To The Talented New Writers - Don't Write for The Money! - 'The Game' and my Final Advice
The birth, the high and the end. This pretty much sums up my first two months here on Steemit. I went from birth to high pretty fast. The big rewards were coming in, but I’m afraid I was completely delusional.
Before you yell at me, read and savor every bit of this piece please.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for the 'early big rewards', I got to pay the bills and some people got more money. It’s win-win for everyone! Literally, 'come for the rewards and stay for the community'. Of course, I already got attached to the community after finding out that there are only a few genuine people who really read my content, and not only because they want to make money off my wealth. They are not the silent voters, they are the ones who are really engaging with you.
My advice to the new and very talented writers out there, don’t fall for the high. It will only be up to a certain point, which is when you have already realized that you are staying for the community. That is the game, now deal with it. There's a business behind it. When the time comes that you are not making big money anymore, don’t ever think that it is the quality of your blog, don’t even think that you are not good enough. Because it is not you. It's not hit or miss, it's not the time either. I have been reading these comments from new writers lately, and I totally understand where they are coming from.
Apparently, very talented new writers are needed, to keep everyone’s money safe in the digital box and to keep the balance. If you want to stay, then don’t write for the money. You have to really love writing for that because you enjoy the community and having new friends.
The big rewards will only come at the beginning, especially if you are new and very talented. Unless you already managed to have the big guys follow you (just don’t expect 100% upvote for your post’s worth), you have big money to inject into the system or you are already part of 'the circle'. The reality is that the system favors the early adopters, people who have money to invest and those who are part of the small circle. You can make some money enough to make yourself happy someday when you persist or your followers/friends have already become whales. But it will still not change the fact that your sp is still lower and the others have more. It will only tempt you to keep up and inject some money.
Sorry to burst your bubble! I just don’t want to read another comment of a writer who is getting frustrated.
Now, you can continue writing but lower your expectations. I hope that someday the User Interface or the platform’s design will be improved for 'the bloggers who don’t write for the money.' You know, having easy search, your own tags on your feed, archive, dates etc.
Now that I'm awakened, I couldn’t care less about the issues around here anymore.
But you got me, yes I’m staying for the community! Well done! It’s not rocket science to understand how things work. But I’m not going to write about success, crypto or positivity topics to keep the big guys inspired. Since I am not writing for the money - I will write whatever makes me happy. I am grateful that there is no censorship. I can be positive, realistic and cynical as hell. Simply because I will not write up to your expectations. I have my art and it won't make money. I will write because there are a few readers who take interest in what I write.
To everyone, here’s my first advice. Something that I have learned in life (easier said than done, but through experience, you’ll learn)
Don’t get attached
Don’t get attached to your earnings, don’t get attached to your ideals, don’t get attached to the platform, don’t get attached to the illusion, don’t get attached to your money, don’t get attached to anything. Why? Here’s the truth, the great EQUALIZER of all...
Nothing lasts! Yes, that’s the harsh truth. You’ll only know this when you’ve already lost something. Something big that broke your heart. It’s easy to get attached to anything you have worked so hard for, but that is life!
New writers will leave, old writers will go, your crypto can be hacked, the platform can be dissolved, good things might end, some people will die, I will die and you too. When? I don’t know, tomorrow, later, any minute. Who knows?
There are no guarantees to everything in life. The only thing that matters is what you do right now. So go out, get some life experiences, enjoy, have fun and help the others. In short - Get a life!
People will only remember you up to a certain point, especially if you have only spent your life protecting your status, your title, your wealth, your possessions. None of these will even matter in the end. People will move on.
So what’s my final advice?
Wow, just wow! Double wow! You got my full 12 cents and a follow. Best post I've ever read on Steemit. That is true at the moment, because I am having the exact same epiphany that you expressed in this post.
Two days ago I gave up on @randowhale and his ilk, if my posts make no money, so be it. I am done with the allusion that I'm making $7 when it is really the crypto that I was paid 7 days ago, regurgitated into a post that made the "hot" tab for 15 seconds.
