Why Every Writer and Blogger Should be Using Steemit
I joined steemit over seven months ago now, and my only real regret is not signing up earlier.
I had a blog years ago where I wrote about being a new mother, but besides that I really hadn't done any writing publicly.
When I joined I wasn't sure what I was going to write about, I had been thinking of writing a novel and been jotting down some notes - but I wasn't sure I wanted to write that live for the world to see.
So instead I decided to write a spin off story of sorts, I'd use the world I had been creating for my novel and write about other characters - not any from my original main storyline idea.
Well as it turns out I got through seven instalments before I realised the stories were going to clash, if I kept going I would reveal things from the main story.
My very first fiction post earned me $13.63 not much but for an unpublished author I was stoked, and better yet this was my second ever post - in total for the seven posts I made $44.82, some were lower paying some higher.
But the point is as a new writer I was being paid, getting feedback from readers and it didn't cost me a single cent.
Payouts are not guaranteed on the platform, just because you are here and posting doesn't mean you'll be getting paid every post - it is really important to realise you still need to work hard and keep posting even if you aren't earning.
It is crucial to realise the payments are a pleasant and at times occasional bonus, if you're serious about writing or blogging your main goal should always be to create great content - you write because you love to write not for the hope of money.
On top of all of this and more valuable (IMO), steemit provides you with an opportunity to reward the people who choose to interact and engage with you on your content.
Having the opportunity to engage with your readers is invaluable, especially if you are writing a first draft like I am.
When I get feedback on something I have written, I can upvote that comment this will result in that commenter to also receive a payment - most are small amounts, but small amounts add up fast.
This means that on steemit people are incentivised to comment and interact with you, because they also benefit from the effort.
You also have the opportunity to engage with fellow writers, and see what content others are creating - there is an amazing collection of authors and artists on steemit that are worth following.
Another great perk is that all work you submit, is protected by the blockchain - this means if your personal backup is destroyed, it is still going to be available on steemit.
Since I finished the first series, I knew I wanted to write my main story here on steemit and so I started first with a Masters of Knowledges record and then onto research for my novel.
I may not have made a large amount of money but I have started valuable work on a massive story, I have started to gain a following and even have some regular readers.
Steemit doesn't ensure success but it gives you the best chance I've found so far too earn while you write with no need of agents or publishers - you control what you write and when.
I just see in this day with hardcopy books on the decline and more and more people opting for the digital download instead, what is the point in holding out hope an agent or publisher might agree to work with you?
As far as I can see there is none, this doesn't mean I won't pursue being published someday but for now while I'm still writing the story I can earn a little to help buy supplies I use.
I have written a similar post a few months ago that covers my views in a lot more detail.
But as I am starting to make contact with other authors on twitter and recommending that they come check out steemit, I thought a post explaining why I recommend this platform was in order.
I have been an active users for seven months now and I intend to keep writing as long as the platform is available, I truly cannot recommend steemit enough for writers trying to catch a break - and get some recognition for their hard work.
Check out my story
or follow me on twitter @krystlehaines
I'd be a whale if i signed up 9 months ago. lol
Quite possible
Yeah remember the old super payouts, I miss the old days :)
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I have been on here for 7 months I have written original fiction on here and posted videos of myself singing for the open mic contest, so yeah I'm real.
@blacklist is a scam.
https://steemit.com/blacklist/@schattenjaeger/you-re-not-getting-my-money-blacklist-other-users-should-refuse-too
I figured as much, there's no way I am ever giving a cent to them. But thanks for clarifying :)
7 real views and counting
Well the current roadmap and "visionary" for it has essentially said that he doesn't care about the existing blogger userbase and is completely focused on attracting the mobile users. What do mobile users write about? Not blog posts, they are on mobile phones. The focus is going to be shorter content, so bloggers may end up getting the shaft in some respect.
I'm a bit worried about this myself. I don't like writing short little posts. That's like the McDonald's junk food of social media. When I write, I pour my heart & soul into producing lengthy posts with real meat on them. Often I go through several drafts to get the wording just right. And I spend a lot of time on formatting and getting good pictures to go with the text. It can take me many hours for a single post, which is why I only do one per week.
