Hey, welcome to Steemit!
I know the exact sentiment you are talking about, I've also always questioned the same thing regarding value and the idea of marketing. I think being authentic with yourself and your works will always be helpful to others and it's the one thing you can do best compared to anyone else. Getting lured by money is a sure way(in my mind) to get sucked into that trap and inevitably lead an inauthentic life, which is essentially meaningless. I believe there will always be a certain amount of people who connect with your creations; you just might not be aware of them.
My main thing about Steemit as platform is community; financial rewards are just an added benefit. There's nowhere else that I'm aware of where I can freely control and say what I want to say, how I want to say it, and have discussions with like-minded people. This is more rewarding than the money to me.
Thanks :) I was kinda guessing after talking to you on your other post, that you'd comment on here ;)
Now that I've seen more posts and left more comments it starts to feel a little bit more natural to be here. I still sometimes feel pressured to leave a message but I end up asking myself if what I am about to say is of actual value or if I as a person would benefit from such a comment. Reflecting helps a lot.
The fact that Steemit is not censored definitely adds to it. The second closest to it as a platform would be reddit I guess but I have experienced reddit as a rather aggressive place so far. It seems like the posts sometimes get downvoted into oblivion for no obvious reasons other than not being interesting to someone whereas here I feel if something's not relevant to others they just move on and that's exactly how it should be.