Should I Self-Publish Online?

So Vaughn, why exactly are posting on this Steemit place? You've got like, five books that people don't hate. Well, that most people don't hate, so why are you posting your stuff for free?
I'm glad I imagined you asked!

Isn't traditional publishing taken more seriously?

First, ask yourself the question: Who do I want to be taken seriously by?
Critics? You can respectfully request they take a look at your stuff, and provide links to your work.
Readers? You're offering your work for free, so there's no paywall standing between you and them, and any writer who's been pirated 80 seconds after their work debuts knows that at the end of the day, people would rather read your stuff for free. (Never use the word "entitled" to describe your readers, that's only a small, but very vocal, minority)
Family? They either supported you from the beginning, grew to support you when they realized that this makes you happy, or the only way they will is with a big payday. Even after a big payday they'll still be on you to get a "real job".
Search Committees for teaching jobs? Are you genre? You will never be taken seriously by search committees unless your work is so literary-landscape-changing that they'd be calling you instead of otherwise. Otherwise, unless you're getting published in peer-reviewed journals you'll never be taken seriously. If you are published in a peer reviewed journal? Even just once? You can rest on your laurels for the rest of your life.

So.... is there money in self-publishing?

Yes. Not a lot of money. A lot of money. Barely any money. You can buy that new house, for your cat. You will scrape by and viciously hate every other self-publishing author, in private.
It varies widely, crazily, just like regular publishing, and depends on quality of work, price point, readership, timeliness, cultural climate, and an infinite number of X factors that people will claim to know and advise you on for the low, low price of an arm and a leg. The major difference is you're no longer splitting your royalties with a distributor anymore (unless you're publishing on Amazon), but your share will be bigger, yes, meaning the peaks will be higher and the valleys will be deeper.

Is it harder to self-publish?

The final click of the "post/publish" button is easy. The rest will drive you insane.
Promotion? That's all on you now.
Editing? Unless you can afford a freelancer, that's all on you.
Proofing? Yep, you too.
Cover art? Unless you're talented in that? Find one. And be respectful of your cover artist.
Hey, what do you think the traditional and e-publishers were doing for their 30-50%? Even Amazon takes a chunk for providing the convenience of tapping your book on a Kindle and buying it with One-Click.
What it means is the workload is higher. If you can handle it? You'll thrive. If not? You'll be posting rough, self-edited stuff. Always good to find a peer-review group in that case, with other self-published authors who look at each other's work and give advice in exchange for feedpack on their own stuff. Standard workshopping format, pretty much.

But what about what you're doing, on this Steemit thinger?

Steemit is closer to a writing blog that I occasionally get paid for. With a platform like Steemit, the rules change from traditional publishing method to become similar to a social media model.

And that means....?

Content, content, content.
In the world of Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube, etc., the key is providing your followers a steady stream of content to keep them coming back. The best way to do that is to plan a writing schedule, and keep to it as firmly as possible. Try to vary it a bit, so followers can associate your content with different days, and you can build your "brand".
On Steemit, it's the same thing. Everyone's posting stuff constantly jonesing for those upvotes, so you have to establish yourself as distinct in the pack and try to get those upvotes.

And upvotes mean...?

SBD, or Steem dollars. It's cryptocurrency that can be sold on exchanges for other cryptos, such as Bitcoin, the crypto that even your parents have heard of, which can be sold for real money.

So I can get rich off this if I score a ton of upvotes?

First, not all upvotes are equal. The best analogy I can come up with is the Renaissance, where broke artists and writers were trying, desperately, to attract the attention of a rich noble, or patron. Steemit's the same, except they're called "whales", users who have a high reputation, and whose accounts are worth a lot of money. Most upvotes will get you a tiny bit of SBD, or once you've been there a month or two, a penny. The upvote of someone higher up can get you anywhere from 5 SBD to 200 SBD depending how big a deal they are.

So... how do I get a "whale" to upvote my stuff?

Some are curators, looking for interesting content they want to keep around, develop and nuture. Some think that you have a post worth "investing" in, and never upvote your stuff again. Some are just random.
There's no real way to answer that question. Your "Introduce Yourself" post might snag you a few bucks, it might not. You might post a heartwrenching story of your childhood that gets 50 comments and only .37 SBD, and post a meme the next day proclaiming that bacon should be a religion and get 280 SBD. It's chaotic. It's a marketplace. It is the Wild West of creative work, and you either embrace it, or just figure "Hey, this is a place to post my stuff and it pays more than ad clicks."
For the sake of your sanity? Pick option two. Don't quit your day job because you suddenly got upvoted by a whale.

Does all of my stuff have to be posted in mediums like this?

Nope. There are plenty of authors who self-publish and do traditional publishing if they don't have a "first look" contract with a publisher. If your pub treats you like a freelancer? Write like a freelancer. Find places and venues to put your content, build a following. With platforms like Steemit? Try to see any money that comes in as "bonus money", because until you're established you can't count on reliability.
I'm saying this because Steemit has plenty of cheerleaders to post entries about how amazing it is, like they're permanently in pitch meetings at TechCrunch Disrupt. Steemit is cool and has potential, but unless you're hardcore into cryptocurrency and have the money to pump into it, if you're a writer this is just a place to post your stuff because it pays more than ad clicks, and will occasionally toss a nice bit of money your way, like those quarterly royalty checks from e-publishers. :)