But lately, the whales / curation guilds seem to have abandoned me, and comments on my posts are also way down. It's beyond disheartening. I'm trying to shrug it off and keep writing, but I find my motivation is starting to decrease with every post that gets ignored. Will keep at it a while longer, but if this keeps up I might stop blogging and just enjoy curation for a while.
That's the eternal battle of quality vs. quantity. Some people care about meaningful things, and others just want the fads of meaningless popularity to make money from.
Thanks for the comment. That sucks. I feel your situation. I deal with some of that in my recent post trying to get people to become more aware of issues on Steemit (with more to follow): Reasons Some People Quit Their Jobs - Does it Relate to Steemit?. Check it out and contribute in the comments with some meaningful discussion as some others have done, and I am starting a trial to personally reward comments from my wallet, but no one knows that yet ;)
I would say start making shorter posts, on different things. Get more frequency out there. That's probably why you're not being noticed much, since you dont have many posts going out for ppl to see.
I agree with this so much, I see posts that people throw together earn a fortune - while others who have put everything into theirs get ignored.
I am trying out some shorter posts myself, but most of the time if I have a particularly large post in mind I will break it into sections - it's all the same post in my mind but to the reader it's a stand alone piece.
I would love for commenting to become more common with better rewards, I think comments need more rewards and focus especially when they aren't just a throw away - good post.
It's awesome you're persisting on here you are a brilliant content creator, finding new ways to incentivise comments is admirable and only serves for the good of the platform.
The site is moving to far towards people just wanting rewards, it seems few people actually want to open the post and read it.
Most seem to be in trails (which I have no problem with - I love the trails and guilds) but due to this they don't actually see the post, therefore no chance to comment.
If people are only interested in money, and I get it money is awesome and makes life so much easier.
However this means people snap judge on what to vote on, by how well they believe or perceive the post will perform - rather than on the quality of the content contained within.
This is why I think we really need to find a way to incentivise comments more, because they deserve to be rewarded more - and they encourage interaction and conversation in the community.
It would help drive commenters to branch out and find new content to check out and leave a well thought out comment - this is what could make steemit amazing for everyone.
We have creators who earn, we have voters who earn and now we Need readers/viewers - best way to encourage that is to reward them for their work.
I appreciate all you are doing on here and hope things improve for us all :)
I agree with your last comment, you had a good idea, the best one for interactivity with comments. Not hard implement either.
This is what I wanted to do with SteemKURE. But now that the communities are coming out, I don't think my website is needed at all anymore.
But one thing:
That the psychological problem that is created once money is introduced into a competitive environment, where they don't comment to comment, but comment to get rewarded. That is bad intrinsic motivation, or lack thereof.
Why do I comment? To comment. Not to get rewards. Posts I do to also get rewarded, but not comments. I comment to add what I want to add to someone's topic, sometimes just to thank them. So there is that one thing for me. Comment to comment. Curate to curate. Not for rewards. Those are a bonus. It need to be about the content first, and thats what many of the users are failing to do.
With the comment to comment point, I will say I think you're right -
I guess when you put it that way it makes sense, people should just be interested enough to comment without the incentive.
I also agree it is a psychological problem and people now think to do anything on here you should be rewarded - that is why we need more people being driven here just to be viewers.
This way there would be more balance within the community, that is why I suggested highlighting comments - so there was a chance of reward, not that they should get it or deserve it necessarily, just encourage new users to enjoy what's already on offer and maybe stay active in the community that way.
I mean youtube videos can have hundreds of comments because the majority of people are viewers, and they receive no monetary benefits from this - it's about getting an audience for steemit.
And I think that is how the platform will become sustainable in the future, I just don't know how to make that happen.
Glad you liked the idea, I have heaps but not sure where to direct them really but @ausbitbank and I have long chats about different possible changes etc.
I really see the potential steemit has if it's handled well, the premise is brilliant - but if we can't bring in people just to watch and everyone on here is a creator the site can't be as amazing as it could be.
How to incentivise posts? They get whales to uvpote right? Isn't the thing here? We;re talking about how people aren't getting rewarded? Well it's no different in comments. Making a comment reward pool as Steemit Inc suggested, is no real solution. Just as the whales can't upvote all posts, they cant do all comments.
