Yesterday, long-time freelancers Tim Beyers wrote a guest post here explaining why freelancers shouldn’t write for content aggregators, and he singled out Helium as an example.
His post prompted Barbara Whitlock, Helium’s new member outreach manager, to reply. Instead of burying what Whitlock had to say in the comments under Beyers’ post (where you can still find them), I thought I’d keep the debate going by posting them here.
Freelancers considering user-generated content sites like Helium often begin with a healthy skepticism. Those who have earned well previously, as full-time freelancers or journalists, sometimes come with some added baggage: frustration at watching their livelihood shrink and anxiety about what the future will hold for their craft.
Some approach new opportunities on the Internet like Luddites of old, and want to bash against everything they see. Others are more open to adapt to new technologies, and try to hone their craft to new approaches. Economic necessity and a love of writing drive most to take a peek or try out sites like Helium. Many are thriving in this new world of freelance writing.
What’s to be gained and what is at risk in joining sites like Helium.com?
Gains:
- Unlimited opportunities to write on topics which interest you.
- Added revenue streams for writing income.
- Wider exposure and name recognition on the web. Helium has a Google page rank of 7, which means you can use Helium to get your name out there and link to your blog or other writing venues.
- Recognition for your professional credentials, which lifts you above the anonymity of the web.
- Opportunities to connect to gig opportunities for 100s of magazine, website and – increasingly – newspaper publishers.
- Contests, journalism prizes and other seasonal opportunities.
- A supportive writing community, with structures and a unique online culture that make Helium’s expansive writing community personal too.
Risks:
- Non-exclusive articles remain on Helium. You are free to republish on other non-exclusive sites, but you cannot delete or try to use those as exclusive for another publisher.
- Exclusive articles in Marketplace are often ghost-written, and do not usually provide you with clips, just money.
- Addiction – most Helium members have a lot of fun writing with abandon, editing and supporting other writers.
Tim Beyers made some thoughtful comments, through the lens of the traditional publishing world. He got one major point wrong: Helium has paid out over $1 million to writers thus far. Here’s some added information to address his other points:
1. Tim suggested Helium lacks editor support. In fact, Helium has a fleet of editors who help writers. These editors review every newly posted article (this is relatively new). We also have subject matter experts overseeing content areas who have a high sense of ownership over the content there. Finally, we have an open email system where any writer can provide editorial suggestions to writers. Someone sent me one yesterday letting me know that I had a typo and needed to improve the look of my links. Those looking for one-to-one editorial help can write to mentor@helium.com. Many layers of editorial support are available. Some members who dip in but do not participate more expansively at Helium may not know of all these layers of editorial support.
2. Tim mentions a lack of incentive to improve Helium articles once published. However, incentive to improve is built into the competitive model. Leapfrog revisions are not limited, and what encourages writers to improve varies. Many want to improve their rank placement in title groups, and increase writing stars for higher upfront earnings per article. Many learn more tricks of the trade for web writing, and turn back to improve their leads, add more SEO value to their article, add metacontent subheaders, etc. Others just enjoy improving their work.
3. Tim adds concern about writer clips. All the non-exclusive articles writers publish on Helium become part of their visible portfolio, and can be used as clips. If you are selected by a newspaper partner for print publication, these are regular print clips (full byline credit). Our newspapers often provide pdf version in addition to news clips you can cut out yourself from the Sunday editions. With exclusive Marketplace content, it is not guaranteed that you’ll be able to use clips, but sometimes you can find them through search queries.
From a traditional freelance perspective skepticism about writer’s sites like Helium makes sense. But in a world of shrinking traditional freelance gigs, most writers have found they need to grab all the opportunities they can, and through that aggregate they can keep up with their income needs.
Helium isn’t a substitute for a full-time job, but it can be combined with other freelance gigs to provide additional revenue. Plus, the freedom to also write what you want is appealing for many. Often writers want to demonstrate their expertise in an area, and writing a body of articles helps give weight to that.
Lots of options, but realize Helium has additive value for writers who freelance full-time. It’s one revenue stream that can help — and it’s fun.
I’d welcome further discussion on this if anyone is interested: bwhitlock@helium.com.
Here’s the full text of the open letter from my blog:
Hi Barbara,
I’m grateful for the response, as I’m sure Michelle is.
A couple of additional thoughts for you and for those who may be reading.
First, I’m not so sure that there are fewer freelance gigs today. In one sense, sure, there are fewer opportunities to place stories in The New York Times and other traditional outlets. But there are still thousands of paying magazines out there. Some webzines also pay well. Helium isn’t an attractive choice comparatively because the writer’s share of the kitty is so small.
Second, I think the “freedom to write” argument fails to pass the sniff test. Each query I send is for a story I want to write. Certainly my ideas can and often will be cast aside. Nevertheless, my freelance writing business is entirely structured around the stories I wish to write.
Finally, a few words of praise. Helium in fact does do a better job than most at encouraging well-written content and does so by supplying tools to aid writers who need the assist. I still don’t see that as a substitute for working one-on-one with an experienced editor but I absolutely grant that there’s a communal sense of respect for the written word at Helium that I don’t find elsewhere among content aggregators.
Of course, my beef isn’t with Helium’s quality standards. Rather, it’s with the message that low pay sends.
In starker mathematical terms, say you need to make $50,000 a year to make ends meet as a full-time freelancer. That’s $4,166.67 per month. Given Helium’s model and single-digit upfront payments, can anyone expect to make even one-tenth of that? I don’t see how.
