There is a lot to be said for contests, indeed ... one I found useful is @pifc's weekly curation contest (but you know that one already), and @c-cubed's Engaged contest, which just requires that you leave a good comment of a post they have already curated. @curie has a similar contest called the Curie comment contest -- leave good comments on a bunch of their already curated articles, split up the Steem pot at the end.

@bananafish offers good writing contests weekly and bi-weekly, and the bi-weekly #tellastorytome one pays WELL just in terms of rewards and readership (although it is important to get your story in in the FIRST week so people have time to find and read).

Other than that, it's just the grind ... I took your suggestion about "Caducity" and ran with it in a whole new story because I could, but also just to have one more piece of writing out there to be discovered and potentially pick up some big curators.

A good ratio to consider, borrowed from the songwriting world: one in TWENTY will hit big. I try to put out 9-12 posts a week (this week I have to travel, so I will probably hit only 7-9) with that in mind, knowing that the daily effort to be present and productive on Steemit helps, and that once every two weeks or so, a post will get excellent rewards. That also gives me opportunity plenty of opportunity to experiment with different tags and see what is working best.

Finally, @pifc's weekly "Pimp Your Post" is a good place to drop a post for a little extra love, and @felt.buzz does something similar.