Today, I'd like to present my latest major undertaking, which I believe will benefit the Steemit community greatly in the coming months: The Beginner's Guide to Steemit, a plain-English guide to the Steemit ecosystem aimed at a non-Steemian audience who may be interested in joining the platform. Now I need your help.
I registered for Steemit in November of 2016. I didn't share my first blog until June of 2017.
I don't want to blame my lack of involvement on the platform itself, but I was a bit daunted by Steemit as another blogging platform. I wasn't sure how I would come up with content to blog about, and I certainly didn't expect to build relationships and network.
I've discussed my Steemit beginnings a few times along my journey, but one thing that I'm finding more and more true is that new users on the platform are becoming discouraged after joining and sharing a few blogs because of misconceptions they have about Steemit before joining, a lack of immediate financial gain, or the failure to get plugged into communities.
Welcoming New Steemians
There are countless efforts to welcome new Steemians and point them in the right directions. Recently, @inquiringtimes hosted one of the most comprehensive welcoming contests that the platform has seen to date. The result is one of the most complete index of Steemt links that I've ever found. The contest helped assemble many posts that have been written for new Steemians to guide them along the way. I encourage you to check out the final summary of the series as well as @inquiringtimes' post that contains a list of many Steemit resources, tools, and communities.
I have often made efforts to guide users along the way in many of the communities I've been involved with. It can be a trying experience, but is ultimately rewarding to see new users step up and make great contributions to the platform.
However, there's still a gigantic learning curve. As someone from the outside looking in, Steemit can seem like a strange place. I've heard stories of users telling their friends about Steemit only to hear them say it sounds like a scam, a Ponzi scheme (thanks for that one @bafi), or it seems too good to be true.
I realized that perhaps the answer to this isn't to convince them to join and then inundate them with links, but rather to provide information upfront about Steemit and mentor them along the way.
I've taken this approach with a few people whom I've met and referred to the platform, but in doing so, I realized just how much information there is to communicate, and for someone without a background in digital currencies or blogging, it becomes even more challenging.
The Beginner's Guide to Steemit
My solution is The Beginner's Guide to Steemit (BGtS). While in some aspects, it is my own flavor of a Steemit how-to guide for new users of the platform, I want the focus to be on creating a plain-English guide that explains the ins and outs of Steemit to an average person who has not joined the platform yet. While you will see the guide in posts on my blog, the goal is to format it as a PDF that may be shared easily with friends and family who are curious about Steemit. They will be able to read the guide (and register for Steemit along the way if they so choose) to get an understanding of the various aspects of being involved with a blockchain-based social network.
Once I began brainstorming for this, I realized what a gigantic undertaking it is going to be. That's why I'm going to enlist your help. Who better to ask than a community of users who were once on the outside looking in and plunged into a world they may not have understood. I want to make Steemit as easy to understand as possible for someone who has never heard of it before.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting drafts of lessons focusing on specific topics related to the STEEM ecosystem. I'll be asking for your help to provide suggestions on missing information, cleaning up the language, and polishing the explanations to make it as easy as possible for potential Steemians to learn the basics.
Covering the Steemit Basics
Back at the beginning of @inquiringtimes's Welcoming Contest, I helped create an outline of important things I think every Steemian should be familiar with. I'll be loosely following this outline for the BGtS, so I wanted to get your feedback on if there are major subjects not covered that you feel would be useful to know about Steemit before diving in. Here's the outline so far:
- The Steemit Sign-up process
- Account keys.
- Master vs. Active vs. Owner. Public vs. Private.
- Key storage and safety
- STEEM, STEEM Power, and SBDs.
- What are they?
- The Blockchain
- Brief intro to blockchain technology
- How Steemit uses the blockchain
- The Blockchain
- What are the advantages of holding one vs. the others
- How to exchange (internal and external markets)
- Powering up vs Powering down
- What are they?
- Steemit Social Functions and Concepts
- Voting
- Voting power as it relates to STEEM power
- Voting power depletion and recovery
- The slider
- Commenting
- How to make meaningful comments
- Asking questions
- Upvoting comments
- Resteeming
- What is it?
