Well, being new and explaining so much is good.
That means you can be focused on what to do here.
I have some more than 35 days and still got some uncertainties, but i start to understand a little about payment and posting. Not much :-)
Posts must have more interactions to have more value, and regarding money with voting, there must be people to vote it for good content. If you will not have people interacting with your post, you'll see less interaction and so, less money.
Paying is for commenting, posting and when you have votes.
Here is a link where you can see what you will receive in next 2-3 days.
Payments are made after 7 days from starting point.
I will try to make a post here and also on my blog (in my profile) and will have there some good information about steemit.
I want to make that articles there, just to have information better organized regarding steemit and crypto world.
Cheers man