About a month ago, I was looking to collaborate with an artist on an upcoming graphic novel, and I was connecting with potential candidates in Facebook groups. While scanning the feeds, I came upon a random and vague statement: an artist there said he made money on a site called steemit. I had never heard of steemit, and I'm not even an artist, so the statement really shouldn't have encouraged me to check it out. But check it out I did, and ever since it's like a whole new world has opened up.

Before 2018, I could name only one cryptocurrency - Bitcoin (and it was a totally alien concept that I knew mostly from Mr. Robot). I had never even heard the term "blockchain".

Since then I've powered up my steemit account to nearly 85 steem (thanks in large part to a couple of my posts getting noticed by @curie and @hendrikdegrote); I've traded on the internal market here; I've signed up to Coinbase, GDAX, and Binance, and I've been mesmerized watching candle charts at work; I bought my first BTC with fiat, and yesterday I even traded for some BTC with SBD; and for the last 24 hours I've been freaking out that the overall crypto market cap​ has dropped below $400 billion!

Well, no, I'm not freaking out. I have only a little bit of money invested, and the lower prices should let me get more for my money.

The funny thing is, I came here as a content creator looking to get rewarded for my work. But I've become utterly fascinated with the blockchain world, and I'm hungry to learn more and more. People here have been super helpful, and there's a ton of information to be found. That being said, there are a few things I wish I had understood a little earlier in my journey. I've also picked up a few things that I think will help people just starting out:

Make Real Connections

If you want to get noticed on steemit, you have to deliver solid content. That's a given. That means make meaningful comments too. Honestly, you'll see this advice everywhere on steemit - and that's because it's true. My own personal addition: stay away from large upvote-for-upvote groups on Facebook or Twitter. It's a waste of time and resources, because all of those users have as little steem power as you do, and your voting power quickly gets used up.

What works is to join smaller groups with similar interests. I hooked up with a group of webcomics artists/creators, and we give each other legitimate support. I've also recently joined up with @Qurator which is a good way to connect to quality content folks.

Know the value of Steem vs. Steem Dollars

Over the last couple days, the value of steemit's two currencies have been converging, to a point where Steem is now more valuable than Steem Dollars. You can find lots of information here that explains the purpose of these tokens, as well as Steem Power itself. But what was not clearly explained was how you could trade your SBD rewards for extra Steem at a rate that is much more valuable than a 100% Steem Power reward.

When posts receive their 50/50 reward (I'm going to leave out the curation part of the equation for simplicity), you get half of the value put into Steem Power based on the market value of STEEM, and half the value as Steem Dollars, but in a way that assumes SBD is pegged to a dollar. For example (again, leaving out curation), if Steem is worth $5, and SBD is worth $7 (as it was for a lot of this last month), on a $10 reward, you get 1 Steem Power, and 5 SBD. But if you do the math - that means you get $5 of value in Steem power, and $35 of value in SBD! You could then take the SBD over to the internal market and trade to get 7 Steem ($35 value), and then power up with that.

Now, that's when SBD is worth MORE than Steem. But even when the two are each about the same value - say, $5 - the 50/50 reward on a $10 post gets you 1 Steem Power and 5 SBD - the latter still equalling more value ($25). At that kind​ of rate, trading your SBD for Steem to power up is usually more profitable than using those SBD for the automated bots.

Know how to trade Crypto

Obviously if you're here, you're hoping to turn your posts into value. And while the three tokens on steemit themselves take some work to figure out, extracting value from your posts means that eventually you'll need to trade on an exchange. And for a guy like me with no experience in any of this, that was a hard thing to decipher.

(I am brand new to all of this! So if anything I say next is flawed or wrong, I'd appreciate help and corrections in the comments.)

The only way to turn your cryptocurrency into money is to first trade it for bitcoin, and then trade the bitcoin for fiat. Working backward​, there are only certain exchanges where you can trade for fiat, and it looks like the best and easiest is Coinbase. From here you can buy BTC and several other cryptos by sending money from your bank account or your credit card. And, while I haven't done it yet, the reverse is also true: you can sell and transfer cash back to your bank.

That's all well and good, but Coinbase charges a fee for those purchases and any future trades/buys. However, Coinbase is connected to GDAX, and if you learn how to use the site and follow certain rules, you can make all your future trades without fees. Now, for someone brand new to this world, looking at the GDAX screen can be a real head-spinner.

