It can be really frustrating to get started on here. I didn't start to get decent reads until my followers started to increase, and even now, it's low earnings per article. I wrote a lot of short form for a while, trying to build my following while holding back longer stories for when I had more followers. Short form (150 words) is easy to do and they did relatively well for me. I think people on here have a short attention span. Apparently following more topics can improve your recommendations, but I know.... Mine are crap too.