Edit: Holy shit I didn't realize this went on for so long, sorry about that. Def don't read this while driving lol, safety first!
Oh man. Tough one. Gimme a sec to watch the video first.
Well, curation is tough, and time-consuming, tons of other whales just delegate via leasing or have contests or groups that they're associated with that they delegate to. Some of the whales, tons infact save their time by just voting each other's posts without fail in a big circle, and getting the negative attention of some of these groups can essentially be the end of steemit for someone so no one really addresses the fact that there is more of that going on than just the few names mentioned on the front page all the time.
Minnowbooster's options are good if you want passive returns, but yes it takes you completely out of the game on what you're using your SP towards. I don't know, that's a high level of trust to put in those who get the delegation, but I do know that there are ways to kind of skirt around flagging in general.
Let's say you have options on either end of the spectrum, you could either have a profit-motivated SP delegation strategy, or a community-building SP delegation strategy. The former would obviously, however you end up executing it, make you more money and give you more control over how the returns from the delegation are handled. This might be seen as neutral to negative by some of the other big players here. Because self-voting is kind of viewed harshly (lots of the lone wolves do come under fire) it's only really done heavily by those with enough SP to withstand the flags.
You could also go with an SP delegation strategy that wouldn't be so focused on who can curate the best to maximize returns on the SP, but instead tries to do things like foster the community that's here, or try to bring new members into Steemit, or do general humanitarian outreach-types of things. This second option means that you would be giving the delegation out to people with less of an expectation of immediate returns on your SP, but it could put you in a positive light with other large SP-holding members and also witnesses in the community.
Personally I would say you should go with what others are saying, maybe a contest or something for actual dedicated fans who've been with you and have the skills and drive to make good use of the SP in whatever ways they can, but keeping in mind that the second option could possibly boost the chance that you get in good with other long-standing members of the community, at which point your overall revenue from steemit would grow organically.
TL;DR: Immediate profit-maximizing strategies aren't a good idea and only work for those with millions of SP, it might be better to play along with what the other big players like seeing, as virtue-signaling is basically steemit's bread and butter.
Hold tight, these prices aren't that attractive anyway, you're right to wait on upping the SP, and I hope you go far with it when you do.