"I write for myself. Where are the readers?"

I've seen a lot of blogs recently with people talking about readers. People are complaining about fanfiction getting more attention or about the latest trend in fanfiction or how certain things get all the attention. And somewhere in the post, a lot of them (not all, mind you) say something to the effect of how they write just for themselves, yet the point of the blog post is to complain about how few readers/subscribers/comments they get.

I understand wanting comments; we ALL want people to give us feedback to improve our writing. And to get those comments, you need readers. Here's my deal, though... if you are truly writing for yourself, readers and comments don't matter because you only care about your own opinion. No one else can tell you what you like, so people can critique you all day without saying anything useful. I used to write for myself, but I write now because I like writing and all that comes with it.

I've commented on a couple of these blogs; I offered my opinion to answer their question(s) and tried to give some sort of encouragement. Then I was replied to with some sort of comment that implied I wasn't a welcome voice because... That's just "yes, but"-ing. "Yes, but" is just a way of saying "I just want you to listen to me complain. I don't want help."

What I don't get are the reasons why my opinion is invalid or unwanted. Here's the reasons I've gotten and my "replies" to them.

You write one of the more popular fandoms.
Well, you can't choose who you like, but you can choose who you write about. If you choose to write about a lesser known fandom, you know you are choosing a fandom with less readers. I personally write Frerard because I truly enjoy Frerard, not because it's a popular fandom. I didn't start writing it because I wanted readers; I actually wrote Frerard before I even knew anything about the fanfiction community. I didn't post it anywhere; I was completely writing for myself!

You have a lot of readers/subscribers/get a lot of comments. or You are a popular writer.
To start with, I'm not that popular. Yes, I do have a good number of readers, but it hasn't always been that way. I have worked to earn my readers. I have tried to improve my writing on my own by googling certain writing techniques or literary devices; I have befriended my readers, letting them know I appreciate them and starting conversations with them. Readers didn't just flock to my stories by the droves. And am I supposed to be ashamed that I have decent numbers? Am I supposed to ask people to not comment? Should I stop writing because people like reading my stories?

You have the luxury of having "premade" characters/settings.
Um, when was Gerard a rapist? When was Frank a codependant domestic abuse victim? I think most of my characters are unique; I certainly don't try to write Frank and Gerard as they really are. And I missed where Frank or Gerard were victims of some of the things I've written. Only one of my stories--my first one--is canon, so I don't use their personal worlds either. I do a lot to make my charaters and universes original. Most of my characters are very different from who I believe the real Gerard and Frank are.

Frerard readers will read anything.
This just makes me laugh. Are there some that will read anything labeled Frerard? Yes, but every fandom has people that will read anything labeled with that fandom. But most readers I talk to won't read just anything. I know I won't read just anything! And I know that I have seen plenty of Frerard writers complaining about not having readers (and plenty of stories that have been posted for a long time that have hardly any readers), so obviously not all Frerard fics are being read; doesn't that pretty much make this point moot?

I just don't get why people just want to sit around and complain instead of doing something about it. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; if what you are doing isn't working, try something new. If you want more readers, talk to those who do have readers and see what they're doing. I've always been taught to learn from those who are where I want to be. Instead of turning down advice from someone with readers, people should take what they can from every source they can get it from and change what they are doing. And I am in NO way saying or implying that I am the person they should be talking to! I am no one to aspire to be.

That's just a problem with today's society, though; no one wants to do the work anymore but still expects the payoff. But that's a whole other issue I'm not even going to touch right now...