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Archive for August, 2008

Aug 18 2008

Yes it is legit and yes it helps your resume

I’ve gotten quite a few messages about my articles suggesting the use of Helium as a first stop to getting published. There have been 2 consistent questions amongst each of the messages:

1. Will I make money on Helium?
2. Is Helium a legitimate site?

Regarding the first question- yes, you can and quite possibly will make money on Helium. BUT- Helium is absolutely NOT the site I would advise you to stick with long term. I have a ton of other resources I’ll be sharing with you that will really help you make serious money with your writing skills. Helium is not one of them- it is a starting place.

My purpose for this Blog is to provide a guide that I did not find to exist when I needed it- when I was just starting out. I am starting at the basics- and believe you me, Helium is the basic-est of the basic. The quality of writing on that site is not that great, it is easy to get published, and you enjoy the benefit of critique and rating- something you may not have been exposed to previously.

Helium is a legitimate site. It is a good start for your resume. You can make money on the site. Tomorrow- we deal with Helium Marketplace. Helium Marketplace is the best way to make good money on Helium (averaging about $50 per article). Helium Marketplace is very competitive though, so I want to help you actually earn that money!

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Aug 17 2008

Get Real- Fear and Loathing in my Keyboard

Published by yolander under Motivation, failure? Edit This

So, I thought I’d take a break today from my, “Freelancer getting started” resume’ tutorial to discuss Fear. And Loathing. Fear and Loathing for a writer are like a pair of obnoxious little kittens that play by your feet when you write. Most of the time, they just stay down there, by your feet, playing with each other. Once in a while their soft, warm bodies hit your foot- just reminding you of their presence. Occasionally, usually on really bad days, Fear and Loathing claw your foot. It’s unexpected and the tingling sensation of being hurt slowly makes its way up your leg and into your heart.

Fear and Loathing can happen when you are writing a piece with a subject matter that you are not comfortable with. Fear and Loathing can happen when you haven’t had a paying job in days….and when days turn in to weeks. Fear and Loathing also happen when an editor, buyer, agent, fan doesn’t like your work. Fear generally represents a writer’s fear of a negative critique or review. Loathing can be many things- loathing yourself for perceived suckage, loathing that critiques get to you, or loathing the risk you take very time you accept an assignment.

The emotional state of a writer is often subject to a rollercoaster ride of stimuli. Each time you write and are critiqued or praised by the buyer of the work, it is as though you’ve never written before- and only that critique or praise counts. One day, you’re on top of the world because someone loved a piece you kicked out in a short amount of time. The next day, you question whether or not you should be writing at all because your buyer found the piece you researched and spent hours on “acceptable.”

Why is the emotional memory of the writer so short? Why do we judge ourselves by the fickle nature of our non-writing clients? My guess is that two things are involved. The first is the subjective nature of writing. There is no objective way to judge writing style. You either like a writer’s style, or you don’t. When a job is requested of you, a writer may assume that meant the buyer liked and wanted the writer’s style to be present in that particular piece. This is not necessarily true.

The second is that, in the ghostwriting, behind the scenes world of mass web writing, you do not get more than one opinion for each piece you write. On this blog, one comment may say my writing sucks ass, whereas another comment might say that my writing made someone laugh. With web content or ghostwriting, we receive only one comment, giving a pass/fail rating system for a creative endeavor. Imagine telling Van Gogh he failed with “Starry Starry Night” because stars don’t look like that, or Dali that he failed because clocks don’t bend.

Fear and Loathing. They will be playing by your feet every time you write. It’s okay if they claw you once in a while. It’s okay as long as you let the wound heal- and keep coming back for more.

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Aug 16 2008

Making Money with Your Writing on Helium.com

You’ve posted your article on Helium.com , you’ve got your first published piece for your resume’ (which took you all of five minutes to do), you’re on the fast track. Now, how about we make some money on Helium too?

Other Helium writers will be rating your articles. The higher rated your article is, the more money you’ll make. If you’ve spent any time reading the articles other writers have posted on Helium, you’ll see that there are writers at many different experience levels on the site. Unfortunately, this means that the quality of the articles ranges from good to really, really bad. This can be used to your advantage, however.

When rating articles, one of the first things everyone judges is readability. Walls o’ text (articles with no breaks between paragraphs) will never be highly rated- so make sure you break up your page with spaces between paragraphs. The second thing that stands out when rating Helium articles is spelling and grammar. Even those writers who have mistakes in their own writing will be super picky when reading- and rating- yours.

Your lead-in paragraph (or introduction) is also extremely important. It MUST entice the rater to want to read more or you are screwed. If I don’t want to read you’re article, I’m not going to rate it as better than another in your category. Voice is another important factor. Some articles require a third person narrative. It is extremely unprofessional to use your own experiences as examples in journalistic type articles. When writing a personal essay type article first person is not only appropriate, it is also enticing.

Come back tomorrow, and we’ll discuss Marketplace articles on Helium. These articles pay more (way more), but also have stiff competition. Let me help with that!

*Is there anything you’d like me to write about on this blog? Since it is a resource for you, feel free to tell me what to cover! Leave your comments and I’ll oblige when possible.

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