I try and spend about 30 minutes per day wading through the garbage that is the new section, trying to find talented Steemit authors, it's hard because 95% of what I see is spam or bidbot promoted trash.

I don't let it discourage me, but it's hard because I want to do the same thing. Compile a list of great quality writers and promote them anyway I can, send them SBD tips and when I have enough Voting Power, give them nice upvotes (not these 2% upvotes many whales are giving out).