For my first couple of weeks here in July 2021, I wasn't a member of the partner program. I was just using a free membership to begin with. I wanted to get few articles published before I committed to paying for it.

But I remember how blissfully excited I was when I got accepted into my first publication. But then a short while later my heart sank when I realised that the publication only had 11 followers!

But publications are important early on at Medium. When you have hardly any followers, you can use the followers of publications instead. There are some general publications that accept new memembers. So, join those and publish great content. That's the best way forward.