Perhaps I’m wrong. If so, let’s talk. I’m willing to carve out time to follow a process of your design if there’s a reasonable chance of making half, or $2,083, per month writing for Helium.
Thanks much,
Tim
I don’t think that Barbara’s response passes the rhetorical fallacy test.
“Unlimited opportunities to write on topics which interest you.” – The same is true for the entire internet, not just Helium. This isn’t a defined and noted advantage as much as a statement of fact.
“Added revenue streams for writing income.” – Again, this can be said for any writing placed on the internet. Helium does allow for people to pay for some content, but there is no guarantee. A writer can easily have as good a chance earning incoming from a free blog paired with adsense. Better yet, there are plenty of places to pair freelancers with paying clients, which takes much of the uncertainty out of the equation.
“Wider exposure and name recognition on the web. Helium has a Google page rank of 7, which means you can use Helium to get your name out there and link to your blog or other writing venues.” While Helium’s home page might have had a PR 7 (I’m showing a PR 6 as of right now), this does not mean that their internal pages do. Beyond that, all of the links on the front page and most on the internal pages which point to actual author pages are flagged with “NoFollow” which means that Helium is specifically telling Google to ignore your article. A direct contradiction to the PR claims of Helium.
“Recognition for your professional credentials, which lifts you above the anonymity of the web.” This is actually contradictory towards the openness which Helium talks about. If anyone can write for Helium, than the act of doing so is nonexclusive. When attempting to “rise above the anonymity of the web” exclusivity counts. In age of accomplishments and curation, writing for Helium is not an adequate means to set one writer apart from another.
“Opportunities to connect to gig opportunities for 100s of magazine, website and – increasingly – newspaper publishers.” This sentence is rife with obscuring terms. Yes, there is the potential for your article to be picked up by a magazine or another website – it’s the entire point of using a article distribution network. You have an equally good chance of doing so through most sites. For this claim to be taken honestly, it needs to have qualifying and verifiable numbers attached to. What magazines, websites, and newspapers. How many articles are they selecting? How much are they paying? How many writers are they choosing from? How much money are they paying to those writers? What are the general chances a writer has to land such an article?
“Contests, journalism prizes and other seasonal opportunities.” Again, another claim lacking qualification. This is selling the sizzle of a steak without any real promise that steak is coming.
“A supportive writing community, with structures and a unique online culture that make Helium’s expansive writing community personal too.” For a site focused on writing, this bullet point fails to actually make sense. Helium might be a supportive writing community, but those are myriad online. The rest of the claims are largely redundant and lack supporting evidence.
It seems that Helium is building a large stable of stock writing on the potential for writers to get paid. What this does isn’t to democratize the freelance writing experience, rather it waters it down. This gets writers used to accepting payment after work, and more frequently in writing for free. Granted, Helium seems to have backed itself up with some nice, if fallacious, marketing speak.
Helium is building something quite revolutionary in the publishing world, and it’s a work in progress. We’ve created a means for many more writers to throw their pen in the ring. We take out the query letter time drain as well.
More opportunities for the many has come at a time when newspapers and magazines have been folding at an alarming rate. Our newspaper partner program has given new life to many aspiring writers, and it’s been a great help for those out of work.
Local residents now have a to participate directly in sharing their views on issues of the day. Also local writers get paid for stringer assignments in Marketplace, and fresh, hyper-local articles on Helium get purchased and published to replace filler AP and UPI content in newspapers. It doesn’t replace professional journalists, but complements and energizes communities connected to those newspapers. Cobranding also helps newspapers expand their web presence.
We haven’t gotten rich yet, but we do hope to turn a solid profit when we reach our stride. In this building-up period, we’ve tried to reward our writers, and give as much of the earnings as possible to them. For example we take a small service fee in Marketplace and we give a high percentage of ad revenue to writers in our coop model. That’s why Helium writers have pulled in $1 million to date. Yes, it’s distributed widely, but a large proportion goes to the writers.
Helium is investing for the longer march. I’m working hard on attracting professionals in different niche areas to become an attractive group for specialty publishers. This is a win/win for writers. Scores of nurse bloggers, for example, who enjoy writing and have bucket-loads of knowledge to share, can get paid gigs with medical publishers. We have a nurse-writers contest going on right now (email me if you’re interested: bwhitlock@helium.com).
It’s a democratic model. We place our confidence in a wider community of writers than just professionals. Yet, there are thousands of professional writers who also compete with advantage in our model. We provide an open door for all to try, and the best to succeed.
At the moment, those writers who are SEO-savvy, diligent and efficient workers, learn how to tailor their writing to the high-end earning opportunities find success. They also find that by writing a high volume of high quality, non-exclusive content they see the benefits of ad earnings. But Helium does not rely on ad earnings alone for writers. We offer upfront payments for informative content, plus other incentives.
At no point have I or Helium said: Quit your day job or use Helium exclusively to replace your full-time journalism job. Helium has additive value among many freelance revenue streams. We are moving toward growing opportunities to continue to increase payouts to writers. Time will be the proof.
I read this writer’s review of Helium that speaks to some solid earnings in her first couple of months: http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=70383
Great conversation! If anyone wants more information about Helium or to correspond with me directly, my inbox is always open: bwhitlock@helium.com.
Barbara Whitlock
New Member Outreach Manager
Helium.com
I feel the urge to say something about Helium… I’ve been on the fence about the site for a while now. As a beginning freelancer it was great, now that I am more established I don’t go to the site anymore.