So as some feel, why make posts if they are not getting rewarded? Where are the extra incentives there? Same for comments. People may not comment because they are focused on rewards, just as they are on posts. We already have the incentive on post and comments to potentially get rewarded, it's just things are not structured to ensure that work and contribution are rewarded, so people feel undervalued. I get it too.
Anyways, I'm just doing my part to reward people who do contribute on my posts. If they want rewards for writing good comments, then they can write good comments and try to get rewarded, but still not guarantee hehe. I judge them myself.
I disagree with rewarding people for simply reading or viewing. People reading things is supposed to be because they want to, again, not for getting rewards.
The intrinsic motivation needs to be developed instead of applying extrinsic motivations more. Shooting Ourselves in the Foot by Leading with a Carrot.
Not everyone will get rewarded for comments, but maybe more authors can recognize the comment contributions and reward some meaningful content themselves like I will try.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the advice. I think you're probably right, I need to post more frequently and get my name out there more. I try to comment as much as I can on the work of others, which helps to an extent, but I could be doing more. Maybe I'll still write my typical weighty posts, but split them up into 2-3 sections and publish each piece at regular intervals throughout the week. I know the attention span of the typical Internet user is rather shorter than I'd like and it would be nice to have people reading & engaging with my work instead of just skimming over it. Striking a balance between too long and just long enough is a difficult thing to do.
I will definitely check out your post and see if I can contribute to the discussion!
I agree I spend a minimum of 4 hours on pretty much every post I do, then there's finding images and formatting - just so much work goes into every post.
I have also seem to lost favour of the guilds and whales, not sure what if anything I have done to merit this but all I can do is keep writing and hope to get a few good votes here and there.
I have started to be more active on twitter, reaching out to other authors and literary agents even publishers I have come across and if I can I will recommend steemit for them.
My thought is that if enough authors and creators who want to create larger content come here in droves, we will soon as a group hold more power to sway the public opinion to embrace longer posts.
Once there is a bigger community all pushing for bigger posts I think others will start to see more value in this content, if this is going to be a social network for everyone it needs to be all inclusive - that's why I have no issue with the porn lol.
Try not to stop posting if you can I know it can be really disheartening, keep pushing through and you never know a whale might drop by and surprise you.
I wish you all the best on here and in life :) Followed
Thanks for the encouraging words. You're right, the more creative, talented writers flock to Steemit the more accepting the atmosphere will be for those types of posts. I'm all for inclusion; a place for everything and everything in its place. It might help if content was actually segregated into different types (links, short posts, videos, long posts, etc) and then a separate reward pool for each, weighted according to the kind of effort required for that category.
And you've got yourself another follower. :-)
I agree steemit is for all and hey I'll be writing my book on here until they kick me off lol.
I understand the idea behind segregating the types of content, this on it's own could really help with people on a day to day basis with finding the type of content they are interested in but tags usually help a lot with that when people use them properly.
I do think however you're idea about splitting the reward pool per topic, and then weighting them against the effort required would be an extremely hard sell on steemit - people aren't thrilled with the idea of a separate reward pool for comments.
And effort required is really subjective rather than quantifiable with any degree of certainty, I appreciate where you're coming from - but I just don't see the majority going for it.
I think as a community we need to realise we want all formats to suceed on here, not just short content and that means possibly more dedicated guilds possibly funded by steemit but controlled by reputable community members where a required number need to vote for funds to clear - anyway just an idea.
Thanks so much for the follow, hope I provide you with some entertainment with my content :)
Well that's disappointing, but as long as they don't enforce a word limit I'll be posting - even if I don't earn.
It's not like I've made a heap of money on here, it has been nice to get an occasional payout but as I said I'm here to write and hopefully someone will appreciate the work and at least comment.
I really hope things turn around as we already have twitter and facebook for shorter content, I had always assumed this would be a mixture of all forms of content with various lengths - perhaps overtime with new users people might see the light.
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Thanks for the great post. You've summarized the joys and true benefits of Steemit quite well. I am a newbie to the whole world of social media, so don't have that much experience to go on, but I agree that Steemit is truly a wonderful site.
