Writing on Helium - Great Site, But Write in Your Own Word Processing System First, and Copy into Helium
71Helium is a great site for people who enjoy writing for the sake of writing, or who hope to turn their writing into something more than a hobby.
With its ever increasing emphasis on writing high-quality material , creating a professional-appearing profile, and taking advantage of its writing marketplace and contests, Helium has grown to become very much a writing site (rather than a site where people go to chat).
Helium offers its members a community forum, as well as mentors (if a writer wants one) and peer critique.
Earnings are based on a share of ad revenue, which depends on the type of article written (and the type of ads each will attract), as well as the number of times an article is viewed. Helium also offers incentives and promotional programs. Last Spring many writers earned in the hundreds of dollars (and in a few cases, thousands of dollars) through participation in the Rewardathon program.
Helium has many supportive and friendly people and is generally a very pleasant experience for members. With its growth, however, there have been a few major changes within their system; and with each change can come bugs. The site is usually fairly bug-free and user-friendly, but Helium, itself, recommends that writers not write directly into the blank article space and, instead, write in a word processing program first. Copying the material from one's own system into Helium's eliminates the chance that it could, in rare instances, be lost.
After writing on Helium for over a year, I've found it an extremely easy and pleasant site to use; but I have occasionally taken the gamble of writing directly into the site - only to have some gliche occur and my material lost. On the whole, things go smoothly most of the time.
With its efforts to grow in the publishing world, and its increasing emphasis on high-quality rating, Helium has moved well beyond a site that once had 100-word paragraphs and "article" titles that were really just questions. With a higher minimum word count and titles that are far more "serious" than they once were, Helium today encourages its "real world" contributors to write real articles - not just posts.
Helium has recently introduced the idea of writers forming groups, as a way of meeting people who share their writing interests. This is another way Helium is taking its site toward yet more focus on writing.and sharing of information on specific topics.
If someone is looking for a chat site, where nothing is taken too seriously, Helium isn't the site for them; because although members are friendly, as is the general flavor of the site, raters are encouraged to flag articles for grammatical errors, format problems, or typos (as a way of allowing writers to improve the rating and quality of their work, as well improving the overall quality of writing on the site).
As all such sites do, Helium has its occasional disgruntled members, but with administrators remaining in close contact with members, and being very responsive on the whole, it's a great site.
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Thanks, Marisa. Your article will offer valuable information. (I didn't view my Hub as "reviewing" Helium. I wrote it in response to a request that asked if anyone writes for Helium and also if anyone has lost material in the process of writing into the space provided on Helium.)
The Rewardathon wasn't necessarily something that paid only for hundreds of articles. (I didn't have hundreds in the 90-day period when the program ran. How much people were paid per article depended on how many writing stars they had too.
I wasn't specific about earnings for articles that are posted in the site (rather than sold through the marketplace) because I think there's too big of a range. Some people who have built up a lot of articles actually have gotten a few hundred dollars a month. People who are new and don't have too many may only get pennies in the first few month (and in some cases, beyond). I've heard of quite a few people getting a dollar or so a day for several months, but then a recent slow-down happened, and people were complaining about the dramatic decrease.
Helium has recently started some new, behind-the-scenes, thing (or a few of them) to increase contributors' earnings. There's now also a "writer stimulus plan" because Helium says the slow economy has affected ad revenue. So, as of, I think, June, they've started giving bonuses, based, again, on the number of stars someone has. In my case, they more than doubled my monthly earnings with the bonus.
I stay away from Marketplace because I don't want to write and compete with other writers, without knowing whether my material will be purchased. I either want to write on assignment and know the publisher will pay me upon delivery; or else just write for my own purposes, let the stuff sit and collect, and if it happens to earn a few dollars - great. I write on assignment, so that's where I get surer pay.
The way I see it, though, I keep my rights to stuff on Helium; I write what I feel like writing, and it sits there. Once something is written I'm on to the next thing, so I don't mind putting stuff on Helium, letting it sit, and letting the "collection" build up and earn what it does or doesn't earn.
I have things on there that I know I could have received far more money for if I'd put in the effort to send queries, find a "regular" publisher, and sold the thing for going rates in print publications; but the other side to that is I don't necessarily want to be bothered with all the letters, time, etc., involved in selling something. At times I feel really stupid, but I just don't really care about selling some things.
If I wanted to devote the time and effort to driving traffic to my stuff I'd probably earn more, but that's something else I don't want to do.
There are times when people write as a hobby and don't want to get "all involved" in the marketing end of things.
For people who produce good quality material on Helium there can (these days) be spin-off possibilities that result as well.
I've earned more from Helium than I have earned on other sites. My experience has not been the same as yours. That, I think, is why it can be so difficult for anyone (including people working with the company's with the sites) to be specific about earnings. Everyone's experience with each site depends on what the person writes, what it takes to earn more on a particular site, how much promoting a person does, whether someone's material fits well with any site, etc.
The statements I made in the Hub are all true, and I stayed away from specific earnings because I know, based on my communications with other Helium people, how much earnings can vary and how much effort other people are often willing to put it in. Even without effort, though, I've picked up a few hundred dollars that I wouldn't have otherwise had.
