Aug 20 2008
Last Helium blog- aren’t you glad??
The last thing to discuss regarding Helium.com is there section called, “Marketplace.” In Marketplace, you will find many articles that have been requested by various businesses and publications. Marketplace has sometimes up to a gazillion different articles to be written. Sometimes they even need marketing blurbs and recipes.
When you write a Marketplace article yours must be one of the top rated articles in order to have a chance to be published and paid. This means that you are at the mercy of the other writers on the site (not others who are competing for that topic though) to get your article to the publisher’s eyes. Here are some tips:
1. No wall of text. Line breaks are key.
2. Be very careful with selling, grammar and voice.
3. Do not treat it like a casual essay. Personal anecdotes and experience should be written in a more professional style that, “When I had to climb the ladder of success, I had so much trouble with guys in the office. I know from my personal experience that guys are just not comfortable with a woman who takes charge.” Seriously folks, look at some of the articles on that site- other writers do seem to think this style is acceptable.
4. Hook them with the intro. If you don’t, they may not even read your piece in its entirety.
So, that’s it. Now that you’re published, we move on to the next step- getting published somewhere that actually pays upfront. Exciting isn’t it? Stay tuned…..