My blog post on what I learned from Helium… http://writebeyondthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/05/helium-is-training-ground-nothing-more.html
Bradley’s points must have come in as I was posting my replies to Bill. Let me respond to Bradley now.
Bradley reflects the healthy skepticism I outlined above. You want concrete numbers and examples rather than generalizations:
* Marketplace publishers: Our Marketplace team just told me Helium is in partnership with approximately 500 publishers. New titles and publishers come in every day, and others close a title sequence and wait a bit to reenter; so this is a are area of constant flux.
* Our newspaper partners include Hearst and two different community newspaper organizations. Many are floating Helium test balloons in one or more locations before moving more expansively with Helium’s community gateway program. You can see the list here: http://www.helium.com/newspaper-partners
* On Helium writer pages there are two views: One is a bio section (which may have the no follow) and the other is a writers’ articles, which one can follow. I’m not a techie, so send me any information you have, Bradley, and I’ll check in with the tech team to get details: bwhitlock@helium.com.
* Contests: This week Helium is running 20 different contests, with opportunities to win $75 (top, with other earnings for many under the #1 slot) for each one. There are regional contests with local topics, a nurse professional contest, and topic areas as broad as acupuncture, East Asian philsophy, and Archery.
* We have a journalism prize sponsored by 1H20 (McKnight Center) on the issue of environmental challenges in the Great Lakes: http://www.helium.com/knowledge/238236-americas-great-lakes-what-is-causing-changes-and-why-does-it-matter. We have a variety of partners, from political cause partners to about 80 non-profits.
* Helium’s professional program is not in contradiction with open opportunities, because we are constantly expanding these groups and we will complement these professional badges with subject matter expert badges (anyone who demonstrates high quality writing in large volume in a given specialty niche) as well. It’s all about finding out the talents each individual has and getting more opportunities for them to share what they know, and earn for it. The more specialized and professional that knowledge, the higher the earning opportunities from niche publishers. There will always be publishers looking for freelancers for general assignments too. It’s a plus/plus, not a plus/minus pattern.
Finally the point about “marketing speak:” Yes each organization — each company — is based on principles. A writer assessing a site should know their principles, their trustworthiness and all the “what’s in it for me” arguments.
Helium is based on the assumption that democracy and competition work: Keep the gates open and you bring more talents to bear and create more opportunities for more people. Allow for competition to let the best rise.
Is Helium a freelance writer’s nirvana? No. Is it a place to benefit from as a freelancer, now to some degreee, but even more in the future? Absolutely. Will everyone succeed? No. Are there other “content aggregate sites” out there to consider? You bet. Is Helium the best? Each makes his own assessment (and I’m biased). Is blogging fun and can it be rewarding? Of course. Should every freelancer do nothing but writer for Helium? Nah…(but you’re welcome). Should every freelancer piecing together earning opportunities consider Helium as one of their income streams? Yup.
Helium is one choice. Hundreds of thousands of writers have tried it and stayed. They grow as writers, like Katie mentions, and many earn consistently (as even that new writer, Lyn in the Review Stream article, has made some decent cash in her first months — see link above).
Helium is an option. It offers lots of opportunities for writers. We complement this with a supportive writing community and responsive staff. If you’d like to continue this dialogue directly with me, write me: bwhitlock@helium.com.
Thanks for the contributions — it’s made for a fun day before the holiday weekend!
The question remains what’s the average dollar amount a writer scores on Helium per month? What do the top earners make and how many articles do they need to pen for this pay out? Those are the numbers I’d be interested in seeing.
Barbara sent me the links to this interesting discussion. I promised Barb I wouldn’t throw her lollipop in the sand and I won’t. Barbara and I have been good friends for nearly two years. We met on Helium. I’m John McDevitt, and until recently, I was one of Helium’s senior stewards. The stewards are a community of volunteers helping members, organizing content and covering places where the limited Helium staff can’t.
Helium and other “content aggregators” are in business to turn a profit. They publish online magazines and, like print magazines, earn the bulk of their revenue from advertising. Google makes billions from on line ads, but the publishers only earn pennies per click. This means they need a lot of content to generate those clicks. Helium has 1.25 million articles in their database now and continues to grow.
Over a million articles and over $1 Million earned by Helium members are impressive numbers but they need to be put in proper perspective.
I saw the press announcement Helium released earlier this week. Tim said Helium members took home over $1 Million and Barb said members were paid over 1$ Million. Not exactly — Helium members earned over $1 Million. There’s a big difference between earning and being paid when the minimum payout is $25. Understandably, Helium put their best spin on the announcement and I posted a bit of clarification later in the day.
Helium’s Million Dollars for Writing Spin
http://awarewriter.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/heliums-million-dollar-for-writing-spin/
Helium provides a unique publishing platform that Mark Ranalli, the CEO likes to call a meritocracy. All of the titles on Helium are competitive. Any member can write to any topic and other members rate and rank all articles in a topic. Asking members to rate paired articles anonymously elevates the better quality articles to the top.
And the model does work up to a point. But ninety percent of the people submitting content on Helium are mediocre writers at best. In a democracy where 10% of the population are chickens and 90% foxes, you can imagine what’s on the dinner menu every night.
Helium is a great place for aspiring writers to learn, have their content published and earn a bit of pocket money. I learned a lot about myself and my writing in the two years I’ve been a member. I’ve made a lot of good friends in a vibrant writing community. There’s a lot to be said for a publishing platform like Helium where people have the opportunity to see their writing published to a large audience.