- Post's position on your blog
- Rewards
- The 75/25 split
- The initial 30 minutes
- Reputation
- Raising and lowering reputation
- Why is it important?
- Following
- When to follow someone
- Unfollowing
- Rank terminology
- Whales
- Dolphins
- Minnows
- Red Fish/Plankton
- Voting
- Posting
- Learn Markdown
- Text formatting
- Images and image formatting
- Text and image links
- Introduction Posts
- How to make a quality introduction blog post
- Identity verification
- Responding to comments on your introduction post
- Plagiarism
- Etiquette about sharing others' content
- Using images from external sources
- Finding public domain, commercial use images
- Pixabay
- Unsplash
- Google Image search "labeled for reuse"
- Citing sources from copyrighted images
- Quoting articles
- Finding public domain, commercial use images
- @Cheetah and @Steemcleaners
- Tags
- When to use tags
- Avoid tag abuse
- Creating Blog Posts
- What to write about?
- Consider series of posts
- Original content
- Stories
- Poems
- Art
- Commentary on news or current events
- cite sources
- Responses to contests
- Memes, short stories, photography, etc.
- Building Community on Steemit
- Discord
- Steemit.chat
- Engaging others
- Finding communities
- Learn Markdown
- Other Steemit front-ends
- Busy.org
- DTube
- DSound
- DLive
- Esteem
- Utopian
- Others
- Steemit's "Areas of Concern"
- Spam accounts
- How to spot them
- Flagging/downvoting
- Voting bots (bid bots and non-bid voting bots)
- Plagiarism
- Self-voting
- Spam accounts
What I Have So Far
Right now, I have drafts prepared for the following chapters/lessons:
- Introduction
- Lesson 1: Your First Steemit Experience: Signing Up, Securing Your Keys, and Checking Out Your Wallet
- Lesson 2: The Steemit Economy: STEEM, STEEM Power (SP), and STEEM-backed dollars (SBD)
- Lesson 3: The Social Aspects of Steemit (blogging, commenting, resteeming, etc.)
- Lesson 4: All About Voting
- Lesson 5: Introducing Yourself: Your First Steemit Blog Post!
This is the order I believe to be the most logical. We begin with how to register and login, talk about account security, and introduce them to the idea of a digital currency wallet. Next, we explain the Steemit economy and the relationship between STEEM, SBD, and SP. We move to social account actions, dedicate an entire post to voting mechanics, and then by Lesson 5, they are learning about intro posts before moving on to discussions of rewards, third-party services, communities, etc.
If you have suggestions on how this might be done better, I'd love to hear them! You can expect these drafts to be published soon.
Clearly, there are a lot of topics. I have drafts for the first few major bullet points, but there's still much work to be done. Please evaluate this outline and let me know in the comments if there's a topic you would add. Right now, the order in which I'm presenting the topics is fluid also. Is there an issue that I have listed as a minor point that you think should have its own dedicated lesson?
Also, if anyone has a blog post about any of these subjects already or would like to take a stab at typing up a lesson, I'm definitely open to the possibility! I'd love to make this a collaborative effort since most everyone I've talked to wishes they had a resource they could share with friends and family who are not Steemians yet. I'm hoping this will help the #promo-steem effort and eventually increase the value of the platform as a whole as we bring more excellent content creators along.
I've already taken inspiration from several communities and users, including @EnchantedSpirit, @Catweasel, @ShadowsPub, @enginewitty, @HopeHuggs, @shai-hulud, and @dreemsteem.
The first draft I'll be sharing is the introduction, which is arguably one of the most important sections as it's the first thing someone will read when opening up the guide about Steemit. I've got a bit more personal editing to do, but look for it soon. In the meantime, I'd love to hear suggestions you all have. I'll take everything into consideration. Thank you in advance for your hard work!
Hi @ethandsmith another great initiative. Thank you.
I'm just wondering if there's a little bit at the beginning about what Steemit is for/all about (I mean things like voice and community) and a bit about helping the person think about what they want from Steemit. I'm not really talking about the (potential) financial rewards, but how else are they hoping to benefit?
