I am relatively young to Steemit compared to 99% of you. I joined on 30 January, so just over a month now. I was fortunate enough to receive 50 followers by 22 Feb, which was a week ago. I was told this was a great milestone to reach so quickly, but I wouldn't know. I'm new here.
Fortunately, I was introduced to Steemit by a someone who knew how things work, and introduced me to others that could guide me very quickly from making any severe mistakes. Mostly those mistakes all newbies to Steemit make, like posting images without naming the source, or making sure not to copy posts from elsewhere without quoting otherwise the Steem Police would be on my as.... uhm, case.
So among starting up as an author, screenwriter, gamewriter, journalist and publisher who wanted to share my work and give writing tips on Steemit, I found myself having to learn the world of Steemit first. I'm still young here, and have so much to learn still, but the experience on Steemit has truly been amazing so far.
There has been one valuable lesson I have learnt that I want to pass onto any of you who are still young here: network like hell. Network like your next meal will come from networking. I have seen trending posts upvoted by thousands of readers and earning thousands of SBD, while someone wrote about the same topic in their own way, receiving less than 5 votes and barely scratching the penny. In the beginning I often wondered how that could be. How can 11 votes by one writer earn them hundreds while 11 posts by another gives them barely $1?
If you look at that at face value, you can become extremely frustrated. It took some research and asking my network to discover the value of growing your network, expanding your base until you have such a great following that you earn thousands of votes in a matter of minutes. And that the reputation and power of those voting for you makes a big difference.
And yes, it isn't fair in some cases. I've seen small posts, sometimes just a picture, with some poorly written words underneath receiving a huge tanker of votes and thought "What the hell?" And then, someone else writes a brilliant post that should be presented to the United Nations on merit alone... and it receives 5 votes.
Sometimes as a writer you need to look past these things. Life is hardly ever fair, but are you really here for the votes, or to share your passion for writing? Or both? I am fortunate in the sense that I love my writing so much that quitting just because not enough people vote for me just doesn't cut it. Steemit has just become another avenue to talk to my followers, and if it brings me some SBD... awesome!
My message isn't really about writing because you love it. Enough writers write about that. My message is more that you should be networking, meeting other Steemerians, following, voting and chatting to them in the comments. I've enjoyed Steemit more due to participation than anything else so far.
On that note, please feel free to chat to me in the comments. If you want to give me a follow and a vote, that would be great too, but I'd enjoy the conversation more. Enjoy your weekend everybody and I will be back on Monday to update everyone what I've been working on (novels, films, games, etc).
Image source: Pixabay
Kind regards
Shaun M Jooste
Joint-Owner: AIR Entertainment (https://airentertainment.biz)
Director: Celenic Earth Publications (https://celenicearthpublications.wordpress.com)
Author, Screenwriter, Gamewriter, Journalist (https://celenicearth.wordpress.com)
Great post! I am a newbie (just hours old) and I learned something from your post today. Thank you for sharing.
It's a pleasure. I'm glad I could contribute to someone's Steemit life. Hehe
Am dazzled by your speed of growth here on steemit....Candidly you achieved that feet faster than I did....You have a great future here on steemit if you continue this way....followed and upvoted.
Thank you so much! Many are saying how fast I am growing, but since I am new here and can't compare myself to others, I obviously cannot see that growth spurt myself. I do enjoy all the encouragement though and am really grateful for the feedback I've been obtaining so far.
I've been around a while and I'm pretty chaotic and tend not to follow formulas all that well, but to me there's no rhyme or reason. The more I network the less I seem to make.
Yes indeed, sometimes it may be a bit frustrated but I am so happy I started to finally write about my journeys. If it will be just for me let's be it. I will show that to my kids when I will be old hah
That is such an awesome and genuine response, will keep following you now! If you like it or not.😆
I think I can survive with you following me hah thanks! :)
Felt the same way when I did my first steps on instagram, i always wrote stories and photojournalistic descriptions under my pictures. Hardly anyone read it. But when I just posted a catchy picture with one witty sentence I got hundreds of likes. I hope it will be the other way around here and maybe I will be able to get some of my many insta followers to join steemit and try their hands on fair content creation.
I had a similar start here!
Making mistakes is human. Learning the lesson helps ya grow.
I'm getting how it works around here now. I've been making better content, at least I think so.
Trying to provide something of quality is tough. Everyone has a differing opinion of what that may entail.
Keep plugging away at it and like you say, networking!
Big love from me,
JGV
Upvoted by Proudly South African Steemians(@psas). You can follow us for more truely South African content.
If you are from South Africa, you are more than welcome to join us on Discord. https://discord.gg/xRznW7S
I'm not a a South African, but I lived there for some time. A lot of my works are about the South African culture, check it out! https://steemit.com/photography/@mjphoto/my-first-steemit-post-introduction-and-vituko-and-raul-homeless-in-south-africa-photo-story-1
Resteemed! Thanks for sharing this great tip, networking really is important if you want followers that share similar interests. I joined in December and still have a lot to learn. Finding articles like yours is inspiring: Steemians helping Steemians :)