The Subjective Value of a Post and the Significance of Vehicle Choice to Promote
I recently read an article in Forbes which I thought was the typical 1,000,000 Habits of People Like Me Who are Better than You Mouthbreather. My first instinct was stale, trite, AI spinner filler material - just move on, but then I caught a glimpse of something in the article which drew me in. It emphasized the relevance of career vehicle to the success of the individual.
I was taken back to my discussion with @kevinwong on his piece Understanding Market Value 101 and the subjective “value” of an article. In that discussion, I suggested each author needs to consider the vehicle to maximize the value and exposure of his or her article. Something which earns nothing here may do incredibly well elsewhere.
Consider the Primary Subject Matter Interests of the Audience on the Platform (the Vehicle)
As authors, we write for ourselves and about our interests. We choose topics which interest us, which resonate with us and for which we have a deep passion. We hear how studious attention to the grammatical and the highest quality lexicon will ensure only the highest rewards. After all, with a large enough body of “quality” work, eventually the Steemit marketplace will fairly value our work over regurgitated fart jokes and Steemit memes, right?
Never underestimate the value of a great fart joke or an internet meme.
The hard truth is it’s not really about the erudite lexicon or the hours of exacting editing and attention to detail put into creation and development of the article which determines its subjective value. It is the interest and taste of the audience at large on the vehicle of choice which determines the subjective value. Ergo, if you produce a product on a platform which the audience either doesn’t want or doesn’t give a shit about, the subjective value is at or near zero regardless of the effort expended or quality of the finished product.
For example, imagine you are an expert dog breeder, with an incredibly well-honed sense of the dog show circuit, and you have in-depth stories and unique insights. You take the time to run through a few drafts, check for grammar, use a thesaurus and focus on creating an incredibly polished, quality piece to submit. How will it do? The answer is it largely depends on where it is offered (the vehicle) and its user base.
At the time of this writing, the #life tag takes the top trending spot for posts, with the #steemit tag taking the second position. However, for both comments and payouts, the #steemit tag leads by orders of magnitude. Based on both the audience size and the concentration of audience interest and engagement on specific topics, it is not very likely our niche piece on dog shows will find enough interested users to earn substantial awards relative to the efforts put in. While Curie and Steem Guild have done an incredible job diversifying rewards and supporting authors in new and niche interests, the concentrated interests of the community as a whole will rule where the lion's share of the rewards go.
In the end, Steemit may be a good secondary source for both followers and compensation, but the audience of this particular vehicle probably won’t “buy” the product in any substantial numbers because it is a niche product.
Consider if the Platform (the Vehicle) is the Best Place for Primary Publication of Your Content
In this day and age, a writer has a variety of vehicles for publishing content. Steemit just happens to be one of many. The author needs to consider how the platform (vehicle) operates as it relates to user engagement and author payout.
While the reward system on Steemit may be revolutionary and unique, it is also less than a year old, still in beta and the registered user base is relatively small. An inflationary reward pool is divvied up based upon weighted upvotes from the pool of active users and is heavily skewed towards a small pool of early authors who grabbed places on early bot trains. While changes have been made by many, the reality is the parameters of the vehicle still favor and economically reinforce (through curation rewards) the behavior of voting for those early authors over others.
Other vehicles, such as Patreon, offer a different model which requires the author to build up a base of paying subscribers in exchange for regular content. The advantage for the niche writer with the subscription model is, once the subscriber base is built up, earnings are not limited to a portion of a fixed reward pool. Depending upon the number of unique visitors to this site and the methods of engagement on the platform (vehicle), a niche author could potentially do much better monetizing content in a subscriber model than with Steemit.
Does that mean you should abandon Steemit altogether? I would not advocate that because I do think Steemit has long term potential. Rather, I would suggest the author should find another vehicle which provides a more favorable return as a primary point of publication, and use Steemit as a secondary point of release until it provides a more compelling solution.