And, at a different level, the "mute" button - what is that all about?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey @shanibeer! Thank you so much for your feedback and suggestions.
Your first suggestion is definitely valuable. I think I've attacked the subject from a financial standpoint because that's most likely the thing that people recognize immediately when taking a look at Steemit.
However, I've also tried to do a good job of letting people know that there is much more they can get out of the platform, so I'll keep that in mind.
Thank you for reminding me to address the mute button! I had forgotten all about it. I suppose I don't use it often enough. Thanks again for your comment.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The most valuable comment I’ve read all day, not everyone is here for financial benefit, agreed!
Kindest DJ
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I think it's about long-term well-being and understanding resources as more than simply financial, and seeing steemit as a tool to achieve a wide range of benefits to individual participants, their families and communities, and society in general, rather than as simply an end in itself.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I appreciate your reply, thank you. DJ
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hi @ethandsmith, I have seen several different initiatives to try and bring Steemit to the wider community, and I think this is definitely something that works best as a collaborative project. The idea of writing in plain English allows the content to be translated in different languages as well because there are many communities that don't speak English but contribute a lot of content.
As you said, the introduction is definitely important, and we don't want to make steemit seem like a community just like any other social media network, so it is really important to find that point of difference. I think steemit might be the closest to what I have seen to 'effective altruism', where people are willing to help each other in the most effective way possible through a blockchain system, whether it is by teaching, learning, collaborating or direct donation to another individual - and that's just the beginning. It definitely isn't just going to exist online because there are initiatives like @steemfreepress and @thesteemhouse in the pipeline too.
Off the top of my head, I think it would be a great idea to provide examples of the different types of users on Steemit and what they do. Another area people struggle with is earning SP and SBD by posting, but there's also plenty of contests around like @moneyinfant's list of writing contests and @artz's list of contests as well as @newbiegames.
Plus you might want to talk to the following people who have done a lot in terms of training, mentoring and helping newbies in their Steemit journey:
I am trying to keep a list of people that might be good candidates for teaching different topics that are posted on Steemit that you might also find useful:
https://steemit.com/makesteemitgreat-again/@fibrefox/the-steemtopia-network-of-learning-update-more-fun-and-games
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey @plushzilla! Thank you so much for this comment. I appreciate the time you took to leave this. I've got @markmorrisjr on board with this now. He recently joined us over at @thesteemengine, and he's been a valuable resource so far. Thank you for pointing me in his direction.
I'll get in touch with @pennsif about his Steemit course. That, too, will be valuable to this initiative.
The introduction is probably going to be the hardest part. We want to introduce Steemit to people as a new blogging platform where they can find community, but we'll need to use the fact that you can make money as the enticing and novel bit.
I also appreciate your suggestion about contests. I had not previously considered that, but those are very valuable in helping new users earn some liquid rewards.
Placing the spotlight on blockchain-based initiatives as you mentioned may also be a good avenue. Thank you for your comment again, and I look forward to getting your feedback as this initiative continues.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
No problems. I am involved the @steemfreepress and it's great to see that other people also wanting to publish useful content to try and make it more mainstream and friendly for new comers. @thesteemengine and @isleofwrite are two great Discord groups when it comes to writing :)
I am happy to help and would be keen to see how this progresses. Looking forward to your next post!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Fantastic idea Ethan. I think the platform can be extremely daunting for people. I managed to get my brother's flatmate to join and when he logged in to see a blank feed and no real guidance on where to go, he was easily put off.
I think giving people the goods before they get here (would be an ideal attachment to the Steemit signup message), would allow them to get their heads around some features. This is critical for making sure people develop productive behaviours when they start up.
The recent thing I encountered was when I asked for delegation. My account has 6 self votes on it after 3 months and I know all 6 would of been in my first hour of the platform. Luckily, I decided against self voting, but even those 6 self votes could hinder my possibilities of gaining delegation for the BuddyUP community. Just a small point but it portrays the lack of guidance given when you first start on the platform.
I'll be happy to help out in any way I can. Massive respect for taking the reigns with this idea,along with TSE, and rolling with it.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for your response.
