Do You Need Followers to Get Paid for Writing Online?
By quirkkitapp · 2026-10-08
No, you don't need followers to start writing on QuirkKit. The get-paid page says it in one line: "You don't need a portfolio, a following or a website of your own."
But that answers a different question from the one in the title. Being allowed to publish is one thing. Having money arrive is another. As of 8 October 2026, ads aren't live on QuirkKit, so there are no creator payouts for anyone, with or without followers. A following isn't an entry fee here, and it isn't a paycheck either.
Here's how the two questions split, and what a new writer with no audience can actually do today.
What "no following needed" covers
Anyone can sign in with Google, GitHub or X, write a title and some text, and publish. There's no word-count minimum. An admin reviews every post before it goes live, and you get a notification when it's approved.
None of that depends on how many people know your name. A student, a hobby writer, or someone writing in English as a second language gets the same editor and the same review as anyone else.
What the sentence doesn't say is that a post with no readers earns a reward. It doesn't, and nothing on the site says it would.
Three ways writing gets paid
Most ways to earn from writing fall into one of three groups. Our post on 9 legit ways to make money writing online (https://quirkkit.com/blog/legit-ways-to-make-money-writing-online) goes through the options in detail. In short:
- A client pays you. Freelance articles, ghostwriting and copywriting. The client needs your skill, not your follower count.
- Readers pay you. Tips, paid subscriptions, or buying something you made. This needs readers, though not always many.
- A platform shares revenue it has. The platform earns money from your work, often from ads or memberships, and passes some of it on.
Followers matter a lot for the second group, a little for the third, and barely at all for the first.
Where QuirkKit fits today
QuirkKit's platform share is planned to come from ad revenue. The homepage headline reads "Write it. Post it. Get paid for it." The line right under it gives the timing: ads aren't live yet, so there are no creator payouts yet.
That holds for everyone. A writer with ten thousand followers and a writer with none are in the same spot right now, because there's no ad revenue to share. When rewards do start, the get-paid page is clear that "there is no fixed rate and no guaranteed amount."
What tips need
Tips are separate from ad rewards, and they work today. You add your own wallet address once, and every post you publish gets a Tip button. Tips go straight from a reader to your wallet, and QuirkKit takes no cut.
You don't need followers to turn the button on. A tip still needs three things: a reader, a wallet address you've added, and that reader deciding to send something. So the button is a way for readers to support you, not income you can plan around.
What an audience does on other platforms
On other sites, an audience matters because of how each one pays:
- Substack paid subscriptions need people willing to subscribe.
- Medium's Partner Program pays based on how members engage with stories behind its paywall.
- Wattpad's paid programs are ones a writer has to qualify for.
In every case, earnings follow readers. QuirkKit isn't different on that point. It just doesn't ask you to have readers before you can publish.
A first post that doesn't need followers
If you're starting from zero, the best move is a post that's worth finding on its own:
1. Pick one topic you actually know: a skill, a hobby, a mistake you learned from.
2. Give it a clear title. Our guide to writing blog titles people actually click (https://quirkkit.com/blog/how-to-write-blog-titles-people-click) has a quick check you can use.
3. Run it through the free Grammar Check (https://quirkkit.com/tools/grammar-check). You get 10 checks a day.
4. Publish it.
That gives you a page with your writing on it that search engines can find. It doesn't promise readers, and it doesn't start a reward.
The no-audience traps to skip
New writers without an audience are an easy target. Walk away from anyone who asks you to:
- Pay to "get followers" or "boost" your posts.
- Buy a starter kit before you can earn.
- Deposit money, pay a fee, or share a seed phrase to "unlock" earnings.
Real clients and real platforms pay you, never the other way round. Our guide to free money online: what's real and what's a scam (https://quirkkit.com/earn/free-money-online) lists the common warning signs.
So, do you need followers?
To publish on QuirkKit, no. To get paid by QuirkKit, followers aren't the thing in the way right now. Ads are. And once rewards do exist, followers still won't guarantee you anything.
If you want to start anyway, write one post on something you know, with or without an audience.
Write your first post (https://quirkkit.com/blog/new)