And as a writer, I agree with the writing feedback/reward side of things. It is always nice to be financially rewarded, as much of life is not free, but the input and positive interaction on this site are what really makes it "go round". Folks do seem to care about one another in general, and some of the commenting makes this obvious. Wish there was MORE commenting...that human connection is always so much fun and rewarding as well.
And as a creator of original content, receiving input and reaction to something you have put much of yourself into, is SO very rewarding. Think it is worth more than the monetary rewards. Just don't get much of that from elsewhere. When something connects with someone, it is truly exhilerating.
Well, that was longer than long, but thanks for the creative summation of the joy of Steemit. Looks like I have some catching up to do...I just discovered all of your stories on here ( :
I agree I live for the interaction with the readers and I just wish that there were more commenters, to give me that much loved feedback.
I am hoping by using this platform I will spark the interest of a few readers and things can grow from their, I have a pretty big back log of posts that are just relating to my story - check out the footer for an easy access list.
It is great when you finally get genuine feedback from a reader that really enjoyed something that you spent hours creating.
Don't stress about long comments, discussion is always encouraged on my posts - otherwise how do we know what people are truly thinking of your work and ideas :)
Good luck with the catch up I hope you enjoy the read, this book is going to be a sags of monumental proportions :D followed!
A nice article - great to read.
Thanks for taking the time to read, glad you enjoyed it :)
Also I upvoted, followed and resteemed. Good luck :-)
Thanks heaps for the follow and resteem I really appreciate it!
:) going to share it on Facebok, great Post!
Thanks so much :)
Well said! I love how much great content is on Steemit. There's always something interesting and thought provoking waiting in my feed for me to read on the way to work. One of my life goals is to write my own novel someday, and I find Steemit an excellent way to practice my writing skills in preparation for that eventual undertaking.
Thanks for sharing your own writing on here. I wonder, have you ever considered publishing for Amazon Kindle? I think that's another excellent way to overcome traditional publishing barriers.
I agree so many gems to find on here! Steemit is amazing for new content and interesting content.
I can't recommend it enough, even if just for practice - and you should definitely write a novel, it's an amazing process to undertake especially on here.
I haven't looked into kindle yet or other platforms like it as I don't have a full and finished story to sell, that is another reason why I love steemit - I am posting my story as I write it and it's honestly the first draft.
But I agree this could be something worth looking into after I have completed my first novel, but I'll have a lot of editing and work to go until then - but anything to get out from under the thumb of publishers controlling your stories fate.
Very good point, with this kind of publish-in-pieces style you can get more immediate feedback and see if your story is resonating with readers. So you have a chance for course corrections if necessary and the final work will end up being that much more polished. I've seen a lot of authors sharing stories on Steemit this way, and it's something I haven't quite come across before in social media. Great to see Steemit being such a literary melting pot!
Thanks yeah I don't want to leave my writing carer up to a random stranger deciding they think it's marketable, this way I am able to show proof of a following when I eventually get things fully underway.
I also love the idea of having that instant feedback, with editors and publishers they tend to see the whole manuscript this way I can show smaller pieces and change my mind later when I do a second draft etc.
These days there are so many authors trying to get a foot hold in the market but all they are willing to share to acheive this is snippets of the story or a very brief over view - honestly I don't know how I would do that for my story, it is just too big and complex.
If I acheive some modicum of sucess I assume loyal readers would want a hard copy not just digital, and custom art - I think this is where long term monetary gain would occur, but this way I can start gathering readers now who will really be interested in the progress of the characters and the world.
Steemit has an amazing potential specifically for writers, artists and musicians, I believe that all of these industries are insanely hard to "break" into and I think that this is like the youtube for that - youtube is too big now and takes too long to become a big fish, steemit is the place to be now if you want to be a big player later when it really takes off!
Very interesting information @krystle I'll follow you
Thanks for the follow, glad you liked it :)
Your welcome
Wow I love the way you write! Looking forward to your future blogs.:-)
Thanks I love to write lol, hope to keep you entertained I'm a fiction writer so you never know what I'll write about :)