Half of the amount show goes to the poster, half goes to the author, half goes to voters. Of the half going to authors, half of that is paid in steem dollars, which can be "cashed out" by trading it via a cryptocurrency exchange (or an exchange service such as blocktrades). The other half is Steem Power (sort of like karma) which can not be immediately cashed out, but can be liquidated slowly over two years if you choose to.

These rules are expected to change somewhat, but the basic idea of Steem Dollars and Steem Power will remain.

All payouts are on hold for the initial launch period until July 4. After that they will be paid after 24 hours.