouldn't be your sole aim. I sincerely sympathize with those who like me in the past— go for the money out of necessity—. You just have to put your thoughts out there for posterity’s sake. Once you leave the scene, all will be history.