Steps: Are they worth trying?

[microbet]

PSFAP - Party Steps for the Advanced Player by Sklanksy.

Awesome book. You should even read it if you don't play the steps. Very insightful.

Steps are bad for the players.
The average rake paid if you make the final step is much higher than a direct buy-in. This is done by taking good share of the buy-in pool (not the fee) for the future fees. For example, in the 5+1 mini-steps, the pool is 50$ and it is used for 44$ future fund and 6$ future fees. So the total fee (or rake) paid by the players is easily 20%+, whereas if you bought a 400+30 directly, it would be 7.5%.
To beat this house edge you need to be much stronger than the field, and even that it should be more profitable to join directly the highest level or two as you pay less rake in average and it takes less time to get there.
Generally, it's a game where many players keep playing qualifiers, paying rake in the process and mostly don't get cash prize. So I wouldn't try it.