My Curie Curator Journal - Week 2 (Jan. 28 - Feb. 4) The Right Pitch Can Make It Work

As part of my journey here on SteemIt and as a Curie Curator I want to keep a sort of journal of how things goes. My purpose in doing this is to not only keep track of everything I have done, but also to spotlight those that I submitted and had accepted, but also especially the ones that didn't get accepted so they might get a little exposure.

Also, for those out there who are part of the Newbie ReSteem Initiative #newbieresteemday who might want to send info on the exceptional posts they find, it might give you an idea of what to be on the lookout for. Of course, don't stay constrained inside a certain box, a certain type, just use these posts as a bit of a guideline.

The Right Pitch Can Make It Work

Something I learned this week, regardless of all the guidelines put forth by Curie about submissions, some times the exceptional level of a post matched with a great pitch can outweigh those guidelines.

I also realized that some times less can be more, and in this case that is a literal interpretation.

This week I again had five submissions, with one huge catch. The system is set up to give me five submissions in any seven day period. This meant that since I submitted five last week I would have to wait until some time on Wednesday to have my first submission open. The Curie week for stats runs from 15:00 UTC time on Sunday to the same time the following Sunday. For those of us in the U.S. that is 9AM CT. But the submission limits run on a never ending 7 day cycle.

My first submission last week was at 12:01 AM CT on Wednesday, but that time is unimportant. That post closed at 6:15 PM CT which is 00:15 UTC aka 12:15 AM. My second submission closed at 12:45 PM CT that same day. I then had to wait until 00:00 UTC (6PM CT) on the following day for my submissions to open. Right away at 6PM CT on Wednesday I had two open submissions. Then I had two more open at 6PM CT on Friday. My fifth submission won't be unlocked until 6PM CT on Sunday, which is beyond the Curie week cutoff. I am still not sure I see how this makes sense, but I am working within the system and figuring it out.

This week I got three solid submissions accepted, then attempted a fourth only to be sniped by another curator. It's ok though because the post still got accepted even though I am certain his pitch was nowhere near as good as mine was. it was at that point last night that I put things on pause and then @carlgnash talked a bit of sense into me. I realized that unless I am 100% certain I would not submit a fourth post. There was no big upside to it, and a huge risk involved. Right now I am 3/3 on submissions this week, that is a curator score of 3. With a curator score of 2.5-7 I move into the area of having 15 submissions next week. If I submitted another post and it was not accepted the CS would drop to 1.69 and I would be stuck in 5 submission territory again. The only upside would be an extra 10 Steem if it got accepted, and of course a big upvote for someone.

Now since I stopped at 3/3 I definitely will have 15 submissions this coming week. Eleven of which will be opened immediately tomorrow morning with the others opening throughout the week. A much better opportunity to get some great content recognized and seen by people!

NOTE: Please remember that these posts are all still open. Why not head on over and check them out, upvote them, comment on them, and resteem them?

Submission #1

This first post that I submitted this week seemed like a proverbial "slam dunk." It is so well written and tells such a great story throughout the author's life. It fit in with all the guidelines and I honestly would have been shocked if it wasn't accepted. I really like being able to find posts that are so deserving of the upvote and the extra attention, and in this list there are four posts that fit that statement perfectly.

Please be sure to check out @joshbillings 's other posts as he has continued this series of posts with more great stories.

Submission:

Embrace Your Insecurities Day 1: Coming Out of the Closet
by @joshbillings

This post by @joshbillings shares some great personal stories from his life and explains how different parts of your real self come to the forefront when they are needed and can be put away at times when they are not.
Curie Status: Accepted - Pending Payout: $110.19, Upvotes: 132, Comments: 11

My Pitch:

This author shares some deeply personal stories in this post. Things that shaped his childhood and made him change who he was only to later realize that he needed to be someone else back then and how he is always evolving throughout life - as we all have and are currently doing in our own way. He is a great storyteller and pulls the reader into his life with it. There are so many great messages within this one single post. It is definitely deserving of our vote. As for the author's history he has been around since early December posting regularly. Three of his early posts hit double digits, topping out at $28, but they were on or before his 4th day here, December 16th. Since then he has had one post break $1, and nothing else.

