52 responses to “Counterpoint: Yes, freelancers should write for Helium”

  1. Michelle Rafter

    Tim, Bradley, John and Katie:

    This is by far the most impassioned debate EVER to take place on this blog. I appreciate the different perspectives you’ve voiced. I appreciate that we’re hearing from people who’ve worked at Helium, who used to work there and who would never work there. And I especially appreciate that everyone’s continued to discourse in a civil manner when debating what is one of the hottest of hot button issues of our industry. The fact that you’ve chosen to have this debat on this blog – gravy.

    Michelle Rafter

  2. Michelle Rafter

    Thanks for your comments Rex, it’s good to hear from people with first-hand experience with the site.

  3. Michelle Rafter

    Thanks for weighing in on this John. I’ve had a blog post about The Long Tail in my Drafts queue for months. Maybe I need to dust it off and finish it.

    I definitely see the Long Tail phenomenon on this blog: the stats charts for most of my posts have that Long Tail look – the bulk of the page views right when it comes out, then a very long tail of views that stretches out over weeks and months. I just counted and so far today, people have read 63 posts, not including my clips page and resume. That means in 1 day, people looked at one fifth of the posts I’ve written since I started this blog in December 2007. And the three posts with the most page views today only accounted for 25 percent of the total page views – definitely a Long Tail phenomenon.

    Shows you that if it’s a good product, whether it’s a blog post, novel, song or movie, it’s got a long shelf life.

    MVR

  4. Michelle Rafter

    Thanks for the info Rex. You said, “I’m also not saying that this will ever be high paying job.” The thing of it is, for people like me who write for a living, it *is* our living, so it has to pay all the bills, and that’s why many long-time freelancers take exception to sites like Helium or avoid them completely.

    MVR

  5. Michelle Rafter

    John: Thanks for contributing to the conversation with with some specifics – freelancers need to see detail like this to make informed decisions whether or not to work for sites like Helium.

    MVR

  6. Michelle Rafter

    What you’re talking about are service, or “how to” articles, which could very well be easy to write if it’s an avocation you’re passionate about. But news stories or analysis pieces that take a fair amount of research are not the kind you can crank out in an hour or two – although I’ve worked for newspaper city desk editors who would have loved it if I could.

    Michelle Rafter

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Michelle V. Rafter

Reporting and blogging about business, tech and media.

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The Blogathon is coming! The Blogathon is coming! The 3rd annual WordCount Blogathon is just around the corner. This May, freelancers, writers and bloggers of all stripes are invited to join me in a blogging marathon - posting 31 days straight. This year's Blothathon promises to be better than ever, with participant badges, giveaways, a guest-post exchange, and real-time recap. Look for more details coming soon. Meanwhile, check out Blogathon resources here. Read. Comment. Enjoy.