A voter, even a whale, has the absolute freedom to choose the content they like and support with upvotes, regardless of the content type. An author who creates content is not immediately entitled to a portion of the rewards – those are earned by marketing and building an audience on the vehicle. Consider what vehicle affords you the best chance of success and focus the lions' share of your energy on that vehicle.
Thanks for sharing this important consideration concerning our platform.
This is a topic I recently more acutely related to after spending days on an article and getting less reward than a 5 minutes posting the week after. I decided that either way I had to adjust to the audience target present on the platform, but I also consider the importance of building value within our platform to create continuous value for it while increasing its value beyond the borders of our own group at the moment of writing.
I also believe a lot of the early participants to this revolutionary experiment, many of them being the actual creators of this platform, want to invest in quality and will do what they need to do in order promote a thriving sustainable health for their baby, ultimately our baby in the end.
I guess for professional writers these are very important words of wisdom you just shared and a necessary set of evaluations one would have to do, if they were to live off of the labor of their writing.
Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
@eric-boucher the inspiration for the article came from a discussion about the subjective value of an article. One huge positive about the Steemit community is how different groups (such as the Curie/Steem Guild team, @smooth's team of curators, @fyrstikken and his group, etc) are each working in different ways attempting to address this issue directly. Each group is incredibly passionate about why their method is better than the other choices out there to address the issue, which occasionally causes friction, but I feel it's because everyone knows how important this is for user retention and growth. This is one major reason I feel the future of Steemit as a platform for primary publication is bright.
However, one significant minus is at times these disagreements sometimes boil over and it seems parties pool resources to actively work against each other. Heated words flare, rant posts which serve no purpose begin trending to what most would term absurd levels and the overall impression becomes one where posts other than Steemit circle-jerk/Steemit rant posts rewards are impacted negatively. Unfortunately this appears to be happening more regularly in recent history. As a consequence, authors are voting with their feet. The "Steemicide" post is less normal and frequent from disgruntled creators than the plethora of rant posts and memes suggest. Instead many just walk away (or at least those with whom I have interacted with) and abandon this platform altogether. This is not a rant, this is a simple acknowledgement of the facts.
An author with a will to make some kind of living from their writing has a difficult calculus to employ which does not always revolve around payouts on a specific platform. One of the most significant keys to a publisher considering a book deal is your audience base and active , engaged followers because these generally translate to immediate sales. The platform of simply does not have enough registered users (a misleading number because of the sheer volume of bots registered) or active users (again a misleading number because of the sheer volume of bots attempting to maximize their curation rewards) to build this vital fan base and create value as a supplement to Steemit. This is why , in this article I encourage authors to find a primary vehicle and retain Steemit as a secondary or tertiary choice rather than eliminate it as a choice altogether.
Until the community as a whole begins to focus their energy and voting power on providing a compelling reason for authors to make Steemit their primary publication vehicle, an author looking to break through will always have to choose another primary vehicle.
I fully understand your visions, thoughts and opinions. So, you get a full 100% upvote on this one. Your answer alone could easily be a post all by itself. Thank you so very much for your dedication to quality, integrity and a healthy virtual environment.
All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Great post! 👍 😀
Can't find the Forbes article, do you have a link?
There is some great insight here. Thank you for taking the time to post it.
I think the new member-groups will go a long way towards helping creators find their audiences. If people know exactly where to find content they like, it'll be a lot easier to support it.
They should help stoke the sites popularity too, for that very reason.
I'm looking forward to busy.org as well. Interested to see what that has to offer.
@catharcissim thanks for the comments and I'm glad you found some useful insights in this post.
I am cautiously optimistic about the member-groups and I think it has the potential to connect authors with audience in a way which is currently lacking. As I mentioned in a previous comment, it's not always about the rewards. Any author looking for a book deal needs to have a sizable, engaged audience for consideration because of the implied built in sales. The member-groups could go a long way to making that happen.
Authors, independent journalists, major news orgs, comedians, Just about everyone will benefit. If they get the UI right anyways.
It's one big experiment. But we have not even seen the possibilities unfold yet. If you think Patreon is doing well, then just imagine the funding vehicles for artists, etc., that could use the Steem blockchain, if not Steemit.com itself.
