[tree limit] It doesn't matter what your purpose or intent is, or what you call it. And it doesn't matter if you have a whale following. Steem Trail doesn't, for one.
To quote myself again -
You could call it whatever you want - but you have a whale and several other accounts following you trail. You get paid both by curation rewards and by author rewards from votes on this trail. You could just as well choose to not self-upvote your posts - the trail wouldn't follow. Don't do that, by the way! You should definitely get the rewards for your work. It's a free market.
Let's leave it at that, shall we? You can call it whatever you want, but the above facts don't change.