I think this is the key point - I used to write about audience engagement previously (before it became a thing) - but if you look around, many writers (both new and not so new) have lots of engagement/comments - it is because engagement is one of the factors of earnings so people engage with each other - secondly, it takes a lot of work to maintain the readership - I don't think the landscape is like a few years ago where you post and the readers flock to read - the writer is also reading - a lot