I got off to a great start on Steemit myself, a couple hundred dollar posts made me think I could make a living on Steem, I had recently lost a job and thought, "could I really do this full time?"
And then the reality set in, it's a bit of a game, the people in the watchtower see you enter, give you a few rewards from their curation trail, you are catapulted to a 51 reputation and then abandoned.
You need to write for yourself and for your few followers. It's like life, you will only have a few close friends and plenty of associates. Don't worry about the rewards, until they come.
I have considered MSP, randowhale, etc., but something, in the back of my mind, made me uneasy... I realized that I believe in the concept behind Steemit.
People. People are the key to Steemit, with all their warts and vile opinions. Bots are the enemy of curation, because the real wealth we are creating on Steemit is the legacy of our conversations, committed willfully unto our posterity, born of our self respect and compassion one for another.
Money?
I don't care. I expect the imbalances to go away, fat bags of money will chase the next new profit scheme, and then Steemit can actually become what, in it's myriad potentials, it can be, and bring to us.
A new world.
Edit: Oh, yeah. Followed.
That says it all. If you forget about the money, it will come, in some fashion, yet to be determined.
Thanks, followed you back.
I had already suspected at the beginning that everything seems under control. And of course, I confirmed that I was right.
My real life friend even told me two months ago "Maybe it's just at the beginning, don't fall for the money".
I told him to get lost, you don't know what you are talking about.
Big rewards at rep 25. Then after rep 59 and undervalued posts, he was right. So, 'don't write for the money'.
Yes, in the end, you were lured. Now stay for the community? :)
I'm not going to leave the platform because I figured them out. I think of steemit like it's a reality TV program like Survivor or Big Brother, only more real. Many people release way more personal info on this site than I've ever seen before on the internet. I've done it myself. It must be the money that draws out people's deepest emotions.
I thought 1,000 followers and I would be bathed in riches. I'll likely pass 1k followers tomorrow, but I won't celebrate as long as an unassisted post of mine makes 50 cents. I don't care, I'm staying for the community of 50 followers that do their best to engage my content when they see it.
I also realized that I need to be a better follower. Those 50-100 accounts that make an effort to support me, I'm going to actively engage their content a few times a week, I'm making a list.
https://steemit.com/blog/@wakeupsheeps/you-can-t-have-friends-if-you-never-talk-to-them-initiative
Thanks for writing that. It gave me confirmation of what I have been experiencing.
I confirmed 'it' recently, nevertheless, I continued writing. Because I value those people with low sp and are writing comments and engaging. It's not obvious that they want to boost my post so they can silently count more money. You think it is all about getting the new authors out there? Can be, but it is not all about that. Yeah, it's not about the # of followers, not about the 'quality content'. I was under the illusion. I wish I could erase some things I wrote about in the past, those tips. But hey, the platform is designed to keep our content. It's not perfect, but let's see.
Yes, I only have a few people here who support me and really like my content. For me that matters. I will check your posts.
It is just sad that the new writers are under the illusion huh? They think it's the time they posted, they think it's the quality of their content. But it's not...We can't judge them for coming here for the rewards. Just as we can't judge those people who made a lot of money off us.
I found it cathartic to dive into steemit once unemployed. I don't have any hard feelings. My writing has gotten so much better, I didn't even realize how many words I tend to misspell.
We may not even resonate with each other's content, who knows, but I'm glad I found you. Smile Face Emoji Goes Here.
If you're on steemit chat, I sent you a message. I'm glad that someone can relate, I'm sure there are many out there. Some had already probably left...
Believe me, I don't have a job, it's because I came back from a long-term travel. I wrote those experiences, and wow. Big rewards. I thought this was it.
I continued writing for the love of it. Like you, I have also improved. I earned some money to keep me going, so I'm happy enough. But a part of me feel used and hurt lol, because I was a big believer lol.
