I've noticed many people only seem to be voting for "sure things", that is, steemians who consistently make big steem from every post. This is so they'll get a kick back as a curation reward.
So, if you're not already well known, with a hundred it two followers ready to vote you up no matter what you're talking about, it can be hard to be heard...
Hopefully this will change, and more new voices break through and are heard by the masses.
Or maybe this is only my experience, and a couple of others I know personally..
That's exactly the issue - there is no mechanism for new voices to break through. To an extent, Steemit is becoming a victim of its own success in that the increasing rate of new content creation makes it impossible for new voices to be noticed before they scroll down the bottom into oblivion.
Very true. I have been thinking about this and am going to start dedicating a little bit of time every day to the new feed. I'm also going to reduce the amount I upvote highly paid content - I was doing this out of principle if I liked stuff but it really doesn't need my payout and the curation rewards are virtually nil so there is no point. I just don't want people to think I'm ignoring them though.