Finally... Have you considered following upvote bots. Somehow, I discovered that the bots plays the highest role in returns per post. I'm currently building a follow up bot. You may also join shadowbot.us they have a wonderful upvoting scheme. Getting money on steem is a big trial. I wonder if there if there are real people reading all the good stuff you write. The sweet thing here is competition, even the biggest curators uses trail following. You would be amazed how before 15mins a post is making over a $1000. It's either you get a bid bot, invest in steem power or create your own scheme. Giving up is not the best thing. You can still make good cash on Steemit.