I've seen high scores 50 to less than 100 votes for no money, and single or double votes with exemplary returns from a combination of the above.
Remember, I did Triond, which was an experiment which made $7.00 posting 75 articles and two books, 23 articles a piece. IUniverse cost at least $800, but no more than $1,200.00 Money fluctuates, so it's not a real indicator of how you're doing or should you keep going.
Steem dollars go down proportionately to Steem power going up as e approaches zero. With Steem whale status steadily going down as reputation barely moves in tenths, is the reason why I still write. I love to write and will continue to do so until I get the money I need to publish book four...