I'm curious about why self-voting precludes you from getting delegation. I'm curious to hear more about where you're seeking delegation and why this is an issue. I don't think it's something the average user has to worry about. On the subject of self-voting, I think there's an argument to be made for self-voting. If you believe your content is valuable, you should be able to vote on it. I don't think you should overdo it and only use your stake to vote yourself, but it's definitely an aspect I can take into consideration for this guide. Thank you for your feedback.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I think I'm just thinking ahead of myself as usual! It's not a big concern at all. Just if I wanted to ask someone to represent BuddyUP with a delegation they might look at my self-votes since I'm a young account and use it as a reason not too.
But... it's just overthinking uncertain possibilities! (You need to get that topic in the guide ;))
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Of course. I don't think self-voting has ever been an issue for me during my time on Steemit. If you're worried, you can keep an eye on the percentage using SteemReports. Yours looks great, of course: http://www.steemreports.com/outgoing-votes-info/?account=calumam&days=31
I think you're doing just fine, so I wouldn't worry too much. If people think your initiative is valuable (it is), you will get delegations. Good luck!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well I do hope your outputs provide more than I’ve found so far & not another upvote chase. I understand I’m a minnow right now & simply working to find a platform and channel to broadcast from in support of the Mental Health & Pre-suicidal agenda.
I can barely get a view! And I was encouraged here by those heavily involved in curation for valued content?! We need help or we’ll stay where we are on Social Media.
I am starting to feel this is just a big financial game, everyone back patting for financial reward, please tell me I wasn’t mis-sold the concept?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@zoedj/does-curation-work
My blog today:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@zoedj/does-curation-work
... asks such questions and once again my readership were drawn in from the standard money making platforms of LinkedIn, instagram & Facebook ... why bother using here if our own curators and community can’t see a word I write?
What’s the benefit & how do new steemians change that before losing heart? What content is being curated?
I don’t care about generating an income - I care about those in need ... so thank you for your comments that ask more from the community than financial benefit!
(Sorry for the rant - more needs to be done for great content minnows looking to make a real difference through new less controlled channels!)
Kindest DJ
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey there @zoedj! It's great to meet you. Since I haven't seen you comment on any of my posts yet, I'd love to know how you found my blog!
I really appreciate your engagement on this post. As someone who is well-aware of the struggles facing new users right now, I know it can be tough to find an audience. A while back, several concerned Steemians and me decided to form a group called The STEEM Engine (@thesteemengine). Our goals as a group are to promote the creation and curation of quality content as well as create an environment where our members engage each other on their posts. I encourage you to check out our Discord server and submit an application if you're interested! I think there's definitely plenty of room for articles about mental health, a subject that is incredibly important.
I can also assure you that this isn't an upvote chase. I've put time and energy towards a lot of projects, but I think this might be one of my largest undertakings so far on Steemit, which is why I'm soliciting the feedback from the community.
I want to be able to address all of the issues you brought up. Getting plugged into the right audience is something that is very dear to me since I help run a curation-based community. I'm curious whether you have gotten involved with any groups yet. There are several I would recommend other than The STEEM Engine. Another great one to join is @ShadowsPub's Steemit Ramble, which hosts a voice chat curation segment twice each Thursday where anyone may come on and promote their latest post. It's a great way to connect with a broad audience from across many Steemit communities. They also have a Discord server, and it's Thursday, so if you get this, check it out and maybe consider joining one of the sessions today!
This is going very long, but I wanted you to know that I appreciate all of your feedback and comments. These are all important issues facing new users, and since the whales aren't going to be helpful, it's up to the rest of us to improve the overall climate of the platform.
I hope to see you over in our community, and I'll definitely be giving your blog a look. Thank you for taking the time to read and engage. I will appreciate any feedback you can give on future posts in this initiative.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hi @ethandsmith what a kind, considered and worthy reply. I really appreciate it and the pointers you have given.
I will definitely engage with @thesteemengine and take a look at @ShadowsPub
I’m not sure what a #discord server means, but hope to learn. I’m not ready to give up, especially not when I find a community such as you’re engaged with & posts like you’ve written! Very well timed, thank you.