I'm pretty sure this post will not go out there again. Let people live the illusion.
Anyway, I'm happy with my new friends here. :)
Yeah, I put myself way out there. Thinking that's what it takes to succeed on here, stupid me. My new attitude is inline with both of yours. But I'll let my travel photos do the work for me. If I can get a few bucks a post, I'll offer up a few minutes of my time throwing up some photos and a paragraph. That's more of a balance trade of time for money that I can accept. Especially wen lunch is a dollar fifty in Thailand. I was just going to do something similar on facebook for free anyway so I'm trying to figure out what's worth 2 dollars of my time. On a further note it has been interesting meeting people on here and transferring that into real life as I travel the world. Keep up the good work.....or not lol! ;)
Haha yeah, keep up the good work or not. It's pretty hard because people put their emotion and all that, maybe because of the money. But those who remained supporting and reading your content, are the only ones who really care.
Good thing there's $3 Pad Thai there haha. And yes, a lot of interesting people here. No more 100% power up for me I guess lol.
crazy- I just wrote this post. . I grew so frustrated because just like the author, I did SO well out of the gate, then... crickets!
So true, to succeed on Steemit you must have a love for writing and the people.
It is normal to feel that way, ok. Don't worry. New authors were lured then they get judged if they become attached to those rewards. They were not 'informed about these things'. Hey new author, you will be rewarded at the beginning but only up to level 55, when you're already become attached to the community and some whales can give you $1 for each of your post, ok? Don't complain anymore.
We don't judge them from making money off us as well.
Try to stay positive and don't give a shit. The only ones you should care about is yourself and your followers. ;) Keep writing for the love of it. The rest can drown in their money, but I hope they read my advice above though.
Well said :)
With that being said- I like your style
Exactly. That's exactly what happened to me. I put my all effort into writing well. My intro pops for over 40 bucks. Then I have a travel report pop for like 60, then another for like 40. Then nothing since then. I've been banging my head against a wall. Getting whacked out and even jealous of you and others like I admitted recently. Now I don't give two shits.
I'm not wasting my time or effort into writing on here anymore. Hours promoting myself, looking and commenting on other peoples writings I don't even care about, in my hotel room in Thailand when I should be out having fun. No wonder I was getting depressed and frustrated over this thing.
Thank god I'm financially secure it doesn't even matter. I'm going to stay on here but with a whole new give-a-shit attitude. I'm only going to do what I enjoy on here, nothing more. Besides a little socializing with people like you. I enjoy writing my travel tips, answering travel questions via video, and walking around taking photos and putting them up for people to see. Suddenly that looks like it's going to pay me better and take one tenth the time. Did you see my street art post?
To think I'm going to stay in my room all day write, promote, and do SEO when I have a life to live. No thank you! Maybe for 60 dollars a post, like I was led to believe was in the bag two month's ago. Take a look at my last month's of earning. That's like 20 cents an hour I worked for last month. F that!
Nice post by the way.
-Dan
I'm sorry that I was not pretty clear to you last time. I wanted to wait for a moment to write all about this, but I guess I cannot keep the new writers and the rest completely delusional. We earned some money but guess what, it was friendless and unreal. Thank you very much, we couldn't complain more. But here we are, abandoned now...But thanks to those who remained, and who keep supporting and reading my content!
You can read @wakeupsheeps comment above, he's from last year's batch. It is true when he said, there's a watchtower. Or maybe even worst- who knows? You'll never know what people can do with all that money
So just write and enjoy, I have 10 cents for your posts sometimes, but not all the time. I have followers I have been supporting back as well. But just keep sharing your travel experiences because some of your readers really enjoy it.
I have a decent background in finance. The problem on this platform is that it's just like a third world country. There is very little middle class. You have very few whales worth 100's of thousands of dollars in steem, even millions I've seen a couple people. Then you have proportionately to all the steemit accounts a small amount of dolphins (your middle/upper middle class). This is the class the separates a first world country from a third-world country.