By the way, farting on an elevator is wrong on so many levels. Now let's see if that gets my comment any votes. ;)
@donkeypong agreed on the farting on an elevator.
In terms of Patreon and Steemit, I think both have a place and serve a purpose. I even point out at the end of the article I do believe Steemit has long term potential. That being said (and speaking as a niche author) without Curie or Steem Guild, niche authors do not have a realistic chance to garner much of the reward pool on Steemit. Given time, I think this will begin to change as the subscriber base increases and Steem Power begins to move from heavy concentrations to a more normalized distribution curve.
Nevertheless, I would suggest to authors who are concerned/upset about reward distributions, rather than complain, flame or commit "steemicide", find another primary vehicle and keep active here until things pick up and the value equation changes.
Yes, for sure. No argument there.
Maybe steem it could offer a featured author of the week? You together the authors could pool together to create a specific area where the peer reviewed each other's work before publishing on the platform? Like steem it peer reviewed for those authors who spend the grueling hours creating well-researched (not whale-researched), high quality content as a subdivision of steem it. Google had google scholar. Maybe steem could offer steem professional or something similar. This platform is still in the works and the founders, developers seem to be very hands on and listening to the users so it never hurts to voice a concern but every concern should offer a solution to the party the concern is with first. If your unhappy that your hours long articles were outbid be lower quality then try to come up with a solution for the whole network not just jump ship on us! We value both the professionals and the class clowns in this school of fish. :) that's just my advice. I see your concern but please consider staying within this network as a primary option as it could be more user friendly than other networks in the long run.
@kristy1 let me be clear, I am not unhappy about being out bid. As I point out at the end of the article, all users, even whales, should not have any obligation to vote for any post they don't feel like voting for. In fact, I disagree with the idea whales should proportionately upvote all content because it sends the wrong message and perpetuates things like AI spinning and plagiarism. That being said, I think it is in their best interest, and by extension the Steemit platform, to figure out a solution to retaining niche authors, or the platform will naturally die of attrition as more and more authors choose to leave to other platforms (such as Medium and Patreon) in search of another method to build a base and monetize. While I think it is in their best interest, I don't believe whales are or should be obligated.
The genesis of this article comes from a conversation I was having with @kevinwong when we were speaking about the subjective value of an article. At one point, the conversation drifted to authors who were not having success on this platform and their frustration. What I suggested was they needed to consider the vehicle (platform). What does not do well on one platform may pop on another and I think any author who is attempting to monetize content needs to consider that very equation. At the end of the day, that is their business and their livelihood. That is the piece which is often overlooked in the discussion of content on Steemit. What would the average person say if their boss or their customers told them they should do their job for free without expectation of reward or payment? It doesn't mean they have to retain you as an employee or purchase your product or service, but in the end you will eventually go to a place where you will get paid. Why should a writer here be any different? If a writer is not having success monetizing content here, don't bitch and expect/demand payment. Find another solution and allocate your focus accordingly. I also advocate not to leave Steemit completely because I believe it does have a bright future.
As it pertains to me, I have scaled back my content creation for the site and have found other ways to contribute and remain relevant on Steemit which work for me. I have started to explore monetization of my content in other ways outside of Steemit as well, but I practice as I preach and have not moved my content/left Steemit completely. I am not a hater of the site, but rather, quite the opposite. At this point in time, I have started to take a hard look at what content of mine works and what does not. As time goes on and the site adapts and changes, I will re-evaluate again.
I don't see it as abandoning the site because I am not doing that. I see it as making a practical business decision about growing an audience and getting he highest return for time invested in a product.
Okay. I see your point. You provide a value to the community as a whole is what I was trying to get at, that it will be a loss on our behalf to see you and other quality authors leave or downgrade the platform. I haven't looked into other platforms because I am not a professional by any means. If you make more money on one platform and your audience responds better to your work then of course that's the direction you would must naturally want to drift towards. Writings don't get paid enough for their work, that's for sure. The creative arts is a very undervalued field. Hopefully, in the future all the platforms are able to generate a decent livable wage for users who put in that amount of effort. You make a good case, just sad to see quality writing leave.
