YES!..NO!..Kind of?! Read on.
I'll try to answer a question that a lot of people ask, The answer is not as easy and clear-cut as it might seem.
Let's begin.
The question we try to the bottom of today is this:
Other connected questions:
- Is it worth spending hours on a post?
- Is there any connection between the time you spend on a post and the rewards it gets?
- Does content matters or is just as random as hitting the jackpot on slots?
I'll try to address these concerns that I'm sure, many new and old posters have.
First, you need to understand that steemit is designed with the "casino effect" in mind. That is: some posts will hit it BIG! And that's by design and it's something that is supposed to bring people in (Maybe my post can make a lot too!) and also increases the stickiness of it (I won once, I'll keep writing until I win again!).
Give the diversity of the trending content, from long, mindful posts, to troll posts, funny posts and downright "is this really trending" kind of posts, it's easy to see why a new steemer [ and some old too] would think:
But is it really so?
As I have stated over and over and over again, I'm a big believer in the quality of the content and the presentations of the said content. So maybe i'm biased but...
If you look at the posts trending and the authors who constantly make good money on posts, it's almost without a miss on posts that are well written. If they aren't exceptionally well-written that it's a very interesting topic but always! ALWAYS well edited and presented.
Did these people hit the steemit lottery?
YEAH!
Are the odds skewed in their favor?
Ah, now that's the question...
The thing is this: rubbish content has excatly 0% chance of winning this steemit lottery. So if you think you can come and post a few words and wake up rich tomorrow: I'm sorry , this is not the site you're looking for [ probably you're looking for a shortcut to work that it doesn't exist ]
But if you do put in the hard work and write good/ great content then you have just bought a valid ticket to the greatest lottery on earth: steemit. I say this because when you hit it, you won't just get money, but also feeback, recognition and a bit of fame. Don't we all want to be recognized for our good writing and idea?
I think we do. I know I want to.
So obviously, the better the content, the more the odds are skewed in your favor but there's no 1:1 connection either. If you put a lot of work in an article it might make less than one that you spend 20 minutes on. This might make a less than wise man to jump to the conclusion that: quality doesn't matter!
Can anything be farther from the truth? Look at that post of yours who "won". Seriously, look at it, wasn't it actually kind of good? I'm sure it was. That's the thing, it's not about the time you put in, it's what it goes out of that time. A Hemingway might write in 20 minutes what I couldn't in 20 days.
So again I say: the odds are skewed in your favor if you write well, if you have something interesting to say, if you are GOOD. But what does this even mean? It means that effort is rewarded and more effort will always lead to better output, hence, better rewards.
Being in "The Zone". If you write you surely experience that, it's a magic time when you write fast, you write well, everything just CLICKS. So a post written in the zone might take you 10 minutes, but those are very very powerful minutes. That's why I don't think there's a direct correlation between time spent and rewards.
That being said, if you don't click " post" unless everything look at best as it could to you, you're effectively minimizing your chance to hit the winning ticket. Don't do that :)
I'm doing all that but can I improve my chances to win the steemit lottery even more?!
IF you did all the above then you might think: well, i wrote the best article i could, I edited to the best of my abilities, I chose the best title, the best photos...it's out of my hands!
NOT SO FAST!
If quality content + good editing is about 33% of the best odds equation, this is another 33%. What is it?
It is posting at an US-friendly hour? No, but it's a good idea to mind the american time as most whales are from the US.
Is it promoting your post everywhere? No, but a little promotion never hurt anyone.
No, the answer is CONSISTENCY!
You need to be consistent with your writing. This is the equivalent of buying more tickets to the lottery. And when you'll finally hit a big upvote, people will get interested in your blog, don't let them be disappointed by your content.
Keep on writing good stuff, keep posing them and then all you need is....
A bit of luck!
There's no getting around this. You need to get lucky. You need someone to see your post, you need them to like it and upvote it. That's why we call it a lottery after all :)
But I hope my post convinced you that luck is about 1/3 of the whole deal and that you can influence the odds in your favor and as long as you keep writing, it will surely happen for you too.
PS: this post took about 3 hours to write.
Submiting a post can be hit or miss unless you get the up votes from the people with real steem power voting you in
Good post my fellow minnow. Luck is when opportunity meet preparation. That's atleast the saying, so stay humble stay working, right? That's my view, otherwise I'll lose my mind..hahaha.
hehe. who do you call a minnow, minnow? :))
Well it's a mixture of all. But at the end what counts most is the spirit. Being positive minded and delivering good content is the most important
Look at my blog. I started bad because I had bad content
If you mean the kind of lottery in that hilarious story written by Shirley Jackson, then I certainly hope so!
