I could not agree more with your statement: "This'll never be a fun publishing platform till people are incentivized to create engaging content, rather than make a quick buck."
You're right: it's important to think long term. (I was actually stressing about this today--what should my 'niche' be? Will there be enough creative writers to care about my posts?)
It's so disheartening to work hard on producing quality content and then just have someone comment that they would like you to follow them or spam you with a link to something that isn't relevant...
Don't be disheartened. The best way is to not expect anything, just write because you love to. It's a free market, and you have to patient and persistent. Keep producing content you believe in, keep engaging with the community, and over the long term you'll definitely get attention if your content is good.