I don't feel comfortable either recommending Helium or advising people not to bother writing there. It just depends too much on the person, their level of writing, their effort, etc. I've been a Helium member since April 07, and the site has grown, changed, and become far more professional than it was when I first signed on.
As far as the Rewardathon payment per article goes, those articles were on Helium, earning whatever they would earn, in addition to the bonus payment that was given with the Rewardathon. If you go to a site like, ODesk, which matches up providers (writers) with jobs, you'll find that there are a lot of people who hire writers to write web articles for as little as $5 each.
I'm not a big fan of such low per-article pay, but then again, the Rewardathon was an extra promotion to get people to participate (in rating and writing). When people sign on with Helium they know that the usual terms are the ad sharing revenue per article arrangement.
(Of course, I'm someone who has good ratings on Helium, and a reasonably decent score on Hub pages, but I don't write the kind of stuff that necessarily earns a lot online, search-based, sites.)
Lisa, I've spoken to lots of Helium writers over the two years I've been a member. Even for the "successful" writers you mention, if you divide their earnings by the number of articles, it works out at between 5 and 10 cents per article per month. That's not counting contests, Marketplace or the recent upfront payments like Rewardathon etc.
If you are earning more than that, then please tell me as I'd love to see my research disproved - but no one has yet done so.
You don't in fact retain the rights to the articles you have on Helium - at least, not all of them. And first rights (which you've given Helium) are the most valuable.
Marisa, I wrote a whole, big, response; but when I submitted my comment it turned out to be too long. I'll shorten it when I can and re-submit it.
As quick one: I know you don't retain first rights, but unless you sell the article "off the rack" (and unless the terms include otherwise), writers are free to use their material to try to earn in other ways.
I write on assignment, as well as on a hobby/earning basis; so I've kind of turned my writing endeavor into a little business. As a result, I'm not comfortable "broadcasting" earnings from any of the places on which I have material.
Just one other quick note: Helium just celebrated its second birthday. For members who have been on Helium for two years, many of them have probably written articles that weren't the kind of articles that have become most encouraged/successful since Helium has changed its standards. There was a time when, as you know, a lot of Helium's titles were pretty much conversational, question/answer, type things that wouldn't be considered "articles" (and that wouldn't really have been searchable, informative, articles).
My point is that I don't think, even for those people who average all their articles and come up with a ten cent/article a month figure; that they're getting an accurate reading of earning potential. I think if writers go over each and every article they have, be honest about whether that article is really the kind of article Helium encourages today, and only figure out averages based on those - the average, per-article, earnings will be substantially higher.
Helium and a lot of its writers have evolved. I don't think you can go back to almost Day 1 of Helium's life, factor in articles written back then, and come up with an average that will give an accurate reading on one's potential on Helium at this point.
Nice article.....Helium so far has been the best paying site for me...but I am just starting out here at Hubpages...Thanks for updating me on all the reward programs ect...Good Luck!
tammyfrost, thanks. I like Helium, but I haven't done much on there for quite a while. They took a direction where they aim most stuff at new writers and "everyone helping everyone else develop their writing skills". People who have been writing for a while (outside of Helium), and who suggest that not everyone is interested in turning their writing into a "team effort", can get the feeling too many people think they're "not willing to take criticism". I continue to make myself rate, because I like to stay just a little active to see if they take any different directions.) They do offer a lot to their writers, but it doesn't happen to be stuff that I'm interested right now.
HubPages gives writers more creative freedom, and the community has the share interest of writing with the attitude of a common interest in succeeding on HubPages, without the assumption that everyone is new and everyone needs help from everyone else (or else they have an attitude problem :) ). If someone wants helps here lots of people are more than willing to help.
Thank you for some great information about Helium, very helpful for us new guys, I learned a lot.
It's a bookmark for me.
Well, this has certainly been an interesting read. The comments are also enlightening.
I have thought of going to Hellium, and while the conversation and information here has been very informative, it hasn't helped me make up my mind. I guess I'm still a little shy, and wonder about the "quality" thing.
So, I'll ponder for a bit longer revisit the site and "listen in" on other peoples conversations as they debate the pros and cons.
But truly, thank you for writing the Hub, it has started the old grey matter to churning again.
Duchess, most people agree that there is the disadvantage of not being able to remove one's own material once it's on Helium. Then again, Helium does offer the advantage of the potential of having material sold for one-time use from "stock content" (which means the material remains on the site and available for future one-time-use sales). I've also had material purchased outright, in which case it is removed from the site and all rights to it are signed away. (I don't know if they still do that these days.)
Many people are attracted by the upfront payments Helium offers (with 2.50 being the maximum upfront payment for a regular, eligible, article written by someone with 5 writing stars). Some enjoy competing in Marketplace for higher pay for their work. (I don't want to write to guidelines unless I know, for certain, I'll get the assignment.)
Marisa Wright says:
18 months ago
I do think it's important to be specific about earnings when reviewing any online writing site. Based on my own experience and research, it's very rare to average more than 10 cents per article per month on Helium. It's true some people earned hundreds during the Rewardathon, but that's because they wrote hundreds of articles - the maximum payout was $3 per article!
I would advise any writer to write ONLY for Marketplace, where you stand to make a one-off payout and have the potential to do further work direct with the publishers. Don't waste your time writing articles for the rest of the site - there are much better places to write for passive income (including HubPages). I've written a Hub explaining in more detail.