The bigger the middle class the healthier the country, economically speaking. This is the reason the US became the world's first super power, besides other reasons it had the worlds first large middle class. Where everyone got a piece of the pie. Here on steemit. It's way off kilter. Compared to all the pond scum and minnows, the middle and up class of dolphins and whales is like like the 2% of Cambodians that have money. Everyone else is barely scraping by. I'd do a post about it. But I don't feel like wasting my time. Feel free to run with that on your own post if you'd like.
I don't wanna ramble further or people will mute me haha. I hope this will be my last post about steemit. The talented new writers will not get to read this, but they will continue living up to the illusion fed to them. Yeah this is the same economy. Now I have my own wealth here - my content and a little bit of money. I'll keep writing and just engage with my followers, I don't care anymore about the other issues here on steemit. :)
Perfect analysis and the minnows here are from the third-world anyway, spamming, begging, asking to be followed, looking for ways to quick-rich. Now people from the first-world get to feel how the economy in the third-world is like lol.
Like always. Well put. I was thinking you may be the right person to organize a pond scum and minnow revolution. Imagine all the thousands of non dolphin or whale steemit members just start selling their steem and not be active on here for a full week. That would shake things up and hit the whales in the pocket book in a hurry. Was pondering that over a bowl of Pork fri rice! lol
That's why there's now all this 2SBD for resteem, sending 0.001 for comment, voting bots, all made up to sustain the economy and to keep us down here haha. Some people will keep us down here actually.
Minnow revolution lol. They don't like negative people, it's like holy grail here lol. Some kind of cult here or something.
Yeah I get negative and wonder why I'm on here. But I must admit I do enjoy it on some strange level. I just need to walk away from this thing, when I start feeling like I'm wasting my time and not enjoying myself.
Extremely salient analysis!
I don't post for money, I seek the real wealth of good company, and the criticism necessary to gain an ever keener insight.
I don't even think I am writing better, but I am not enjoying it less =p
I believe that your new strategy will be far more rewarding to you than mere lucre. YMMV, but, since I didn't come here for the money, I am not all that disappointed about my personal earnings.
I am, however, concerned about exactly your comment: how the financial manipulation is affecting the community I came for.
Fortunately, Steemit is in beta, and open source, MIT license. There will be forks. Indeed, Calibrae is being undertaken at this moment. Now that the ketchup packet has been stomped on, the ketchup cannot be stuffed back in the packet.
Well said. And I came for the money but I'm staying for the community! they got me! lol
Here's a much better written post of my third world steemit analogy you may get a kick out of.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@world-travel-pro/is-steemit-run-like-a-third-world-country
Holy crap that comment was awesome: 3rd world, no middle class. That sums up this place exactly. I'm hoping that communities like the Minnow Support Project help minnows become dolphins and the middle class grows.
Yeah that was hitting the nail on the head wasn't it. In fact I couldn't get my own concept out of my head. So I did a much better written post on it. If you want a chuckle here it is.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@world-travel-pro/is-steemit-run-like-a-third-world-country
I didn't realise how top-heavy this place is. Take a look at the distribution graph on SteemWales.com. It looks like a lot of work needed to grow the green minnow and yellow dolphin slices of that pie.
For now, the only thing keeping minnows here is that either their local economies are so cheap tiny rewards are decent, or they stay for the community. And, steemit's community features are not brilliant.
Wow that's worse than I even thought. The top 50 whales or what have you should really put like a couple million dollars into hiring a huge curating team, that actually rewards good content consistently.
The key word is 'consistently' hehe.
So we post consistently but the earnings are not. Gooooo Steemit! lol
I just put up a bunch of photo posts. One popped for a whole 1.80 cause a small dolphin gave me a vote. haha all others have more up-votes but are like 15 cents earnings. What happened with you? That whale @liberanthe or whatever his name is stopped resteeming your stuff?
