Welcome to Steemit! Great to have you here. I'm your second die hard supporter after Bryan, lol. I loved your book Unnatural Talent and have been a fan of your blog for a long time as well.
@bryan-imhoff is the person I go to if I have any questions and he has been great for the comic book community here so don't hesitate to ask him. I'm happy to help as well.
This is the shortest way I've come up with explaining Steemit to a noob.
Where the Money Comes From? There is 9% inflation every year (goes down 0.5% a year, so 8% inflation this year).
The money (Steem) that is created goes into a prize pool that is distrubted to creators based on "likes." (That's all you need to know for now)
You can monetize any given post for 7 days, then the money goes into your wallet (Watch youtube on Steem vs Steem Power vs. Steem Dollars).
Steem is traded on a lot of different exchanges, and speculators drive the price on Steem far more than the website Steemit right now.
Spend time on Youtube to understand "Steem Power" (voting power) and you'll be good to go.
RE: Hi Steemit!