is becoming clear to the newbie like myself that the odds are stacked against the newbie.

The reason is simply... more and more professional are joining Steemit. 2 months ago it was much easier to write a post which would end up on trending page. Right now newbies (which very often have no experience in writing blog posts) have to compete with professionals.

I need incentives to stay and SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE.

I have incentive. I am trying to help others, better than me authors to earn what they deserves. At some point you should releazie that you just want to be here, because thanks to you your favorite author can focus on creating content, because money with be no problem to him anymore.

If your favorite author is not here yet, invite him here, as for example I did with @zuch.media :) And since he joined steemit, I promoting him as much as I can... because I love his work!