How do you define quality content, is the travel post, is it the photography, is it that, is it this. What have I seen here as a newbie is that if you know someone who is already in steemit their post will get a lot of upvotes even the quality is not upto the mark and then there are people two writes original content gets pennies.
It all depends on when you have started, now-a-days its very hard for a newbie to earn even a dollar on its own.
It's true, just like youtube channels, your own blog, facebook posts, and anything in life. Starting out, you're going to have to put in the groundwork.