I'm new to the platform and can already understand what you're talking about. I see a high demand for readers yet there are not many.
I feel a part of this is due to the difficult nature of joining Steemit. To leave a comment it either costs money or takes 2 weeks to approve an account, in that time the average normie will have forgotten about what he wanted to say.
But that's not to say that it isn't worth contributing to grow the community, it absolutely is... just expect a serious slow growth until the barrier for entry is much easier for the average user.
it just needs time...remember how difficult it was to connect to the internet in the early 90s?