But Helium’s competitive model isn’t likely to attract serious professionals. The money isn’t there and freelance writers want to own a title, not compete for the top spot and ad click pennies.
Helium has been and is a great experiment in online publishing. Helium and the other content aggregators are perfect for the right audience. I agree with Tim. Freelancers are not that audience.
The bigger question is how will freelancers make a living writing when the publishing industry, both in print and online, is in such turmoil? I just finished my second reading of “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson and I think the answer is in there somewhere and I’m going to find it.
John
Reply to Katie first:
I don’t know those stats at the moment, but I’ll see if I can hunt them down on Tuesday (holiday weekend here).
I can, however, sketch out some of the variables that make for higher pay:
* Helium’s Freelance Marketplace is updated with fresh titles daily. Sometimes we have $200 titles and sometimes $30 short bits. It’s good to keep your RSS feed there so you can dive in when something allures: http://www.helium.com/marketplace.
* The more high quality content you have published at Helium, the better you do in ad revenue, upfront payments (informative articles, not opinion-based or creative writing), or other incentives like the empty title bonus. The more writing stars you have the more you earn per article in upfront payments too. Also, lots of small bits can aggregate into some helpful income on a monthly basis.
* The channels you write to affect how much you earn. Articles in science, health, computers & technology, business and personal finance attract higher-paying ads. Therefore your ad revenue share per clicks is relative to the ad value on a given page view.
* How good you are at marketing your articles, from high value destinations like .org, .edu and .gov web addresses, as well as the aggregate of your link action, helps considerably. Those well connected through social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In) and those who get lucky on social bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, etc) add link juice to their articles, which draws in more readers and ad revenue.
I do know that most writers don’t start seeing money they can count on until month two or three. However, you can supplement with Marketplace, contest and other wins. Also many boost their first month earnings by republishing previously-published, non-exclusive content.
Most people don’t want to hear that it takes time to earn enough to really make a difference in their monthly budgets. It’s too distant from the quick-publishing model and requires too much trust.
All your articles on Helium keep earning, so each one is like an investment over time. As John says above, as we climb that curve toward more high quality content, the dividends grow. A rising tide indeed lifts us all in a coop model.
Katie, I’ll ask for some figures from our Ops team.
Thanks Michele, for hosting and encouraging this discussion. Now I get to reply to John (as I wash off my lollypop:)…
John has his own skepticism to crunch on, and he’s a hard sell -hah. But he’s given his heart and soul to help Helium writers, and he still does. I call him Dean McD because he is the master of SEO-value title-writing, and other tips. Don’t miss a chance to visit his new blog, with lots of good help for writers.
Helium has a diverse writer base — from Oxford-educated PhDs and career women-turned full time mums, to professional journalists looking to continue to earn livings at wordcraft, established freelancers,recreational writers,etc.
To date Helium has tried to make appeals to all. Professional writers and busy freelancers tend to aggregate in Helium’s Marketplace. They dip in to do gigs when the money or topic grabs them, and as time allows. They may never dip a toe deeper into Helium than that. They are welcome.
There are aspiring writers, either adapting their writing style to a web-reading (speedy) pace, learning the tricks of the SEO trade, or branching out to create well-rounded portfolios.
There are leather-skinned reporters who feel ill-at-ease on the Internet they’d denounced as the death of their beloved newspaper; they are learning how to make it in a web-publishing world.
And there are brand new writers, looking to get some clips to “prove themselves” and land desired jobs.
There are dreamers who always wanted to sell a great American novel, and come to Helium to dabble.
There are busy writers looking for community. They may hang out in the creative writing critique forum, enjoy Helium Zones, write on political debates for fun. They want to connect and have a chance to be heard.
There’s room at the table for all to join. The question is: Is there enough food to feed all? Well, there’s certainly enough to feed all – some, but some are getting a full meal and others may get snacks, relative to their investment of time and the results of their talents. The Helium diners have eaten $1 million out of the groceries they’ve cooked up in the Helium Kitchen — and counting.
Helium is confident that professionals will have some niche areas that will benefit them in Marketplace.
Will there still be smaller-scale earning opportunities for avocational writers? Sure.
John and I will have to duel with our lollypops across the sandbox on what we believe is possible. Ultimately time is the only proof.
Thanks again for the opportunity to crunch on some important issues, sand and all!
Barbara
I come to this debate in a different capacity. I know John McDevitt & Barbara Whitlock and have worked closely with both on small and massive projects. At one time, I, too, was a Senior Steward for Helium and currently I am the Non-Profit Partner Coordinator.
I work in a different area which allows me to showcase the work of the writers and target the professional writers whose work may not have been purchased by the Hearst family or the Pulitzer group.
My inbox populates in the morning with professionals and amateurs alike who have done their morning Google to be pleasantly surprised to find one of their Helium articles affiliated with one of Helium’s non-profit partner’s pages in a feature position to be viewed by that partner’s membership.
This avenue is less traveled by most Heliumites because on the surface it does not look like a money maker. Why would anything “non-profit” smell like money? When a partner has 30,000 members who are interested in what you have to say, all those clicks add up.
On a more personal note:
While my work is scattered all over the Helium landscape, I can attest to Barbara’s statements that SEO rich articles and targeted topics (like finance) will earn much more per month than others.
My Helium opportunity was nothing but a hobby for me and has blossomed into a pleasant revenue stream. Not for the marketing that I have done, but the marketing done on my behalf. Let me elaborate.