@world-travel-pro
Yeah maybe because my posts become too boring lol. My life is too uninteresting. I'm gonna check out your posts soon!
BTW I came across this interesting project, 'everyone' seems to be opting in lol.
The Alternative?
Maybe this is a better world? The world we currently live in is only for some people? lol. If they continue acting like this, they'll lose their writers, investors etc. I don't know really know. I'm just here sharing my travel stories, up to all of you if it's worth some cents lol.
The big guys were powering down and transferring big money to their account, for what? Maybe to help the staff/ developers/ to solve the ever growing database of steemit. Who knows??? The believers are the only ones not powering down. Interesting!
But let's wait and see. :)
I resemble that remark! Ha, I never even realized this happened to me, because I really didn't care about my earnings.
I have posted on the problems of SP impact on curation, because it affects the community, because so many do care, deeply.
This! I want some of it.
Thanks for sharing your bitter regrets, sublime insights, and awesome views!
Edit: resteemed because I found the truth here, and now that I know it, I want to share it.
I really appreciate the resteem thanks! I stopped using the bots, but I promoted this just because I want the new writers to read. Not really for upvotes, more for awareness. For sure, the guys up there will not even promote/boost this post. Because there's the harsh truth here, they'd rather not read.
@diabolika's 666 Followers! Thank you!
Awesome post as always. I wonder how long it'll take for the whales to realise that the value of their holding is tied to the health of the community. That's why a good percentage of my Steem assets are in things like MinnowBooster.
My own writing is not doing so well, however. Heh.
Because you are the good one! I really appreciate that you take the time to comment when you like my posts. At least my followers who engage, will keep me writing.
Thanks. I don't always comment because I don't think I have anything to add that doesn't look like "Great post" spam. As you know, I have travelled, though my experiences and life are different to yours which is why I love Steemit. I get exposed to all these different ways that different people view the world.
Hey @diabolika I read your entire post ,every post of it till the very end. Do you know what I make of it? What is suggest is just what Buddha suggested ...We talked about walking the middle path but it makes me wonder it took him a life time to realize that and you have summed it up so beautifully. So enjoy life while you can but without being too attached for life is transient ... Beautiful thought and the absolute thought.
It would be an honor if you could read my post
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@alz190/11-things-a-lollipop-taught-me-about-life
Thanks for the comment. I will check it out.
im just here to have fun and interact when im bored. it is more productive than some other sites.
I've read most of your posts, and I always notice your detachment from things. For some reason, i want you to regain that feeling again even though you say otherwise. would just be fun to see people change haha :). hope youre well today.
Thanks for reading as always.
Right, have fun! ;)
Nice post. Follow me please.
Lol... joking. But seriously... nice post. Ideally, we should not have to do anything for the money... we should just do what makes us fulfilled and it should also keep us fed. Soon... if not now.
Followed. Please upvote me?
Exactly! That is also why I admire your writing. Just don't be attached to the'earnings'. ;)
I am used to getting 0.06 / post and then having one random whale decide to throw me a gift on a random post... certainly here for the community... and information... the steem is a nice bonus.
Hahaha, I know it feels funny huh. But just enjoy it while it lasts.
There are guys out there making money by discovering great content lol. It can't be consistent lol. I guess some people like me have to remain down here. They can't give someone too much power, ha!
Interesting. Not really quite sure if I understand all you are talking about since the platform does not really make sense to me yet, but to live for now, enjoy what is, is always sound advice.
You will know. :)
You have some good points in this post. Only those who make themselves a part of the community in whichever way they can, seem to achieve success. That must translate to followers, though not necessarily a very large number, who upvote your posts. Also being backed by a whale is a bonus that fast tracks you to higher earnings.
Last but not the least, if you search for platforms that pay for blogging on topics of personal choice, I don't think there are any other viable options.
Sure, it's better than scratching from scratch and working on getting page views and readers. Better than google adsense.