Submission #2

This next post is the one I refer to in the title of my post. This post had a number of red flags when going through the checklist of guidelines. And don't misunderstand that, the fact that it is about being a Sex Worker, or even using the word "Fuck" in its title were not the issues. While I will admit I worried whoever got to review the post might have an issue with those things, but I had faith that our Curie system has made it so those making the decisions don't really concern themselves with such things. I was right, those things were not issues.

The issues within the guidelines that this post had were the fact that is was just @missvee 's third post, and that her introduction post had hit $18, while her second, still open post was sitting somewhere over $50 at the time. Everything said it was a risky post to submit, other than my gut which felt it was great enough to overcome that, as you will see in My Pitch.

Submission:

It costs HOW MUCH to fuck you!?!
by @missvee

This post is simply about taxes. Okay, so maybe it is about a whole bunch more. @missvee is actually a Sex Worker in Australia who did run into some issue with taxes and pricing. She shares part of her story here for you.

Curie Status: Accepted - Pending Payout: $112.96, Upvotes: 172, Comments: 19

My Pitch:

This post touches on a bit of a taboo subject here in the U.S., but elsewhere in the world they are much more open to the profession of Sex Workers. Other nations go as far as taxing it, as the author discusses a bit. I think she offers a well written and engaging post on a world foreign to the majority of readers. Between that and her use of subtle humor in her story I believe readers will love it, regardless of the subject matter, and in many case because of it. While she is new to Steemit (this is her third post), in reading the previous two she is a consistent writer with great stories to tell, and she has begun engaging with some of the women based communities on the site ( #teamgirlpowa, #womenspeakout, and #ladiesofsteemit). She is a Sex Worker because it empowers her, not for the stereotypical reasons, something I think it could be important for people to see. In her three posts I think it is clear she will be a big plus for the community. Her second post is currently sitting with a $50+ upvote, but if you read it, it is definitely worth it. While that poses a bit of a risk to me submitting this post I think its exceptional level should be able to overcome that and deserves to be upvoted. Especially when you add in the factor that it is outside of the box of a normally voted and shared post and should grab people's attention for the subject matter, and keep them there when they see her stories and exceptional and entertaining writing.

Submission #3

This third post that I submitted kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading. Even though the title, and the fact that he was here to write it gave away the ending it was a thrilling story to follow. I mean really, you knew the boat sank in the end, but you still watched Titanic. I am not saying this will become an Oscar winning film that I have never seen, just that sometimes even when you know the ending of a story the trip to get there is still worth taking.

Submission:

I Almost Drowned, and I Didn't Tell My Family
by @bristowboy

This post by @bristowboy shares his story of a vacation gone a bit wrong. So wrong that he nearly died and without the help of some strangers might not be here to share this story.

Curie Status: Accepted - Pending Payout: $107.35, Upvotes: 73, Comments: 36

My Pitch:

This author has been on Steemit for just a few weeks and has about 80 posts! While most of them are of his photography, his photos are stunning. Outside of his normal (dangerous job working with chemicals) he also works as a Storm Chaser in Indiana and flies drones. This leads to some truly amazing photos he has shared. Even with that level or persistence in posting tremendous photos his highest reward has been $0.83, this post is currently tied with that ridiculously low high point for him. This post shares a harrowing story of a day that he almost died. Due to overexertion and underestimating the elements he nearly drowned in the ocean during a vacation. He is currently working with a group to "train" him how to do better in the community, something called "Dolphin Boot Camp" #dolphinschool . Also I will be introducing him to the Newbie Resteem Initiative (soon after this post is approved for an upvote) which I work with in an attempt to help him fit in as a great member of the SteemIt community.

Submission #4

This fourth post I tried to submit. There is a rule that a post must be 2 hours and 30 minutes old before it can be submitted. The problem is I had upvoted and resteemed this post early on because I didn't think I would be attempting to submit it. I figured it was too risky since I had submitted her post last week and it had just closed 3 days earlier. Plus since that post got accepted last Tuesday she had gotten 4 smaller Curie votes from someone else. It was very risky. I kept replaying Carl in my head saying that if a post is a certain level of exceptional it can overcome many of the guidelines. then thought back to @missvee 's post and how it overcame just as many hurdles. So I decided to submit it, now I just had to write a winning pitch and wait for the 2 hours and 30 minutes to go by.