Aggregators have one common asset…a lot of content. Pro bloggers use that as a treasure trove for research. My Helium articles have been quoted on syndicated blogs, television stations websites, archival sites and historical sites more than 30 times in the last year.
So, my detractors would call me lucky, where my supporters would call me validated.
To me, there is an advantage at Helium. I don’t have to hear an editor tell me “not now” when I want to publish my article du jour. I publish it today.
When the time is ripe, the article is picked by the publisher or blogger who needs it. I have sold one article to 4 different publishers and to the same publisher twice, all while making ad share revenue. While the individual amounts are not what I would have made if I contracted a print mag for one printing, altogether they have far exceeded what an exclusive would have run.
If you have the patience and the endurance, you can win the marathon.
I couldn’t help but join in the conversation:
http://rondoylewrites.com/2009/05/helium-lighter-than-air/
The question still remains: What is the actual fiscal benefit of contributing to Helium? As an 8-year veteran freelancer, I know well the delicate balance between doing the work I love and earning a living. But as many, many talented writers have demonstrated, it is possible to survive and thrive in this business. I doubt very seriously that any of the top earners (or even those, like me, who merely earn what they need) are making that living by contributing to Helium.
The value of our work is intrinsically tied to what we are paid for it. Few other professionals are expected to give away their work in this fashion. Fact is, the per word rate has been flat for at least two decades. That alone speaks volumes about how much publications value even the best reporting and writing. When the model changes in a way that slashes the per-word rate to almost zero, freelancers are being told we are replaceable by the most desperate, gullable and/or inexperienced of all writers.
It’s frustrating enough that a well-funded and respected blog like The Huffington Post prides itself in not paying its writers. When writers accept this and Helium’s models as the wave of the future, the industry is in deep trouble. The most we can do is refuse to accept the arguments given by these outlets. As others have mentioned, they are feeble attempts at justifying an insulting and degrading pay scale.
But no worries. There are countless freelance writers — some talented and some not — who are swallowing the party line, hook line and sinker. And that’s sad.
Laura’s post has me thinking (back up–sparks and smoke to follow).
Helium poses itself as an excellent vehicle for new writers to get published, get experience, and (if they make it to the front page) get paid well for their work. It all goes back to the theory that new writers don’t need money, they need exposure.
While I don’t agree, I can accept that. But how will new writers ever be noticed or make the headlines of Helium if well-known writers post there? Name recognition alone—regardless of content or talent—will put them at the top of the heap.
Perhaps, if Helium really is a place for unknown writers to get noticed, there should be a ban on those who are a known quantity…
I always recoil a bit when I hear arguments like “real writers” vs. “amateur writers.” Truth told, the Internet has blurred those lines. Now, all of you folks who emphasize that “real writers” wouldn’t dabble in a site like Helium, surprisingly, all seem to have blogs. In the blogosphere you rub elbows with all kinds of writing folks. The Internet is a more egalitarian writing platform. Helium is an open-opportunity publishing platform based on a competitive model, and not all succeed.
Helium creates opportunities for all kinds of writers. Busy freelancers and professionals may dive into opportunities at Helium to moonlight after hours or fill in some extra or gap income between gigs. Helium is not all-sufficient for earning needs, but it has additive value. Also, many new and recreational writers have found Helium a good training ground and spring board to better opportunities. Professional print writers have used Helium to learn the tricks of Internet article writing as well.
You ask for specific numbers: Each day new titles are added to our Helium Freelance Marketplace from about 500 different publishers in partnership with us, from print as well as online publishers. Pay per title runs in the $32 to $200 range, depending on word count, research demand, etc.
We have many professionals who keep their RSS feed there, and write to what they have time for. Holly Abee, a retired teacher wrote to Helium for 1 hour a day in her first 6 mos earned $5,000 dollars. Others don’t compete with as much success. It all depends on the time you put in and the talents you show, following publisher guidelines, etc.
You can only participate in Marketplace and do nothing else at Helium. Many do.
Others enjoy our broader publishing platform for a variety of reasons. To earn money with non-exclusive content on the regular site is not easy. It takes a large volume of articles contributed, or it takes the kind of targeted writing and marketing that led one member, Peter Johns, to strike gold when his credit card article was picked up on a social bookmarking site. He pocketed $1,200 from Helium in one day. Lots of others pull in small fry payments. The range is expansive.
Helium’s still in its early years, and once we hit a fuller stride we expect to have even better payout models. Many benefit now, more will come over time, but not all writers will compete with success. Still the door is open for anyone who wants to try.
I must note: It takes not only good writing but a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit to earn well for web-based writing. Wise web writers target their topics to higher yield opportunity areas (like Peter Johns focusing his article on a hot topic in personal finance), and it takes marketing your articles well on the Internet.
The Internet is a wide open place where anyone can say anything, but writers should be discerning when they read others’ views. Dig deeper and explore a wider perspective before considering. Or try your hand at a Marketplace article or a non-exclusive article you don’t mind not having for exclusive use. See for yourself.
My inbox is always open for follow up questions or those looking for more information about Helium: bwhitlock@helium.com.
Barbara
Barbara,
Soon the general public will recoil too, away from shoddy journalism. Like underpaid teachers, our democratic society cannot successfully exist with underpaid journalists.
Your success stories read like lottery winners, and if Helium were indeed profoundly successful (for writers and the company itself) you wouldn’t feel so compelled to defend its honor.
