I think you are right here. I started a little writing on steemit; but especially in the beginning it takes a lot of time to put together a good thought provoking post. Then when you get very little money, (for example 7 cents) and there is a new post every 20 seconds, and you don't have a huge following. (I am an introvert and just going out to create this big following to create a big following is not what I do.) And then the eyeballs number shows something small (like seven) (Note: I know this is not completely accurate, but that is not something any other new user would understand.) It all boils down to: it is not worth it. That could also be translated: It does not appear to be worth it.