It's NOT FAIR!
Some thoughts...a few random remarks

Steemit is what it is...bitching and whining about it won't change it.

Innovate, adapt, and over come...think of it as evolution in action. One Steemer, or even quite a few of em (depending on how much money is talking) isn't going to change things. Think of Steemit as the environment...and you can NOT change it. That being the case you (generic 'you', meaning almost everyone) must adapt to IT.

Sadly but true...MOST (and I mean 90%) of all votes cast on Steemit are by bots. Get used to it...it's the way it is.

That leaves ten percent...of whom most of them have the attention span of a gnat. I've said for decades that TV has killed the art of conversation...well conversation requires thinking...fill in the blanks. Mobile Social Media has driven more nails into it's coffin. (see attention span of gnats).

SO...to reach 90% of the ten percent (who are not 'bots) a post has to be short and sweet. Imagine that you are talking to a two year old...or a puppy.

That means that for the majority of us, until we have an extra special group of followers who can actually THINK (so rare) that in order to get votes we must...(wait for it) post a LOT. And by a lot I mean five or ten times a day if not more. Like I said...keep it short. Most of your voters won't even READ it...they just look at the title (if that)..

Game plan...post ten or twenty...'flash posts'.....then post two or three 'quality posts".
THAT is how you make money on Steemit...to start with.
THEN...IF (not when) you get a following of people who can actually think! People who have sufficient attention span to read more than one or two paragraphs...you'll start raking in the cash (as did those steemers who you referred to)