And now I’m going to go post something on Helium, just to balance the universe, because all this polarization makes me antsy. 😉
Hi Ron,
No one at Helium suggests that Helium writers can replace professional journalists. Our Community Gateway Program, with newspaper partners like Hearst and Gateway Media, does not threaten journalism jobs. Local readers and writers can share their opinions through debate widgets and hyper-local articles can be purchased to replace some of the stale AP and UPI feeds. The news remains left to professionals.
Some leading professional journalism organizations agree:
* The Society for Professional Journalists recently partnered with Helium (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=123&aid=162542).
* The National Press Club partnered with us years back, an exclusive relationship whereby citizen journalists who are successful at Helium can apply for National Press Club membership (http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9869718-7.html?tag=blog.4). Many have, and enjoy the privileges.
Helium does begin with a democratic premise: More than just professional journalists have knowledge — and writing skills — to share which can benefit readers on the Internet and the readers supporting Helium’s 500 publishing partners.
We open the gates for a wider group of writers to give it a try, but not all succeed. Professionals obviously compete with advantage, though some need to learn web-writing tips if they’ve been limited previously to print formats.
Helium is not an either/or, but a both/and opportunity. Thanks for balancing the universe and for your contributions to Helium too.
Barbara
Like several others, I’ve worked extensively with Barbara. I have a different take on it than some.
I’ve known Barbara for almost 2 years. She has always been helpful to me. What is that, to a writer? Write a few novels like I did, and you will quickly find out.
I’m one of those who gets good pocket money at Helium. In fact, I pay every bill in the house except rent, from my pay at Helium. Impossible? Not hardly!
I’d write here anyway because…well, I’m a writer. That’s what writers do. There are millions of websites out there that will feature your writing, if you do it for free. Helium doesn’t do that. They give an open opportunity to earn, and the writer has the ability to earn more and more. Want to earn more? Write more. That is a pretty simple concept.
The support structure at Helium is enormous and well thought out. Staff and volunteers give a lot of their own time to help people. Most other sites don’t offer that. Quality is key at Helium, but without help, some people wouldn’t be quality writers. Even Samuel Clemens didn’t start out knowing how to write. Support is a major thing that too many people dismiss. Even professional journalists can become better.
In fact, I personally know 3 well known novelists who are still not happy with their work and think they can do better. Helium allows that with its writers.
I’ve gotten to know teachers, doctors, nurses, journalists, psychologists, professors, and other similar people on Helium. I’ve also gotten to know housewives, mothers, fishermen, clergymen, gardeners and others who have never before written anything professionally. What do they all have in common? They love to write. Helium provides that platform. Other sites don’t. It can’t be more plain than that.
I am currently a senior steward, and started when the program was first put into place (actually before). I also took over the community boards when Barbara took over new roles, though I can never fill her shoes. People who have been to the boards back then are still amazed at her calmness, love, understanding, and tolerance. Barbara exemplifies Helium as a loving and caring site.
If you don’t like it, leave. That is bottom line. However, fewer people leave it than stay, and many of those who do leave, come back. That is thanks to Barbara and the rest of the staff who continue to strive to make this the best site on the Internet. It isn’t without burps along the way, but it is worthwhile to the extreme.
I have mixed feelings about Helium. As a professional writer I feel like Prince must feel every time some young buck like 50 cent comes up and sells a platinum album: Great for the industry but is it really good for the soul? By in large the articles I’ve read on Helium, no offense to Helium writers, are decidedly average, mediocre at best. Let’s just say it ain’t Hemingway. And Helium’s marketplace is widget writing – churning out articles that are formulaic and fit the buyer’s bottomline. And even if there were great prose worth reading how in the world would you find it? A meritocracy is only as good as its participants and if you have mediocre writers extolling praise on mediocre writing well, you get my drift.
Writing for Helium is fine but it’s just. Nothing more. And to pretend that it is – even with all the partnerships it has earned – is sad for the industry. (The truth-telling story of life industry that is). I feel about Helium the way I felt about newspapers 10 years ago – it seems that mediocrity has become the standard for all things written. Gone are the lovely days of Gay Talese, Joan Didion and Gary Smith. In are the quick snippets of Tweets and FB updates. Sure Helium offers opportunity for writers to improve their craft but when most of the people helping you are not craftsman you get passable prose wrapped in cotton candy. Prose that’s instantly forgettable.
I can’t imagine something as memorable as “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” or “In Cold Blood,” coming from Helium or any other online publishing house. I am waiting patiently to be surprised and in fact am trying desperately to create the online masterpiece on my own. I’m trying to create the online publishing piece imbued with soul and infused with heart. However, I fear The medium just isn’t built for it. Who knows maybe I’ll stun myself and create that memorable piece of writing using the tools created by the instant world of the forgettable.
Uh Rex. You’re not telling the entire story about pocket money. You forgot to mention that Helium’s senior stewards are paid $250 / month.
John
Writing Princess, your words touched my heart. I agree that the Internet article format is not one to directly birth a Hemingway. Is that because “the medium is the message?” The possibilities of the Internet are still being explored. The only hope for something proximate to literary achievement might be the e-book.
But, web articles — on Helium or on other venues — lend themselves to the fast-moving, fast-reading culture we now live in. In addition to providing a publishing platform, places like Helium (perhaps others too) offer a writing community to support and encourage writers’ aspirations — beyond the “medium” as well.
