Member-only story
When I started writing, I decided to use a pen-name to keep this area of my life private and personal. This meant that I created an online persona from scratch. My former pseudonym never existed before November 2020, and it’s safe to say that neither this current one (although I didn’t put much thought into it while in a panic mode).
Using a pen-name pushed me to rely 100% on the readers and my writing skills to build an audience.
Several groups on Facebook helped create a community around writers and content creators on Medium, which could be seen as an extension of the platform. These groups are regularly used for sharing insights and promoting stories but also as a socializing tool. I met many fine fellow writers on these groups, and I gladly follow their work because it resonates with my style.
Still, I don’t entirely agree with an aspect of it, and that is artificially supporting other people who choose to engage with your work by reading, clapping, and highlighting it for receiving the same in return.
In my view, I use these groups to make my work more visible. When people choose to read them and engage, I get the message that my writing and the story's topic are compelling enough to be worth their…
