^ this goes for fanfic too!
true story: I started a fic I was super passionate about and got so little engagement in terms of comments that I thought no one cared, got dispirited and gave up on it hard enough that I deleted it rather than leave it unfinished
cut to a couple of weeks later and I notice another fic of mine had a very sweet comment from someone asking what happened to [deleted fic], said they did like it and waited for updates and were just shy about commenting.
anyway, this one comment gave me the momentum not just to repost what I had, I finished the rest for that one person and the resulting comments from other people (some of whom had also read the original) gave me the momentum to write the second part I'd originally thought about
and then a part 3 for good measure
(I'm on 4 now after a creative bump but picking up steam again)
I should clarify, it's not my shy commenters' fault I gave up for not commenting. I could have kept going for the love of the game. But I add this just to say: creatives like honest, excited engagement! You're not a bother for commenting!!
(Also agreed with OPs above; if engagement is good for fanfic it's doubly good for original work because creators have twice the insecurities about those. Sometimes nothing is more crushing than silence)