Thanks for this frank assessment. I was (and am) attracted to Simily because of its focus on fiction. I've found it difficult to get traction with fiction on Medium and Vocal is highly problematic. I agree with you that Simily's initial pricing scheme is high - perhaps a $1.99/month to start and then up it AFTER there's lots of good content. Or some sort of scaled-up pricing plan - give readers the chance to read for free or cheap to start to build audience. Vocal at least offered cheap intro pricing to get writers (and readers, maybe) onto the platform. I've engaged with a few writers on Simily and gotten some good feedback, but the site's growth is slow. We'll see how it develops.