If you want to make money as a writer, short stories is not the way to go. I spent years doing it and although I have improved immensely as a writer, and it is a great feeling to get something published, it has not done much for my bank account. It is a very competitive business and the pay is very little. Yes there are writers who are well off, but that usually comes from novels or a series and again, it is a very competitive field.
To have a story be considered professionally published (at least by the science fiction writers associate) is to be paid, at least, 6 cents a word. For the sake of argument let's say a zine, magazine or a collection of shorts in a book will pay you 10 cents. And that is rare. That means if you are lucky enough to get something accepted for publication, at 1,000 words, it will pay you $100. That is it. At the 6 cents price you are only getting paid $60. Now look at the trending page. There are multiple posts over that amount or close to it and they are there everyday. And that is at the price of steem as it is. Let's say the price goes up to a dollar or two, the money you can make for your posts will be pretty high.
But those are the trending pages you're thinking. Those are people with high SP who have a following and it will be hard to challenge them. Sure, it may take work and maybe some luck to get your work on the trending page but it can be done. Or at least on the hot page which still pays. And as you post, even if you only get a few upvotes, you are still getting paid something for your work and are building a rep on this site. Which is much better than getting just a rejection email :p. In comparison, think of the odds of getting published by a magazine that only takes so many stories a month. The trending page has multiple posts a day while a magazine only takes so many stories.
There is also one more thing to consider. When you submit a story it can take weeks, sometimes, months before you get a response (which can still be a no). And a lot of magazines do not like simultaneous submissions, which means when you send it to one of them, you have to wait for a response before you can send it someone else. Then, if it is a yes, there might be edits and paperwork before you get paid.
Published work is going nowhere, it will always have a special place for writers and getting a writer credit is amazing. I am not writing this to say anything bad about it. But in terms of making writing a job, at least a part-time job, especially if you are a creative writer, steemit might be a good option for you to improve, build something that is yours and make some money.
*my upvotes/rep disclaimer: @whatageek/my-steemit-account-where-i-stand-on-bots-self-votes-and-multiple-account