Writing solely in order to get attention has never really made sense to me, but I've heard writers gripe that other writers get more readers and attention than they do - as if they're somehow owed fans and the other writers are doing something illicit, like writing "popular" pairings, in order to steal attention that these gripers think they deserve - so I know it happens. There's no reasoning with that level of neediness and self-entitlement.

I don't understand writing in another fandom just for readers, either. I write about the characters I love. Different strokes, I guess.

And griping about the writers who do that has, I think, been around for a long time. Griping, period, actually. *g* But if someone gets more readers because she's more popular or because she puts herself out there more, well, that's how it goes.