I get that people don't have time to curate manually, but auto-votes are a blunt tool. That's why I don't use them. I want real engagement.
A lot of big curators are built from delegation. They don't count as orcas or whales as that is based on HIVE you own.
I see you are fairly new and still building your following. There may be contests you can enter to get more attention for your work. There may be good communities to show it off in too. Have to find your audience. Hive is pretty small really, so you are fighting for attention. We need more people here.
Yes I found some nice contests and have participated in them as well, I also managed to get some nice upvotes. My following grows faster here than on any other platform I used so far. Since I found hive on my search for new income streams I am really not in a hurry to be a whale. Time will help with growing of my account and with getting some new users as well. I already got 11 people to sign up and one of them actually got a whale vote on her very first post. 😇