https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2016/07/11/12/16/mathematics-1509559_960_720.jpg

The first thing you may notice is that the payout is not related to the amount of **work** you put into a post. While you may care about this factor, the consumers of your content do not. While often a lot of time and work go into creating a post that provides readers with great value, they are not one-and-the-same thing.

Every person that reads your post will attribute **Value** to your content. Different consumers will value the same content differently. Did they enjoy reading it? Did they find it useful? Did they find it funny? Inspiring? There are a lot of ways to provide value to your consumer. The key to being a successful content creator is finding the right way to provide value to the consumers of your content. 

**Weight** is an important factor. In Steemit, Weight = Steem Power. While you may be able to provide value to your readers, which readers you provide value to matters. Providing value to one whale is significantly better (in terms of payout) than providing value to thousands of minnows or a handful of dolphins.

**Discovery** is key. This is a 1 or 0 value for each Steemian. They either discover your post, or they do not. If your content is not discovered by someone, then they cannot upvote it. The payout you get from a user that does not discover your content is zero.

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[Note] The actual formula behind the payouts is slightly different than what I described here. If you would like to see what the actual formula is, please read the 'white paper'. This thread is intended to give content producers a guide to the factors that make a post financially successful vs. not, and not to get into the complexities of the actual Steemit payout calculation.