And I found you by doing a #tag search to find posts which could help. Given I know a bit about the #promo-steem tag & have been observing the #steem-ambassadors I was actually seeking to see the value of them to the community / platform beyond a financial #upvote chase. I’m still not convinced I found enough evidence to validate great / valuable content curation through the latter. I’m not convinced there’s not empire building more than message value in either yet.
I hope I am wrong in the long term, as I believe in the potential here.
Thank you again did this post & your valuable reply. I will be sure to follow.
Kindest DJ
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh, how presumptive of me. I forget that Discord is a new concept to many people.
Discord is a chat program that was originally designed for gamers, but many Steemit communities have servers there where their members reside to interact with one another. I suggest getting an account on DiscordApp.com, and then you can join many different communities' servers and chat with us over there. The links I shared with you in my previous response will make a whole lot more sense then.
Glad this post showed up via a tag search. It's interesting that you found me that way. I hope that checking out some of the curation efforts I've mentioned. Some other notables are @muxxybot, @thewritersblock, @thealliance, and @mitneb. I hope you can find some great content to curate.
We're fighting hard to make sure good content creators get noticed, but it's very difficult sometimes with the current climate of the platform. There are many issues, but there are also many bright spots.
You're very welcome. I think thoughtful responses are one of the greatest things about Steemit. Engagement builds audiences, and that's what we're all about at @thesteemengine. I hope you'll check us out soon.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks once again @ethandsmith I have been working away and still on vacation but starting to catch up and followed your advice. I have now joined discord ... but still learning! Thank you.
I have read and #resteemed a post today on #promo-steem and the new #CAMPUS https://steemit.com/promo-steem/@anarcotech/introducing-campus-a-decentralised-upvoting-guild-rewarding-promoters-educators-and-humanitarians which sounds exciting for real value curation.
Thanks for the open offer of more questions, as I return I am sure there will be some! Much appreciated, happy steeming! DJ
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
the post is really really amazing and helpful. Another thing people want is to see results and fast. The same applies in steemit and the trending page is the first people see. when they join aside from some basic info on what to learn and do they need something to feel like welcomed and a bit differently that in other social media or communities they were before. I yet have no clue on how to make them keep being in steemit and not quit after a short amount of time. maybe we need to organize more make more contest, and make feel more welcomed i don't know.
I went a bit over the main subject of the post :P but i read the intro about what's the most appropriate way to convince them is
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I was able to take nearly 2 dozen Plankton through a bootcamp called #dolphinschool bootcamp for 10 days. I think one to one mentoring could do a lot, but it takes a ton of time and there's no support for spending that time. If we could get some sponsors for it, I think that could create a huge difference.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That's ok. I think mentioning contests and things like that is a great tool to use. I had not previously considered devoting time to contests, but several people have made this suggestion, and I think it's a good one.
I appreciate any and all feedback you can offer moving forward, so thank you for your comment!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I commend you Ethan for taking this project on, I know you have a very full plate to begin with and now you are in the buffet line with this one. I don't know that I can be much help to you but I will tell you that it would have been great for me to have something like you are proposing to put together when I got here. As you know, I knew not a thing about blogging or crypto currencies. Having something like this guide will benefit me for sure in explaining steemit to others I come across in my daily travels.
I will definitely keep this on my radar screen and offer what I can in suggestions from my perspective.
Best of luck, and thank you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'm actually interested in your perspective since you joined because of the immortality aspect of information on the blockchain.
What was it like when you first found out about Steemit, and what was it that pushed you over the edge to use it consistently despite the steep learning curve?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Let me answer the middle part of the question first.
Fear pushed me over the edge to use it consistently. None of us know how long we will be alive and so the fear of not knowing how much of time I would have for recording my thoughts and stories for my future grand kids pushed me to write a daily dose of what is on my mind.