But someone on reddit pointed me to a fantastic playlist on Youtube that explains the mechanics and interface of GDAX. Check it out HERE.

However, that doesn't get you from steem to cash. You still need to figure out how to trade your steem or SBD, because you can't do either on Coinbase or GDAX. Now, most information on steemit says you can trade on Block Trades to accomplish this. You can access the site directly from your wallet here, and it's super easy to do. However, that convenience is going to cost a significant fee. Especially when you're dealing with small trading amounts.

There are lots of different exchanges out there, and each of those exchanges trades for different coins/tokens. The first thing you need to do is find an exchange where you can trade steem. (The following is all untested by me, because I haven't gotten this far.) The only exchange that I could find where steem was on the market was Poloniex. I've heard mixed things about the exchange, but I figured that no matter what, there would be a smaller fee for trades than on Block Trades.

To sign up, you'll need to jump through some hoops which pretty much comes down to proof of identity. I have no problem with this. HOWEVER: the site asks for the front and back of your license, plus it demands a picture of your face taken from your computer/device's camera at that particular moment. Well, I do everything I can from a desktop, and my desktop has no camera. Then when I try to sign-in through my iPhone or my iPad, neither device, using three different browsers, will connect to my damned camera. So, so far, I have not been able to get verified on Poloniex.



I heard yesterday that steem is now listed on Binance , which could be good news. However, in signing up there, I dealt with similar frustrations. On Binance, if you're a US citizen, you'll need a passport to prove your identity. The site did not demand real-time photos, so I was able to jump through that hoop. But figuring out how to use Google Authenticator was another frustration that took me a while to get right. Anyway, the verification takes a few days, and I'm waiting for a response.

Clearly, I have a lot more to learn in this respect. But the above should get new folks a little further ahead of the game than I was when I joined here.

Know your Alt Coins

Okay, this is where I understand the least, but it's also one of the more fascinating topics I've been studying in the last month. Obviously when you're new to this world, you don't want to jump into anything you don't understand. There are hundreds of different coins out there, and I'm not going to attempt to explain them (especially since I don't know shit).

However, I see a lot of people talking about EOS on this site, and how it's connected to steemit by one of its co-founders @dan. And I recently watched a great video which helps to explain what EOS actually does HERE.

If anyone can suggest other great videos or posts which shed light on the different tokens and cryptocurrencies out there, post them in the comments!

This past month I've absorved a lot of new information, and I'm excited to keep learning over the next year. I've also been able to connect with some great people to share my creative projects. If you decide to follow me, here's what you can expect to see over the coming months:

Lesbian Zombies from Outer Space is a horror comedy comic series that accentuates the graphic in graphic novel. When a hot alien woman crash-lands in the woods near a small town, all the girls start turning into lesbian zombies! Now a goofy porn aficionado​ and a lesbian of middling looks must team up to stop the funniest, sexiest zombie apocalypse you've ever seen.

Inspired by 80s horror B-movies, you'll be able to read the whole graphic novel as it plays out here in two- to three-page posts. You may even see some motion comics of the chapters. Start reading at Page 1!

POLIS: The Trial of Socrates is a historical graphic novel that looks at the life of Socrates in ancient Athens, centering on the events that led up to his trial and execution. Based on historical events, this is the story of one of the world’s greatest martyrs to free thought and moral courage.

Having just teamed up with an artist, I'm at the start of this new graphic novel venture. You'll be able to watch it all come together in real-time. In fact, the steemit community has already had an impact in helping me choose an artist. You can check out the first inked page HERE.

In The Masters Plan, family man Ray Jackson is a straight-laced detective who plays by the rules. When his estranged father tries to give him information about a corrupt politician, Ray turns him away. But when his father is found dead the next morning, Ray knows the suicide is staged. His investigation quickly hits a dead end, until he gets a call from Joel Masters, a friend from his past. Will they uncover the killer before becoming victims of the same corruption?

This is an action screenplay with noir elements I wrote some years ago. For a while now I've wanted to adapt it into a novel or novella​ to offer as an ebook on Amazon. But so far, I haven't had the time or motivation to put it together. I think releasing it here chapter-by-chapter is the perfect answer to my motivation deficit. I should be posting the first pages some time during the next week, and I hope you'll check it out.

Thanks for reading, and your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!

Like what you see? Follow because I write cool shit! @jpgaltmiller

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