Helium.Com: A Good, Solid Site for Posting Writing of All Kinds!
February 17th 2007 22:12
Helium.com is a website where writing of all types and genres is welcome! From poetry to short stories, from research reports to how-to articles, and from book reviews to memoirs, at Helium you'll find an eager audience for your work!
Helium is free to join and, while they offer no up-front payment for your work, they do have a revenue sharing system in place whereby they give a portion of their profits gleaned through advertising to their writers. This, of course, doesn't add up to very much, but if you post a large amount of popular work to their site, it can build steadily over time. (You'll need to wait until you've amassed $25 in profits before you'll be allowed to claim your money, and you must do so via PayPal.)
This interesting site has a unique method of rating a writer's work, ranking all work by comparative review against the other writings within each particular category, or "title," as it is called on their site. (And I must say it is extremely rewarding to see one--or more than one--of your works reach the number one spot in its category!) Each time you post your work, as soon as you are finished posting, a screen will come up which will present you with two "articles" that have been written to the same "title" and you will be expected to rate them against one another, indicating which you like better and how much, or whether you like them both the same. Generally, several pairs of writings from within the same category will come up in a row before a new category will be presented. (Once you've tired of rating, you'll need to leave the rating screen yourself, going elsewhere on the site, since I, at least, have never seen rating end on its own.)
The interesting thing about Helium's rating system--which differs from most other writing sites--is that you can watch the ranking of your work perpetually evolve, moving either up or down as it is continuously rated by other Helium members. (You will be allowed to rate other works within the same categories in which your own work appears--and will be informed of the fact that your work appears in the category in question--but you will not, of course, be allowed to rate your own work.)
The only negative thing I would say about Helium is that, once you've posted an "article" to their site, you cannot edit or delete it, which can be fairly frustrating. Your only recourse for making changes to your work is to use one of a limited number of "leapfrogs" you are allowed, which enable you to repost a particular piece of writing after making changes to it. (And you may only "leapfrog" any "article'"once in a week's time.) Even then, your "leapfrog" will not become your "active" article unless and until other Helium members have rated it against your original article and voted it to be the better of the two. This takes a little getting used to, but once you have, your experience at Helium can be quite a positive one overall.
While payments at Helium are extremely modest, once you have enough good quality work posted to their site, you can potentially sit back, relax, and watch your profits increase without so much as lifting a finger--unless you count clicking on the "Earnings and Payments" button!
And who could complain about that!
Happy posting!
Jeanne
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Comment by Wendi
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
While you won't earn much money at this site, it is fascinating to watch your ratings evolve--and very exciting whenever they approach (and even more so when they actually REACH) the top spot in their respective categories!
I've posted quite a large number of articles, etc. to this site, and though I've been there since late December, 2006, I've only earned close to $8 so far--which means it will still be a while before I'll be able to claim my earnings, with the $25 minimum required for payout of funds.
I like to look at it in much the same way I look at earning interest on my savings: While it isn't much (with today's interest rates,) at least it's SOMETHING, and for just allowing my works to sit there on the website (as I allow my money to 'sit' in the bank,) I'm that much better off than I was before!
Have fun at Helium!
Jeanne
Comment by Wendi
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes