The posts making thousands tend to be sponsored artists, professional bloggers who brought a following with them, cryptocurrency celebrities or the occasional lucky or brilliant post from one of us minnows. For an example of what to expect as a minnow, take a look at @sarahjordan's blog. You can see that she had an early post earn over $600, but has had erratic results in spite of experimenting and posting frequently. I have yet to make $2 on a post, but then I am a very amateur blogger and just figuring it all out and haven't posted much. A smart way to develop a following on Steemit is to spend as much time reading and really commenting well on others posts as you do writing your own. Having a following doesn't mean your articles will be upvoted more, but it does mean more people are likely to see it and to remember who you are and care enough to read and upvote if it's the kind of thing they like. Have patience, embrace Steemit as a social network, choose topics that solve other people's problems, entertain or make you more real to others. Steem on!