The money-making was the biggest pull factor for steemit as leverage to other social media platforms; it brought me in also. The beauty of steemit is, you're almost forced to post regularly and get into the habit of writing, other users will comment also. Steemit is a perfect medium to test the waters as you mentioned, some people are very straightforward here too, so they will mention if it was not good or if it was incredible. I too want to write a book but an autobiography :).