I won't spoil the hysterical ending... but it's a doozy.
never heard of this one! i'll see if i can get it for kindle
Absolutely do, you won't regret it! (and thx for the link!)
Lord Vader, you are giving me goosebumps.
why the goosebumps?! [ one of my favorite posts, buddy :) ]
It's a short story. Quick read. Check it out.
Reading this article kinda gives me the impetus to write again. It is just that little bit of motivation, encouragement, and wonder of "what if." Great post!
:) thanks. i'm happy for you. i hope you follow the impulse...
What I've noticed lately is that people will mostly only vote for things from the few steemians who consistently make big money from every post they make, that way ensuring they get a cut of it as a curation reward.
I think greed plays a big role in this, and while the rewards system stays the same I can't see it improving for new, or unknown content creators.
Of course you could still get lucky, but unless you're already getting big payouts, you're not likely to have many followers ready to pounce on everything you post.
Of course we could all be kidding ourselves in thinking other people would value our own content enough to click that little grey arrow...
hey, you upvoted me. thank you!
Hey, you eared it! I just wish everyone would start voting with their minds and not their wallets...
Definitely some luck involved @razvanelulmarin
The steemit casino - Not to mention card counting (whale And bots)
did i not say this? :)
Yes its a lottery with many ways to win. great post
If you get 1 whale to vote for you then your getting a $1 dollar scratch ticket. If you get a couple whales to upvote and comment you hit the lottery. Nice post @razvanelulmarin
cool
yes at first it was pretty women now its so called famous bloggers
lol yeah
now its dogecoin creator
In reality it's about learning, and a curve... just like all cryptocurrency!
If you really want steem, just learn enough to mine it...
or buy it!!! what is one share of facebook stock worth?
well, sure. but steem is the crypto, steemit is the social media
Nice work ! YES ! IT IS A LOTTERY AND YOU JUST GOT THE JACKPOT :) YEAHHHH, You deserve it !
I say it's a lottery with every lip on my face. Good writing helps of course :0)
:D good writing is my job :D
The real question is it true that whales are employing people such as girls an attractive males to post. Ive seen it posted several times in steemit.chat that some whales are splitting earning with others. Or paying people to use their identity so they can upvote their posts to trend an farm steemit. I'm not sure if its true or if its just people upset that they're not earning much.
is that the real question?
This is an interesting post, and your time is not spent in vain. Thank you. Bingo! :)
Yeah, It is kind of lottery Ticket for those who write well thoughts.
By the way, I like your post and decide to become your new follower. Wish I had read your posts much earlier.
Thank you so much
It's about connection, if an author has no connection they will surely sink in the abyss. If you dont know a whales or dont have network with them, you can't expect a thing. Problem today is that whales doesn't stay long in the community unlike before when the platform is very new they need to see how it goes but and those who were them in the early days are reaping the benefits of getting upvotes every time they submitted a post.
These whales are rich people and rich people don't stay much in single area because they also have their own life and other businesses to take care of. Imagine if this continue in the few months or so, whose going to vote for the minnows, the minnows itself and what will happen to the platform, it will transform into a typical social.content site. I agree on the post I read few days ago about sharing portion of the whales steem power to deserving minnows or to someone they trust to increase the number of whales.
So how the whales continue to vote on their chosen network of authors if there not around? You know the answer to that question. But not all whales, there are still other whom you can always found in the community namely @smooth, @samupaha, @dantheman and other dolphins, but still you need to establish connection to them.
Ok, you are on the right track. now imagine that instead of "hunting" 5-10 whales they delegate their powers to 100-200 dolphins that can upvote 10-20$ each on what they find interesting, a superdelegates if you wish:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@razvanelulmarin/delegating-steempower-the-best-idea-since-the-invention-of-sliced-bread
how about that? :)
Oh so it was your post after all. Sorry I didn't realize that, I read a lot post because Im following lots of people, Im having hard times remembering the authors name.
Would you mine taking a look on my latest post. That woman needs help.
Well written @razvanelulmarin, and I couldn't agree with you more on the points that you made. I guess this can be distilled to #ContentIsKing!
please edit your first Question.
It is worth spending hours on a post?
to
Is it worth spending hours on a post?