I have to say, though, I don’t think Internet writing would hurt a developing writer. I have a friend who wrote ad copy for food packages, in the early part of her career. She said nothing honed down her writing more rigorously than that. Article-writing on the web is like that. It’s bare bones information-sharing, in a quick read format that attracts the eye of a reader and seeks to sell him on the benefits of reading, while speeding the read with content subheaders and other devices.
Yes, a web article is quite a distance from a Hemingway. Yet, Hemingway also wrote newspaper articles, and they were a far-cry from his talents as well. Not only does newspaper writing pare down your factual information, but the verb choices are pretty lousy for other kinds of writing. But I don’t think anyone would say newspaper writing would ruin an aspiring novelist.
Reminds me of the Romantic painters, who cast steam-engine-smoking trains as antagonists in idyllic country scenes. A modern painter might view those old-fashioned trains as romantic contrasts to jet-planes. The reference shifts with new developments.
If you have Hemingway aspirations, and income to support it, don’t waste too much time writing on the web. If you have some other writing and earning goals, Helium might be one freelance venue you can piece together among many to meet your income needs.
Ultimately a writer has to weigh the choices between being true to himself and exploring opportunities he encounters. It can all be part of a writer’s journey.
Good luck with your writing!
Barbara
I was referring to pay for writing. To be fair, not all I’ve made for writing has been daily revenues, though those continue to accrue nicely. Last month, I had 4 or 5 stock purchases and won a contest as well. The month before, I had 2 Marketplace purchases.
Like with anything, if a person wants to make money at it, the key is the effort they put into it. I’m also not saying that this will ever be high paying job. Still, it pays a lot of my own bills.
And to be fair again, I live in an area with a low cost of living. Our rent is only $880 a month, power is $300 a month, and cable (including my high speed) is $120 a month. Steward pay covers groceries, my writing covers everything but rent and puts a little extra change in my pocket besides this.
Oh Barbara thanks. (We’ve actually met I think at a journalism conference. Didn’t you used to work for a newspaper in Philly? I digress.) Yes I do not expect Hemingway on Helium. And I do agree that for a developing writer starting out Helium is a good way to hone your craft. I was a reporter for 12 years and if you don’t think I did some widget writing during that time I’ve got a bridge to sell ya in Arizona. But along the way I ran into some greats who said you could infuse Dickens into everyday writing. Writers who inspired me to elevate my game so that people actually remembered the words I wrote for my morning newspaper. (Years later people still quote me phrases I wrote even though I haven’t worked at a daily for almost 10 years weird…) My heart is saddened even for daily newspapers who in the race to beat the Internet, Twitter and FB have left us only with the elites in New York for find turns of phrases. I read the WSJ every day and its only in the film critique columns by Joe that I read words I’ve never seen before. The rest is all the same. I hope I didn’t sound elitist and I totally don’t go for real writers vs fake writers. I’m a real writer because I happen to make a living out of it. But I think each day we should come across greatness in literature, art, music even politics and such an experience is a rarity nowadays. So I urge Helium to encourage its writers to meet the bottomline while elevating the game a little – it would do us all some good!
I agree 100%. I’ve had the privilege to meet some very fine — and very inspiring writers — at Helium. I know others will say the same.
That’s not unique to Helium of course, but perhaps wherever writers converge.
I grew up near Philly, but took a detour for the newspaper business for the Ivory Tower for some time.
Warm regards,
Barbara
John,
I think you’ve hit on something with the Long Tail. That book is fascinating, not in its explanation of the obvious but in its connections. It’s brilliant how it lays out the creation of Amazon.com on top of the backdrop of the history of the Sears catalog from the early 19th century. There’s nothing new under the sun there just new interpretations. The Internet allows the undiscovered to be discovered and brings commerce into it. As a professional writer I wrote for years for a company that used my craft for its own gain. The Internet allows me to write still but for my own gain. Now to capitalize on it. Aye there’s the rub.
writingprincess,
The Long Tail is a fascinating book. It’s not often that I read a book more than once. This one is a keeper. I must get busy with my third read. I want to write about The Long Tail and writers. Not quite ready yet.
Your reply to Barb resonates with me. I’ve never liked the phrase “creative writing” because it implies that “factual” writing can’t be creative and inspired. Too much creative writing is anything but.
I just finished a fantasy novel where their god was called “the nameless.” The ultimate sin was naming. Under their rules “creating writing” is blasphemy.
John
The Aware Writer
Michelle,
I understand that well. At the same time, consider the novelist. A very few make it on the best seller list. For the rest, a few bucks here and there from sales is totally wonderful.
I know that it isn’t quite the same thing, but consider that I have articles that have made money for over 2 years now. It may not be much, but they make money. Some have actually made more money than they would have in a freelance gig that would have bee a one shot affair, and they continue to make money, nearly every month. (Qualifier: some of them are seasonal, so they don’t make much ‘out of season’. People are usually not real interested in how to shovel snow in June or July. Hehehe)
I believe that I mentioned that the more effort that went into it, the better the return. It took me a couple months before I got my first pay out. I now have over 1100 articles on the site. That is the key…more writing means more money.
I can imagine some people saying, “Well, I don’t want to spend that much time doing it!” That is fine, except that many of my best money making articles took between a half hour and an hour to write. I really did do it in my spare time. Ok, different people are different, but I actually wrote a couple while watching TV, because they were something I knew about and didn’t have to spend hours researching.
Some say it can’t be done, I say that it can be. No, none of us may be the next Mark Twain, but Helium makes it so we don’t have to be.
