Absolutely agree with @lukestokes here, but I can also clearly understand your frustration @emble
Looks like you already did your homework damn well digging and finding beforehand this old and long standing syndrome which is characteristic in almost all social networks when you just sign up and start interacting in them.

Certainly you don't lack reason in what you point out in your observations. This is actually an indisputable reality which I have also pointed out on many occasions before.

However, I can see you barely signed up on steemit this month and you've only posted 2 articles so far. Give it some time buddy and follow Luke's advice. Interact, engage & comment more on other people posts, so they know about your existence on steemit. That's the only way to gain followers here and then afterwards you may plan more calmly about what and how you wanna write & share your articles to earn some do$h also.

I bet you soon will have a luckier experience than mine when I posted about this very same issue the first time, two months ago. Keep trying & ¡Steem On! :)