Determination was the other factor in that as well, so much gets lost in family history when left to memory as what may seem insignificant to one person may be important to another, but never gets passed on. As an example of that; I didn't know until two years ago that my grandmother on my Mom's side of the family was a bootlegger during the prohibition times, my older brothers knew, but never mentioned it and neither did my mother. My grandmother owned a diner and ran an illegal booze operation out the back door of it.
So I am determined to leave as much I can for my future grand kids, without junking up this place (steemit.com) and making folks angry, so one post every day on here, it is my blockchain diary. Determination to leave something for the future family is a big key, unlike most diaries that are kept secret, mine has to be public; that is the trade off, so to speak, in that it costs me nothing to use this blockchain technology for personal use.
As for the steep learning curve, when you stand at the edge of tall cliff and look over that edge it can be scary as hell. If your goal is to get to the river in the valley below the cliff you can either jump off and hope the water is deep enough so you don't get hurt or you find another way to get down there. The steep learning curve is just the path down the backside of the mountain for me, I take it one step at a time, sometimes a path has obstructions and you have to back up and go a different way, but you learn and find the way down to the river. So while the learning curve is steep here, it doesn't mean you can't take your time and find your right path. No one is saying to you when you are that top looking over the cliff that you only have five minutes to reach the river.
So now I will answer your first part of the question, "what was it like", it was like finding that beautiful river and valley and just knowing in my gut that this was the place I wanted to be. The block chain technology offered everything that I was looking for in information storage. It also offered a whole lot more that I wasn't even aware of in the form of steemit and steem which I discovered after reading about block chain. I learn more and more each day, the willingness of people that are on here that have the knowledge to help those of us that don't have it is simply amazing. Had it not been for those people, you included for sure, I may have had a rougher go of it. So, that is it ,from my side as someone who knew nothing coming here.
I do give back to newcomers, giving what knowledge I have learned over in the introduceyourself tags posts. There are somethings the bots can't do, like tell a person what to expect when they arrive here.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is a great start. This is something that is badly needed. There are a couple of Ebooks on Amazon, but poorly written, like a lot of steemit content. Proud to be a part of an initiative to bring something like this out.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I've appreciated your help so far, @markrmorrisjr! It's great to have you along on this initiative. I didn't think about publishing it on Amazon, but that might be a great idea to push to a broader audience if we can get this project to completion. Thank you for the suggestions.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You might check out payhip, actually. It's a way to do it free,if you want, but we could set up a pay gate for SBD also, if you want to raise funds through it. They offer coupon codes and affiliate codes to allows others to make money if they help sell it.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'll have to think about it. My goal is to just distribute it freely, so I think I'd probably just offer it for free if I published it on Amazon. I'll look into Payhip. That sounds interesting. I know @HopeHuggs recently went through the process of creating an ebook for an internet marketing venture, so we can solicit her input as well since she's published things on Amazon in the past. Thanks for the input.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It's really hard to offer something for free on Amazon, impossible, actually. You have to post it in other places for free, then get them to acknowledge it and price match. I've got sixteen books up on Amazon, Payhip, Lulu.com and used to use Create Space for printed copies before they became part of Amazon. Except for their traffic, Amazon is the worst possible platform. Bezos is no less controlling than Zuckerburg. My two cents, after fifteen years of indie publishing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Good to know. I literally have no experience doing that, so it's great to have this information. I'll consider all the options when we have a working draft. As long as I can make the final version available to the community here, I'll count it a success.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
There is one option to do download files on steemit, but it didn't look very promising, It's in steem tools, I'll see if I can find it. Otherwise, it's so hard to keep a series alive on this platform, even just for readership, forget no residual income. (one of the big reasons I came and plunged in so hard, the monthly payouts they removed almost immediately)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You can publish on Amazon and have it listed as free. There are ways and means ;)
Edit: As you just wrote. Must put my reading glasses on. Happy to help any way I can.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Last time I tried it, it failed. You'll have to teach me the new tricks. But, there's not much control there, and on Payhip, you get contact info too, which Amazon will never let you have.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Payhip looks ace, thanks for mentioning
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Caveat, it's HARD to get people to buy there for some reason. I can drive traffic all day long, thousands, but closing the deal is tough on that one, because they require an email for the download. Which is awesome! Because you build a list but, it's been tough for me. I love the platform. Talked to them about accepting steem a while back. They want to include crypto, but haven't done it yet. They also don't have reviews, or suggestions. So, it's raw sales. The platform will not bring any views on its own, in my experience.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Also, it would be a great target for a squeeze page like the one you used, because the commissions are 5% and you get it right in your Paypal instantly with every sale.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hold that thought. haha thanks. We'll come back to this for sure.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great initiative. Wishing the best to this effort. @Seablue is a great resource for better understanding #ChainBB. That might also be helpful to you. As well as @sykochica who has written a complete guide to steemit. She may be worth saying hello to as well here or on discord. Cheers!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yes. I think @sykochica has created innumerable posts for helping people to understand Steem and Steemit.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks so much for letting me know! I might ask @seablue to write a chapter on ChainBB. haha
Thanks for pointing me to @sykochica. I'll reach out and check out the resources she already has. They will most definitely come in handy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for this info! Just started, and it's easy to get lost in all this.
