Steem Rewards Cheat Sheet

This Cheat Sheet summarises various aspects of Steem rewards for authors and curators. It is designed to be short and informative; for detailed explanation check out links at the end of this post.

Hopefully you’ll find it a useful reference. If something is missing or can be improved, please let me know!

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So in Steem, both posts and comments are rewarded. The exact amount of the reward depends on the total Steem Power of curators (people who have voted for the post or comment). This reward is paid in two parts:

1. The first payout occurs in no less than 12 hours. As votes flow in, they extend this payout period. The more the votes’ weight in terms of Steem Power, the longer it takes until payout. Once the payout is finally made, it is no longer possible to edit the post.
2. The second and final payout occurs 30 days after the first one. Votes cast in this 30 day period count toward this payout. Once it is made, the comments thread is locked and no further replies can be posted. Voting is still possible, but those votes do not bring about any more payments.

The latter payout goes to the author in full, while the former one is split in two parts:

75% go to the author. This amount is paid 50% in Steem Power and 50% in Steem Dollars. Note that there is a penalty for mass posting: only the first four posts per day receive full payout. Rewards for subsequent posts are substantially reduced.

25% go to curators. This part is paid 100% in Steem Power. How exactly it is divided between the curators depends on many things:

• Each curator’s share is proportional to the square of their Steem Power
• Early voters get larger rewards
• During the first 30 minutes of a post’s lifetime, voters share their rewards with the author. The moment the post is published, author’s share is almost 100%, then it decreases gradually to become zero by the 30th minute
• Because of the two points above, it’s hard to determine the best time to vote. You’ll want to be among the first voters, still not vote too early so as not to lose your reward to the author
• Finally, each curator has a Voting Power which decreases as they vote, and restores gradually while they don’t. 30-40 votes per day is probably safe, but don’t cast your votes in quick succession like a machine gun. Voting power goes down fast when you do, and takes much longer to regenerate.

Note that no payment may be less than 0.001 Steem Power or Steem Dollar.

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This reference card summarises most of the points made above:

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Further Reading:

• If you’re unsure about what Steem Power or Steem Dollars are, check this Steem Currency Cheat Sheet
• Steem White Paper discusses author rewards in the Subjective Contributions section, but beware: things have changed a lot since its publication
• Steem Version 0.12.0 announcement defines the 12-hour and 30-day payout periods as well as the 4 posts per day limit
• On the factors affecting curation rewards, see Mind Your Votes! An investigation and guide to maximizing your Curation Rewards by @liberosist
• For the full breakdown of the Reward Calculus, see this 6-piece series by @theoretical:
  • Part 1: V-shares
  • Part 2: V-shares from R-shares
  • Part 3: Curation rewards principles
  • Part 4: Curation rewards algebra
  • Part 5: Curation rewards calculus, s = 0 case
  • Part 6: Curation rewards calculus with s > 0
• steemstats.com created by @jesta shows who is voting for posts, and how much weight goes into each vote