Monday, October 20, 2008

Helium...Making Me Richer!

A while back I stumbled across a website called www.helium.com. It's basically an online forum for freelance writing. Anything and everything you can possibly think of to write about--its there. The general idea being that someone (say, a magazine editor) is looking for an article about such and such and can come to this website, search, and come up with a bunch of articles. Part of the way the website works is peer rating--you are supposed to read others' articles and rate them. So lets say there are 55 articles on Helium about dangerous dog breeds. And the editor of "Dog Fancy" comes looking for an article on dangerous dog breeds. And instead of reading 55 articles, this editor just reads the top 5. And yours just happens to be in the top 5, and just happens to be the one the editor likes. Sweet! You've just sold an article.

Helium also has tons of contests, message boards, and freelance writing opportunities. There is also the Marketplace, which consists of specific titles submitted by specific publications. These are topics that are for certain going to put a little bit of cash into your pocket. You also earn a piddling from Helium just for your article being on there (for example, I have now earned $2.37 for the first article I ever wrote--about a year ago.)

So--Helium sounds like a great place for me, right? I like to write. I think I am fairly good at writing. Writing comes very easily to me. I'm not good at things that require extra work, discipline, or going outside of my box too much. But I am good at what I know. And I can write an article on a topic I am familiar with in roughly a half hour or so. Which is very conducive to my other job (G3's caretaker.)

Anyhow, I started with Helium about a year ago. I would write a few articles, slack off for a bit, write a few more. I found it fun, cathartic, and it was exciting when one of my articles would inch closer to the top of the pack. Over the summer I totally stopped writing, mostly just because of life--being busy, running around after my little boy, going on weekend trips.

Anyhow, after my recent failed attempt to step out of my box and sell candles (again, "attempt" is a strong word, I know) I made the decision that I need to make more of an effort to earn a little cash. EBay immediately came to mind, and I decided to start writing more often on Helium.

In the past two weeks I've probably written about 8 or so articles. Since I'm on the money-making path, I wrote strictly for titles listed in the Marketplace. AND today...not one, but TWO of my articles were purchased, by two separate publications! I've never heard of either of them, and my grand total of earnings from both was just under $60.00...but what a motivator!

Go me:)

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