Anyone can follow you. And you can follow any writer. They don't necessarily read all your stuff. I have over 1,000 followers and maybe 20-30 read my content consistently. I follow a lot of writers and cannot read all of their content, all the time.

I don't agree with the follow-for-follow concept but I will check a writer's content if they are asking for followers and if I enjoy it I will follow them. I started here in June 2021 so I am not the expert, but this is how I see it if it helps any.