A Chat With An Early Steemit Top Author…….. Steemians Speak – A Mini Vox Pop....... This Week On Steemit…….. SteemMag – Steemit’s Weekend Digest #29 p.2

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Welcome to page 2

A Chat With @ericvancewalton

SteemMag: You've been on Steemit for almost a year now. How did you learn about Steemit? And what was the atmosphere like when you joined?

@ericvancewalton:
You've been on Steemit for almost a year now. How did you learn about Steemit? And what was the atmosphere like when you joined?

I first learned about Steemit through Stellabelle. We were both part of a Facebook group called, “Choose Yourself” (named after James Altucher’s best-selling book.) She was posting about Steemit in the group and it caught my attention. When I joined on July 5th the platform was still gelling in terms of content. Back then many of the posts were crytpo or technology related. Very early on, before the end of July, I decided to start posting my short fiction and poetry. I’m so glad I did, my life hasn’t been the same since.

SM: You've been a perfect example of how the blockchain can help authors get paid what they are worth….Do you think Steemit can be a consistent alternative distribution platform for authors like Smashwords, Amazon etc?

@ericvancwalton:
Posting my novel, Alarm Clock Dawn, in installments here on Steemit made me realize that this platform should be part of every author’s marketing plan. I had no idea what I was doing when I started serializing my novel here last Summer but stumbled onto what I think may be the future of publishing fiction.

If you think about it, who has the time to read long fiction anymore? A novel broken into 10-15min installments, each ending on cliffhangers (akin to old radio shows), is perfectly compatible with how we live our lives today.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be releasing the sequel to Alarm Clock Dawn, called Truth Is Stranger here on Steemit later this summer even before it’s published in book form. My thought is, what I make from the installments could fund the cost of book design, editing, and promotion once the physical book is released. In a sense, this would be crowdfunding the book and promotional tour.

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SteemMag: What are some things you would like to see and/or removed on Steemit?

@ericvancewalton:
First, I think the downvoting process should be re-examined. I feel that charging people to use the downvote might prevent abuse. The “downvote fee” could be added back into the rewards pool.

The cost to use the downvote could be a small percentage of the user’s account worth so the larger the account, the more Steem it would cost. You could also incorporate the slider to make adjustments in how much you’d like to pay.

Next, I’d also love to see the Resteem featured retooled to be more like “sharing” on Facebook. It’d be great to have the chance to make short comments that appear above the Resteemed post highlighting why you Resteemed it. I think this would get the posts even more attention.

Thirdly, for Steemit to really grow, the registration process needs to be made a better experience. I believe many new users are overwhelmed by the complexity of signing up and some are scared off before then join. How we do this, I’m not sure, but I know we have a lot of very talented folks here who could come up with some great ideas.

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SM: Where do you see Steemit in the next 12 months?

@ericvancwalton:
This is totally up to us as content creators and Steemit Inc. I believe all of us are in control of Steemit’s destiny. We’ve come incredibly far in a year but we have a lot of work to do to continue the growth of the platform and the currency.

We need to continue outreach efforts to find effective ways to onboard celebrities and power users from other platforms like Medium, Quora, Twitter, YouTube, etc. If they come to Steemit, and start singing its praises, so will their followers.

We also need better communication from Steemit Inc. regarding platform changes and future plans. Clear, concise, communication from headquarters will be the key providing everyone more confidence in our platform’s future.

I’ve honestly never seen such a high concentration of intelligence, passion, and vision in one place before. If we can all work together towards a singular vision this platform will soon be the largest social media platform in the world. Who in the world wouldn’t want to get paid for something they’re already doing (posting on social media)? It’s a no-brainer.

I'm very bullish on Steemit.

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Its so nice to finally have a chat with you for SteemMag. I look forward to an exciting sequel from you. Thanks.

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Steemians Speak - Describe your steemit experience so far in:

1 word :

@buzzbeergeek - Exhilarating

2 words
@businesswri - Exciting and Addicting

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3 words

@barrydutton - Excitement. Flagged. Liberating

4 words

@cathi-xx - Interesting. Unexpected. Fun. Love

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A lot of interesting events happened this week. And in case you missed them, we’ve got your back. Here are some of the most important events that happened on Steemit this week.

~ Steemit Founder and CEO @ned formally marks 1 year anniversary. Post

~ He also announces a new addition to the Steemit team - @zurvanic, the new head of marketing

~ Steem makes a drop from last weekend's quarterly high to 13th on the coinmarketcap.com’s crypto market capitalization
list.

~ @ontofractal releases Glasnost – a steem tool for publishing your steem blog on other websites.

~ @good-karma and @esteem8 releases updates to their respective mobile steem apps.

~ For a comprehensive list of dedicated Steem blockchain apps. Check out SteemTools.com

~ @liondani posts a transparency report on top witnesses opinions on HF 17 . Post

~ Meanwhile, SBD rates ranged from 1 SD = $ 0.89 - 1.12 this week

~$0.16 and $0.25 were the lowest and highest value traded this week for a unit of Steem respectively.

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Cool celebratory images by @elyaque . Thanks ;)

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P.S Thanks for getting to the end of this weekend's special edition. What was your favorite feature? Which word(s) best describe your steemit experience? Do you have any project you would like to have featured on SteemMag?
I would love to hear from you!