Same is happening with me here on Steemit. I did create some real quality content, with a lot of thought and hours of work put into it, but received close to nothing in return. All of the posts with more $1, were purchased votes, hence they don’t count as real progress/achievement. All Those posts, I didn’t pay for to the bidding bots, stayed below 50 cents.
Now I have decided to use steemit as a secondary platform. I ll create quality content. Put it on YouTube and then put it on steemit and Facebook and my own website. I think that is the best way to use steemit for now.