No it's not serialization, it's about timeliness and popularity. Relatively few people will rush to read a novel just because it came out. Original novel writing will never be a good fit for Steem which gain it's value from ever changing trending page based on 7 day voting window. If on the other hand you are a known book author with a user-base and you publish your book chapters first on Steem or exclusively then I think the promotion initiative is worth rewarding relative to the amount and quality of viewership brought to the platform.
Want an other example:
If you manage to land a Steemit.com post to #1 rank of r/bitcoin or r/cryptocurrency , I'd vote your post to 80$ and will send you 500 SBD for the achievement.
@transisto, we at the Writers' Block have the ability to bring quite a few established writers/authors/editors to the userbase, and in fact, have already done so, including the Assistant Editor of Perihelion Science Fiction magazine and the Chief Editor himself, Sam Bellotto, Jr. He didn't become active on the platform due to concerns that included scenarios exactly like this one. I have no doubt that our hybrid publishing efforts would bring tremendous value to the platform, as part of our initiative is introducing Steemit authors to the mainstream literary community. And in reverse, recruiting established authors to Steemit. But this flag issue is concerning. It's going to put off a lot of professionals who otherwise might have joined our ranks. I'm hesitant to recruit new users at this point if their focus is fiction. I believe Steemit is a wonderful arena to offer serialized fiction, as it will keep readers returning and upvoting and contributing time and again. I stress that it must be original fiction, never before published, unless payout is declined, something it took me a minute to realize we could do. I would really love the opportunity to pursue the vision of bridging Steemit with mainstream publishing, since it would benefit the platform as well as the authors. But that will never happen if authors steer clear of Steemit out of fear they will become a target.