@kristy1 I am not leaving or removing my content from Steemit, I am just scaling back and providing more of what "sells" on this platform to this audience. The content which only appealed to a very small base and largely did not do well (such as the tax series I stopped publishing here) will get moved to a different place where a larger base which could lead to more business leads or other opportunities to monetize. However, I will still publish here for the content which does well.
Also, I would encourage other authors who are coming to the same hard reality I did, do not walk away from here, but rather maintain a presence, keep contributing and stay active. I do feel Steemit does have a bright future and could absolutely become a platform for primary publication.
Your tax articles would be something I would read. Have you ever read the book law and poverty? It's my favorite las book. I have an old copy that is literally gorilla taped on the side to keep it bound together. You would find it massively resourceful as an index or literature resource for your writings. Here is a different edition of the book than the one I have:
@kristy1 I have not read this book yet. I have just added this to my reading list. I recently discovered an awesome website through the Library of Congress which houses old newspaper articles from the 1700s through the 1920s. All are public domain right now, so I have been fishing and citing for other pieces I am writing. Out of curiosity, do you practice law or are you a paralegal? I have a friend sending me her books on law, simply because I am interested. She practices immigration law, but had the bulk of her earlier experience in Constitutional law.
I had three series on Steemit for a bit (you can look at my historical content) a series on US Tax law as it applies to cryptocurrencies titled US Tax Considerations, another series on subcultures (which was quite popular) titled Subcultures and Social Trends (I covered 17 subcultures on Steemit I think) and another on american heritage from an unconventional perspective titled The Spirit of American Heritage and the Voices of the Past. The last one covered the history of Route 66, Bareknuckle Brwaling and how it was a pathway to political and economic power for immigrants and Ellis Island.
The fiction bug bit kind of hard and my last two posts are flash fiction based upon a specific phrase combined with amalgamated personal experience and a twist of fiction. For instance A Few Miles of Therapy started from my night driving experiences and the phrase, "confessing your sins to the darkness like a pries in a frock." The second fiction piece came from the personal experience of loosing my most significant relative to pancreatic cancer and the phrase, "drowning in a pool of tears." I decided to continue that series, but I don't think Steemit will serve as the best place for primary publication.
...and imagine you are a passionate writer in a minority language with few or even no readers to understand you. Who is going to promote you?
@johano respectfully, I don't think anyone but the author has the responsibility to promote the author. I think the author needs to have clear vision and understanding who his or her target demographic is and write content focused on that group.
To your point, if the author writes more formalized literature salted and seasoned with a healthy does of wordplay, then the author either needs to learn how to develop that market on this platform and/or determine what the best platform is which has the largest number of those individuals as active users on it. Otherwise, the author is an ice salesman selling to people in Alaska in the dead of winter. Nobody is or should be forced to reward content they don't like or care about. I would suggest an author in that situation look for a different vehicle for primary publication and continue to remain active on Steemit until user registration picks up and audience interests sufficiently diversify.
That was quite complex. Thanks for your explanations.
Your point that content's worth is based on the value of the audience is a primary reason I believe steemit would benefit from boards such as the ones 4chan uses, or subreddits like with Reddit. Facebook has a similar vehicle with its ability to create pages and groups.
The only method of organization with steemit, as far as I know, is five tags to a post, and the authors you decide to follow.
@imerick I think in some ways the member-groups proposed in the road map may begin to hellp solve the problem of people and content finding one another. I am hopefully optimistic about that, but I think the real issue still remains the concentration of Steem Power. A more normalized distribution of Steem Power will truly do more to solve the problem than anything.
I think Curie and Steem Guild are doing an excellent job spreading rewards, and by extension potential Steem Power across a much more diverse array of interests. The reality is it will still take time for Steemit to become a vehicle for niche authors to use as a primary publishing vehicle.