Being in steemit for a newbie is hard, and for some of us we really take time to do our post, research about it for a day or two, write it up make sure that the grammar and everything is ok, click on post ----> Boom $ 0.01 (after payout).
But they are people behind the scenes fighting for the $ 0.01 crew, and they are not afraid to say it like it is! For this post i will pick on two users who are saying it like it is
In his article If There's No Path for Minnows to Become Whales, Can Steemit Survive 
On his post THE SILENT TEARS OF MINNOWS :-A MESSAGE TO THE WHALES 
It's not fair that a large chunk of rewards is concentrated at the top, Whales support whales, Plankton/Minnows support whales, why can plankton/minnows support fellow plankton/minnows, there is power in numbers and maybe if the top realizes attention is being diverted from them, maybe the rewards will start trickling down.
Is there a way out?
To get the attention of the whales, most plankton and minnows join several discord groups and post links after links, hoping a whale or curie will notice, what if we change that? Comment and engage with fellow plankton/minnows, the attention you give amongst yourselves will attract a whale, and from there doors will start opening for some good content producers.
Patience is key. This has been said over and over again. You can't start making massive SBD in a week's time or two or three and then start claiming that steemit is a hoax. There are whales who have really grown from the bottom up all because of patience.
Be Proud of what you write about. Do you sit back and look at your post and say "This is good", you have worked on it don't lose hope if it doesn't earn much just keep producing great content and some whale/curie will notice.
If you are a plankton/minnow or whale how has your steemit journey been?