Let's start this discussion here:
It's not weakness, I don't think, to admit that some part of me wants to believe that being skillful at the craft of writing should be enough, that good work alone should be sufficient to bring an audience.
But I recognize that it just doesn't work that way. Writing well may be necessary but it's clearly not sufficient. If truly being a working writer means having an audience to write for, then learning to develop that audience is every bit as necessary a skill as learning to adeptly put the words on the page in the first place.