Taking the broad perspective as a Steemit author

This post is a rallying cry to Steemit writers and content providers. YOU hold the keys to the kingdom! Blogging is the new mining and YOU ultimately hold the biggest mining rigs of them all…. your thoughts, your passions, your ideas.

An Authors Lot

I’ve seen a few posts from people sounding despondent about the lack of rewards flowing their way from this platform. Indeed, I’ve looked at the last few posts of my own and thought WTF! I mean, who wants to put in the effort to write posts and to see no votes, no comments, no dollars on a site filled to the brim with such bounties?

Like many of you, I’m passionate about what I write. Every time I put pen to paper (or fingers to keypad) to write something original I have the same feeling. It’s the feeling that I’ve left a part of ME on the page (or screen).

It’s not just the time I spend writing. Time I will never get back. Time I could have spent doing something else. It’s thoughts, feelings and ideas that I hold sacred yet give to the reader.

Before I press ‘Post’, I always pause. Do I really what to share THAT with the world? Put it out there… Forever recorded on a blockchain?

When I press ‘Post’, I answer yes. I stand naked and exposed, awaiting judgment. Whatever I’ve done or posted previously and however it’s been received means nothing in that moment. All that matters is the post that I’ve just written. I wait and I wonder. I wonder how many upvotes will that get? When hours pass, with little or no response, the part of me I left behind on the screen pulls me closer.. "Why did you leave me here... expose and abandon?" It whispers silently into my ear. I have no answer. I have no answer because I know I was wrong. I thought my work would find a home in the hearts of others. I misjudged and was wrong.

The temptation is to lash out. To toss only the hardened and cynical side of me into my posts. To whine and covet the success of others – alas I’m old enough to know this is the lot of an author. Rejection comes with the terrain. However it doesn’t make the road easier to tread.

The Narrow Perspective

It’s easy to get seduced into this narrow perspective. Me, MY thoughts, MY work! Virtually everything I write induces the same feeling within me, “This POST will make me a millionaire! Or at least a few thousand dollars richer!” I picture my children, I picture my children’s children, looking back in awe, at MY moment of brilliance captured on paper or screen and saying “This masterpiece MADE the family name!”

Invariably, of course, none of this comes to fruition.

I’m currently reading Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” so I now know I’ve been guilty of “the exaggerated optimism of the planning fallacy”. On Steemit it’s easy to dream. One post could mean hundreds of votes, which could mean thousands of dollars. If I add compound interest it could mean more thousands of dollars. If I bang out a few more posts a day, by July 4th I could have millions!

Alas I know I’m not the only one thinking that, pinning hope on a long shot on an untested platform. It’s easy to see how people quickly become jaded. Delusion breeds disillusionment.

The Broad Perspective

If you relate to any of what I have just written, I invite you to take the broader perspective.

Consider this:

It will take a good writer, a long- time of CONSISTENTLY GOOD posts to earn decent money on Steemit.

Forget what the early miners have. Forget what the founders have. They are investors, not writers. As a writer it will likely take two or more years of consistently good writing to even contemplate quitting the day job and taking up blogging full time. That’s assuming you’ve attracted a loyal following and have made prudent decisions regarding any Steem power and Steem dollars earned. You will suffer setbacks. You will suffer baron periods.

Also there is a chance that for all the effort put in, Steemit could fail and you may see little or no return for your endeavours. As a writer on Steemit, you have to be prepared to hunker down for the long ride. That’s the game being played.

So why play the game? Play the game to sharpen your tools, to put in some more of those “10,000 hours” of writing. Play the game, out of the love of the game. Play the game to offer what any writer that publishes his work is hoping to offer; value to the reader. Offer value and the rewards will follow, if not here than elsewhere.

The King Maker perspective

”If not here, than elsewhere”, therein lays the beauty of Steemit. It shows that rewarding writers for good content IS possible. Whether this platform has the perfect mechanisms or approach is irrelevant. The Pandora’s box has been opened. Writers can make a living outside of the centralised paradigm. No need for agents, publishers, google adsense.. etc. You just need a login, a laptop and an internet connection. The trick is understanding that Steemit will not be the only show in town. Where Steemit falls short, others will step in. Step in to compete for one thing... the thoughts, feelings and ideas of you and me. We are the King makers!

Good writers need to learn to think like a good miner. A good miner builds and optimises a mining rig and take a dispassionate view on where to deploy the rig. The most profitable coin gets the hash power. It is for the Steemits of the world to convince US that this is where we should be putting OUR hash-power, our content. If there are no content providers, there is no Steemit. Steemit becomes just another failed coin.

Where WE, the content providers, decide to go, will ultimately decide who wins the impending Battle of the ‘Blockchain Social Media sites. ’ If you feel like… damn... I’m here chasing a few whales that have little or no appreciation for the value I bring or you feel the Steemit model is flawed. Don't fret. You can rest assured that another platform will arrive that caters for you. That's the nature of the free market.

Conclusion

Be invested in your writing. Be invested in your ability to create valuable content. That's your only concern. The discovery of Steemit should serve only to show you what the possibilities are. Don’t be wedded to any platform until the platform PROVES worthy of your devotion. That keeps everyone honest and on their toes. You are indeed the King maker and hold the keys to the Kingdom. You just need to realise it!!