How do you go about finding content that is really good? Since I started, most of the content I see is unfortunately plagiarized, or of low quality. I found great creators, but you really have to dig. Do you have any tips on how to find the best quality content? Thanks :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey @jaclavet!
Finding great content can be difficult, but there are several ways that I suggest.
First, find some curation-based groups to either get involved in, or read their curation posts. Some examples of accounts like this are @thesteemengine, @muxxybot, @thewritersblock, @theinbox, @steemstem, @steemiteducation, @shadowspub, @thealliance, and @mitneb, just to name a few!
Check out each of those accounts. Read the posts they have curated. If you like it, consider getting involved in the communities that they support! These groups' members are producing some of the greatest content on Steemit right now!
What are your main interests? You can also seek out members who have similar interests to yours!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I would recommend linking up with the @steemcenterwiki account and their external wiki at https://steem.center. Perhaps some type of collaborative effort could be hammered out.
Educating new users is a huge opportunity for deep engagement with the community.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I appreciate the input, @seablue. Thanks so much. I'll see if I can reach out to their team!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This will be a great project when all put together! It's going to be amazing to be able to pass it along to friends and family to introduce them to Steemit!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I certainly hope so. In fact, once we have a working draft, we'll need outsiders to read it and help us figure out what to change to make it easier to understand. Most of us are going to have information biases that will influence our editing process (I'm already finding this out), so I'm sure you can help out with this!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great work man. It's been so helpful. Lack of information they say deforms. Thank you
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
@ethandsmith, I can think of no better person to undertake such a daunting, yet necessary task!
I can't think of anything to add to your list of contents at the moment, but as the project develops I will let you know if something comes to mind.
I'd offer to help, but I really don't know what kind of time I will have available to make good on the offer.
I've upvoted and resteemed this article as one of my daily post promotions for the @mitneb Curation Trail Project. It will be featured in the @mitneb Curation Trail Project Daily Report for 07 MAR 2018.
Cheers!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you so much for including this in your curation digest! I know you're busy, so this level of support is great. I'll appreciate any concrete feedback you could offer, though!
It's quite daunting. I debated on when to launch the project, since I've only got the first five chapters written, but I think now is a good time. I've learned a lot already.
Thanks again for your support and engagement.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
that explains it all.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
If you could be more specific, I'd greatly appreciate it. I haven't really explained anything about Steemit other than that I'm doing a new initiative. I would appreciate any other specific things that you can name! Thank you for stopping by.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well. Tbh, I was testing comments from my app. Its a pain I tell you. Yours was the first post which came up and I Commented this. Lucky post I must say, it worked well. Ill update, my comment once i actually read it. It is in my pocket. Heheheehhe. Pocket. Anyways , sorry for the trouble.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
this is an awesome initiative and will go a long way to help onboard new users and make them into valuable Steemians :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks! I agree. Do you have any suggestions about the content?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Your list is quite exhaustive, can't think of anything important which is missing. Perhaps you will find a topic or two to add along the way.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Looks amazing. Are you adding multimedia too?