I had seen one other curator comment on the post and thought perhaps they were going to try submitting it too. So I wanted to click that submit button the very second it was eligible. I thought I had done that but apparently I was 0.2 seconds too soon, and then when I clicked again immediately my error message changed to "This post has already been proposed." While it was annoying at first, I quickly moved on to be happy that the post got the upvote regardless of who submitted it. Of course then it took nearly three hours for it to get accepted and I worried that it wasn't accepted because the other curator's pitch couldn't have been as good as mine. (Yes, I am confident in saying that on this one.) Of course then later in the top secret curator Discord room I found out who submitted it, and it wasn't the other one that had commented early on the post. It was another curator who saw my comment and the other curator's comment and figured we were both trying for it so it must be a good post so why not swoop in and try to grab an actual post that would be accepted. That was a little annoying too, but hey, the post got upvoted which is truly the important part.

Submission:

BLOGGING TUTORIAL: Tips and Tricks for Top-Quality Posts
by @katrina-ariel

To any aspiring writers out there that want a better chance at receiving a Curie upvote, or even just more success with the posts you are writing, you should read this post! Lots of great tips on how to structure and write a post that can help the Newbie or even the seasoned Minnow-Dolphin-Whale. Curie Status: Accepted (by another curator's submission) - Pending Payout: $110.10, Upvotes: 129, Comments: 66

My Pitch:

Katrina was my first submission, which was accepted early last week. She was also the author whose post I submitted to Carl to get him to actually consider me as a Curie Curator. She has since gotten four of the smaller upvotes from Curie, I can only assume these are direct votes by another who sees her talent. They are definitely well deserved. She has had about 10 quality posts since the one I first submitted. Her and I have already begun talking about her becoming a curator down the road when applications reopen, when I am eligible to nominate, and when her time opens up a bit. She is an exceptional author (and will be an exceptional curator as well). She produces high quality posts again and again, and will continue to do so. This is her third post in two days that I feel would have easily been accepted. I passed on the first two because I felt it might be too risky with the other recent upvotes, including one that is still open. However, I regret that now. They pretty much all reached a level of exceptionalism that should easily outweigh everything else. This post here will help in building quite a few other authors to the point that hopefully I or fellow curators can find their work and grow the entire community as a whole. She does exactly what she suggests in this post all the time, writes from her heart. I write this comment from my heart knowing all three of her posts in the past two days deserved our upvote. I feel so strongly about it that I am submitting it even though if not accepted I will be stuck in the 5 submission level for another week, as I currently have 3 solid accepted posts, and knowing my fifth submission for the week will not be unlocked in time for this week. (It won't open until 6PM CT Sunday if I am correct.) So for me it is 4/4 or 3/4 based on the outcome of this submission. A spot I am comfortable with so I can stand up for her great quality content, and our future Curie Curator.

In Conclusion:

This week I finished with 3 submissions and 3 accepted posts. Next week is going to be fun with 15 submissions! I will get 30 Steem for those three posts that were accepted, but again, more importantly they all got upvoted for much more than that!

I not only maneuvered through the learning curve but learned in the process that it really is true that if a post is exceptional enough it can cancel out and overcome some of the other guidelines we are following.

Now please go forth and create great content. And if you create it or find it somewhere feel free to alert me to it either in the designated post I plan to set up tomorrow, or find me on Discord @randomwanderings #9929 . Also let me know if you have any questions.

Once again, remember the submitted posts listed above are still open and can be upvoted. Go visit them, enjoy their posts, upvote, resteem, and maybe follow these great authors.

This week I didn't manage to get any of the posts from the #newbieresteemday, or #womenspeakout tags upvoted, but perhaps more importantly the three I did get accepted will probably become a part of those tags and movements.

Please also check out the #dolphinschool tag which is also helping Newbies and intermediate authors take it to the next level with some great training practices.

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

• Mark Twain