First, thank you for the mutual inspiration.
Second, I've written stories that haven't gotten a single vote. Others that I didn't expect to get any attention at all suddenly racking up big interest. I don't know what the secret is, honestly.
The only thing I do know is posting regularly will get people to check you out, as you show up in various categories over time.
Roll the rock back up the hill, and let it slide down again. Such is the struggle against entropy and obscurity.
There are so many things that come to play; title, first image, time of posting, reputation etc. But I think it comes down to getting notised and upvoted by a whale, sooner rather than later, that way the post jumps to "hot" and other people will find it too. And quite frankly, the actual content doesn't matter that much.