The labor of self-promotion or platform-building or audience-growing or whatever our tech overlords want us to call it is uncomfortable; it is by no means guaranteed to be effective; and it is inescapable unless you are very, very lucky.

This vice-like pressure is a microcosm of the wider condition of contemporary life. Produce or perish. Perform or be replaced. Maybe even get replaced anyway. Hence: scam or be scammed.