More than once, it's been asked by newbies on Steemit:
"why is there so much of a difference on what I make on each post? Why do (the payouts on) posts differ so much?" ~ posed by @bigs21024*)
The answer is simple, though not always 100% clear.
Without spending a decent amount of time in the Steemit ecosystem to familiarize oneself with the territory and read into the underlying cultural values driving the production of the community's most active & influential content, it may not make sense why some posts that don't seem all that special get rewarded hundreds of dollars, while other good ones get pennies.
It's easy for anyone to join Steemit and make a post. It's not as easy to consistently keep producing highly-rewarded stories - at least not without an understanding of the key elements of a winning post...
The more time a person invests in Steemit - in opening themselves to learning from others in the community, getting a feel for what types of posts become popular, what people like, and what patterns the successful contributors follow to consistently deliver content that is well-appreciated and rewarded - the better they equip themselves to adapt to this new cyberspace environment and themselves contribute in ways that will be well-received by the community.
There are predictable patterns and constant formulas present in the highly-rewarded content. It just takes certain understanding and skill to see them - or some guidance from those more experienced, to help point out the keys which can massively accelerate a newbie's learning curve.
As such - what follows below is not so much a particular recipe for success, but a framework of fundamental principles that once a person really gets, may serve to direct the content creation process to generate predictably consistent, winning results & outcomes.
Ready to save yourself massive time & headache and learn what it really takes to formulate a winning post?
Here we go. I promise, this won't take much of your time - but will have a huge impact on your Steemit success if you put it into action...
Back to the opening question of why the payouts on posts differ so much...
Simply put:
Reward figures are a measurement of how much VALUE the market perceives in the post. The more VALUABLE others find a post, the higher the rewards.
Now, there are alot of different factors going into what constitutes value. Of course, value is objective - as what seems valuable to one person might not be valuable to another. Every person has their own values, priorities, personal tastes, and preferences. Not everyone may agree that a particular post is valuable to them. But, there are certain qualities & characteristics inherent in ALL value - that once understood, can be used like ingredients in a recipe - each recipe making for a delicious nutritious dish of its own, guaranteed to not please everybody at the same time, but may have the precise fusion of flavors to satisfy certain people's tastes at the exact moment it's served...
Types Of Value
While value can be created in an infinite variety of forms - impossible to pin down a single thread of commonality between them all - one could look at all value as falling into a few basic foundational categories:
Informational/Educational Value = content that communicates knowledge which is of use to people in better helping them understand something important/interesting to them and/or that contributes to a foundational understanding enabling the advancement of a skill set important to them.
Entertainment Value = content that makes a person smile, laugh, feel good and adds some humor or excitement to one's day.
Inspirational Value - content that uplifts a person's spirits, tunes them into the frequency of the heart, infects with passion & enthusiasm, opens vision to possibilities for advancement & evolution of meaningful aspects of life important to them.
Originality Value = content that is uniquely different and provides fresh perspective and new stimulation, which provides new frames of context through which to see & understand differently in ways that grant access to previously-unknown possibilities in which valuable solutions, answers, and insights may lie.
Ease-of-Readability Value = content that is grammatically-correct and well-formatted to effectively communicate an intentional idea/concept/perspective with clarity & precision - providing a smoothly-flowing transmission of the content and lightening the cognitive processing load on a reader's brain through cleanly written, articulate code/language.
( These 5 types of values actually correspond to the 5 elements described in the ancient Chinese system - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water - this is ALCHEMY. Though I'll save that part for a separate post. If you're interested, let me know in the comments below and I promise to share that follow-up with you when it gets published.)
The BEST posts - "best" used to imply the "most valuable" - are typically those that are infused with a synergistic combination of these different values. You know the ones:
They're both informational and entertaining, capture a real, human piece of the writer's personality, are well-written and don't require to much thinking to interpret what the reader means, and leaves you feel rejuvenated by the end with a glimmer of hope * excitement for new possibilities.
"BE A STUDENT OF VALUE."
This is a relatively short post, because there isn't a whole lot more to it than that.
I don't need to go into explanations of each of those types of value, because they're pretty straightforward.
Of course, just knowing of these ingredients doesn't automatically enable one to magically pump out golden dishes of highly-rewarded stories every time. But, I promise you: the more you fuse these elements into your writing and experiment with finding your own perfect balance of all these different values in your writing, the better your content will get - and the more others in the community will value your content.
This isn't a theory. It's science.
If you don't believe me, investigate yourself and try on this idea - viewing all the content you read on Steemit through this lense...
Which of these elements are found in the most highly-rewarded stories?
Which of these ingredients are missing from the stories not well-rewarded?
Test this out and see for yourself. It won't take long until you see the pattern.
PAY IT FORWARD.
If you've found this valuable, I have one request:
Do NOT thank me with your words - express your appreciation by putting what you've taken away into action.
Of course, you're welcome to say thanks - but don't think doing so gets you off the hook from taking responsibility for implementing the insight that's been gifted to you through this transmission in your future engagement on the platform.
I haven't written this for praise. (Partly for rewards, yes - but in the long-term game, which can only be won if we all win by adhering to these basic principles of value creation as a core shared cultural code).
I've written this to serve those whom may take it to heart and put it into practice, paying the gift forward by creating value for others.
THAT is how this platform shall succeed.
So...
Consider this your invitation to up your game.
Not all will accept, and that's fine. Not all will stick around on Steemit - many getting discouraged at not being rewarded because they've failed to put in the time & energy into continuously raising their standards of value delivered in their posts.
If you're grateful for the insight shared in this post - SHOW IT.
Not to me. But to yourself, through a ongoing execution of the commit to providing increasingly valuable content to this community (and all communities which you may choose to contribute to).
Go put this wisdom into action - writing content that is infused with the 5 ingredient values - and then come back and give your thanks - along with proof (a link to your writing) that you're serious enough about your gratitude to pay it forward and pass along a similar sort of inspiration to others that adds value to their lives.
As the very least, your action will have been an inspiration to me - and well-worth a vote. :-)