excellent idea!
I think a similar letter collaboratively made through a google doc or such posted via the @steemitbc account could be a great thing.

As to a thankless task, if you are doing it for money probably yes :)
My aim is to build a community of likeminded authors around my curation goal so it is just sharing bookmarks.

I would very much like to see others executing their own version of this idea around their own curation goal. It would make finding interesting content on Steemit.com much more fun. Especially discovering new authors and content.

Currently everything is ruled by the upvoting game. Although the intention of that is to allow good content to the top, it is definitely not working as intended yet.
If good content received many upvotes, it is more of an exception than a rule...
Long term I think the upvoting gaming is besides the point anyway. Building a loyal and real following here will almost guarantee you a decent income in the medium term I think. Especially because the SEO value of the content you generate will help you be discovered from outside steemit as an author.