I would love to participate with the "Stories" section!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
What sort of multimedia were you thinking about? Someone has suggested that I do audio tutorials or videos, but I'm open to other ideas as well!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. For example, small whiteboard animated lessons. Those work really well in online education!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Nicely explained all the basic stuffs great for all new steemians :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I hope to be able to explain the basics very nicely. Do you have any suggestions on things you'd like to see in the guide?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
i think a guide on how to install and use the desktop wallet of steem :D
and how to simply delegate and undelegate
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
thanks for the input ... this is very helpful to me and my friends .... good luck continue for you ... !!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Do you have any suggestions on topics that you'd like to see covered in this guide?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I just learned, and the science you give me enough to help me ... what can I suggest, because I'm still very new here, keep on guiding us this beginner ... thank you ....
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
@ethandsmith a well aplaudable work for the amazing beginers guide. Indeed it happen most of tge time, that many unknow always think steemit as ponzi scheme...even i encounter many a times.
Anyway , the guide is so beautifully drafted that it help me as well to corrwct in my posting . there is much to learn and getting perfection through the guide. 👍...keep steeming...steem on!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I appreciate your comment! I'm going to do my best to make this happen, and so I hope you'll help provide feedback along the way!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
oh wow! looking forward to seeing this whole thing become a reality. definitely will be useful for us all as we share with new friends about the platform :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Glad you're looking forward to it. It's going to be a tough project, but I think it will be a valuable asset. Please let me know if you have specific feedback on anything I mentioned!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
alright man. will be more than willing to give helpful feedback! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Wow! Awesome post!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Really an explanatory article, hope it reach the whole community of steemit.
Great job @ethandsmith ✌️
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey @bafi. Thanks for your comment. Is there anything specific that you would like to see in this guide? I'm open to whatever feedback you could offer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@snook/how-to-steem-dunk-for-old-ish-people
just for the format........ <3
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks so much for providing this link! I'll definitely check it out as I move forward!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
WOW! Something like this will be an invaluable resource while I'm onboarding new people through @thesteemhouse!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hey! You're right. I hope it will be a great resource for you. Is there anything specific that you'd like to see in the guide? Any feedback you could provide would be great!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
@dobartim may like to work with you and the steemit school project... Great content, i hope to invlude a little info and link to you also in my steemit income postings.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you very much! I'm glad to be able to collaborate with so many people on this project.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I can help with writing it! I am doing it in Romanian for the community page that I helped launch last week so I have a few of the tutorials already in my mind. If you need help just let me know, it would be an honor!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
A bold project. If anyone can get it right you can, and I'm sure you will.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Very useful reading for novices like me!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue # 69 (3/10/18)
The STEEM Engine is an initiative dedicated to promoting meaningful engagement across Steemit. Find out more about us and join us today!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
What a great initiative! I admit that I had the very same idea but I got a bit discouraged at the beginning when I saw there was too many information around.
So what I do is actually digging whenever I find some extra time so that I can filter and create informative content for my steemian friends (and not only)
I have crafted a guide for beginners but it is written in Greek. You can see it here.
It includes many of my posts that are written in English and some of them might be helpful. I also plan to translate it in English after I add a few articles I am thinking or writing.
If I can be of any help, I would be very happy!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yes! This would be an excellent tool to have and share. Looking at the outline shows this IS going to be a massive undertaking. The thought you’ve put into this so far is excellent! In fact, I’m reading through the outline realizing I need to read some of this too!
My only thought is to consider moving the discussion on Communities and Discord up earlier in the lessons. I remember feeling very lost and isolated in my first days. Having a Community, and knowing how to interact there, right from the beginning would have made the onboarding easier.
Excellent work! Can’t wait to see it!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
@ethandsmith this post was presented at the morning session of Pimp Your Post Thursday on the Steemit Ramble Discord. It was one of five choosen for the video report on the session. Just stopping back to let you know that you can see your name in lights right here. (Just kidding about the lights :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Am most def looking forward to this as it progresses. You want or need to do any more spit-balling, I'm never far buddy!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I appreciate the effort you put into this post. @trufflepig
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit