personally, I feel for a newbie. Commenting should be a major tool to getting known in the community. I mean great, outstanding comments in respect to the topic and not just "nice post" or other forms of spamming.
After getting credible whales/dolphins attention, you should target making increasing posts with much consistency (at least one post per day) and you could get lucky. Making posts everyday is quite difficult especially for someone like me who easily run out of inspiration or topics to write on. The best solution to that is engaging in challenges or contest e.g the 100days of poetry challenge. Not for the sole aim of winning the sbd/steem but in order to improve yourself in writing and consistency.
Also taking advice from the big names in the game who are ready to help will go a long way.