Here is a little secret; I’ve sold several Marketplace articles since it first started. I’ve submitted to a lot more that didn’t sell. The thing that has been common in all of those that did sell though, was that they were the least researched and the fastest to write. I’m not a doctor or lawyer, so $200 for an article that took me 30 minutes to write is pretty decent money. I’m also a novelist, and I’ve never made that kind of money on novels.
Rex said: “The thing that has been common in all of those that did sell though, was that they were the least researched and the fastest to write.”
Rex, were these articles on topics that you know well? “Least researched” is a disconcerting phrase for me.
Yes. If I don’t know the topic well, I generally don’t write to it. Those that I write to that I don’t know well are usually the ones that never sell, regardless of the amount of research.
In the place of the publishers, I really wouldn’t expect anything different.
Let me put it a little differently. Suppose an editor wanted articles about fly fishing in a lake. I can read all about it, and still wouldn’t know how to fly fish in a lake if I’d never done it. On the other hand, if I have done it, I can offer tips that can’t be researched. It is personal experience. It isn’t hard for publishers to figure out if a person knows what they are talking about.
In the above example, I can whip out a good article in about 30 minutes. Reason? I’ve been fly fishing for over 40 years.
Research can mean the difference between a yawner and a special piece. Life experience counts as research, but you can only write so much from personal experience. It’s too limiting. I go into a lot more detail here:
http://awarewriter.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/writing-how-research-adds-depth-credibility/
No matter how much Helium talks about quality, they encourage quantity and the people who can crank them out fare best. I wrote an article and published it in about an hour once, but that’s unusual for me. The piece that won the Sunshine Citizen Journalism Award last summer took me about 3 weeks to research and write. I’ve made a grand total of 61 cents on that article and it’s never been out of first place. I didn’t do it for the money. I’ve sold a few pieces in the Marketplace and had a few articles purchased for one time publishing rights — $5 a pop.
It’s not worth my time to write serious articles that take hours to research and write. I made a grand total of $12.71 in ad click revenue for 195 articles last month — pennies.
I’d love to see the statistics for Helium members who haven’t earned enough to even cash out the $25 minimum.
Sure, Helium offers opportunities for writers, but not enough to make a dent in the average budget and certainly not enough to justify hours for pennies.
John
This has been a meager month for me. I’ve only earned $101.01 to date in writing. That is sort of rare…usually it is much more. But some months are better than others.
As for the amount of time involved, that largely depends on the person. In college, I would put together a 25 page report in about 2 hours, that would get an A. I did that many times. I even did the same for my wife (the professors knew about it and had no problem as long as she did the research, which she did and could prove.)
The marketplace articles I’ve written than have sold have seldom taken more than an hour. The same with the contests I’ve won. The same with my highest earning articles. (Some of that last, I’m still surprised that so many search for them, as they are rather “duh” articles. But what is commonplace for one person may be something new to someone else.)
In January, 2008, at the urging of Barbara, I wrote a news piece about a major storm that lashed the entire west coast. It took me 45 minutes to do. It earned great, but of course it was soon “old news”. I think that was the month I earned over $800, but I’m not sure.
It is correct that personal experience equates to research. When I think of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent fly fishing and camping, that is pretty clear, though at the time I sure wasn’t thinking of it as a research project. The thing is that everyone has had experiences others haven’t had, but that they would find useful.
It really isn’t hard. I’ve been accused by my siblings of having a mind like a sponge. I soak everything in, and can use it later. Perhaps that is true, I don’t know. I don’t have an photographic memory (thank God). But I do love learning new things and always have, then I remember those facts. That is easy to put into an article.
As for my siblings, my sisters were upset because they studied hard so one could be valedictorian and the other salutatorian. I didn’t push myself and ended high school with a 3.85 gma. They didn’t think that was fair. They still don’t, so many years after the fact. I love learning, what else can I say? It doesn’t take effort to learn, does it…really?
Creative Writing titles do take more time for me to do. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t all creative writing, because they are. It is just the nature of the beast. My first novel, over 500 pages long, took me 3 months to write, and about a year for all the revisions. It wrote itself, really, but I still need to revise it again…when I can afford the new ISBN.
Length of time to write an article in this context means little. The more a person knows about a title, and the more adept they are at writing it, the faster it will get done. It is like readers…some read slow, some fast. Neither is better than the other.
Sure what’s on Helium may not take long to write and people can churn it out quickly. But here’s my point:
Anyone can write about surviving a camp trip – few people can write Into Thin Air as quickly.
(This was an article for Outside magazine before it was a big time novel.
So if we went to just content aggregators like Helium would we only get 10 Tips to Surviving Camp and lose “Into Thin Air?” I hope note.
Writing that changes worlds takes time. It always has. (This of course excludes 1599 Shakespeare’s crazy year when he wrote Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet!)
If I’m understanding the question, the answer would be no.
That is the joy of it. If 15 people write to “The best ways to keep your kids happy when camping”, and the same 15 write to “Camping tips for a beginner”, they will all be there. One doesn’t take the place of the other.
The web search may find one or the other, but they are both where they can be found. If the searcher loves what was written, they can click on the byline and go to the writer’s About Me page, where they can read all of the active articles that the writer wrote.
There are a lot of disjointed snippets that make no sense at all, especially since they are taken out of context. However, I’ll ignore it if nobody had anything constructive to ask or say.
By the way, Helium.com is now on the top list of places to writer for, according to Writer’s Digest. That is pretty good!