A guide to successful writing to the Marketplace on Helium
by Karon Brandt
If you've ever done an assignment for an editor "on speculation," you are writing to a single judge/editor of your finished work as to whether it fits his style, slant, and word length in the "voice" that he wants for his readership.
When going through a slush pile of articles, most editors can tell from the first paragraph whether or not an article is suitable for their publication.
The advantages of writing to Helium publishers is (1) your article is guaranteed to be read because it was requested by a Helium co-partner; (2) you know the number of competitors you're up against; and (3) even if your article is rejected, you won't receive a form letter of rejection, but your article will simply transition to the Helium site to earn ongoing blue writing stars and monthly earnings from page views. (Some very short topics don't transition, but the guidelines will tell you that.)
You have nothing to lose, not even precious research and writing time, because most articles will transition and be read by Helium's worldwide audience along with thousands of Helium raters.
If you're an experienced writer, you may be strongly motivated to write for a quick payout with contracted publishers pre-approved by Helium. Most publishers request that you have earned at least one blue star on Helium, which requires at least four to 29 articles, with an overall rank-average of 75% or above. That makes you a "Marketplace approved" writer.
Marketplace "premier writers" must have at least three stars, which means they've written at least 100 to 299 articles, with ranks that put them, overall, in the upper quartile. (A two-star writer can earn a bonus 3rd star by rating in the upper 85th percentile.)
Experienced writers can quickly eliminate themselves as competitors if they don't carefully follow the Marketplace publisher's guidelines. Every online and print publisher has a targeted readership, a characteristic slant and tone behind specified content written in a designated word-length. The word length is rather non-negotiable because it is intended to fit within the style of the publication, possibly with pictures, graphs, sidebars or whatever else the editor has in mind.
Article writing is teamwork and professional writers understand that. You should stay as close to the specified length as possible; if anything stay under the word count by 5% to allow the editor room for filler material. It is simpler to enlarge an accompanying photo than it is to edit and shorten a too-wordy article.
Most editors want articles written in magazine-style writing, which excludes first person "I" articles, and includes references within the paragraphs - unless the publisher asks for end notes. Follow the guidelines explicitly if you want your material to be seriously considered for publication. This is not the time to write a pedantic treatise on a pet topic if the publisher requests an article written in layman's terms.
If the publisher requests SEO wording, he means he wants his specified choice of words used for "search engine optimized" articles that will pop up when readers search for the topic you are writing about. Don't overuse the words enough to annoy your audience or make the engine perceive the article as spam, but include those words as requested or you will be quickly eliminated from the pool of submissions.
If a publisher requests humor, links, specific references, or information that tells why you're qualified to write the piece, give him what he wants.
Most Marketplace articles payout approximately $24 to $100 about one week after the deadline. Check your time zone and get your article in by deadline or you'll be automatically excluded.
Publishers want a complete, usually fact-based article that has been spell checked and self-edited before submission. No matter how well you know the topic, if you can't present the content appropriately in the correct word-length, with proper tone and slant, by deadline, without necessitating annoying extra editing time, don't bother submitting it. It simply annoys the publisher and gives Helium a bad rep for poor quality submissions by writers who can't follow the guidelines. That's why many publishers haven't returned to request more material.
In the past, too many writers overestimated their abilities and offered personal experiences written in the first person, which were immediately eliminated. They also submitted substandard quality, with poor spelling, poor grammar, incorrect punctuation, improper formatting, or factually-incorrect material. That's why the standards have been raised to include only experienced writers with star credits.
If you have already earned your Marketplace approved or premier writing stars; you know something about the topic; and you can write like a professional writer and follow the guidelines and meet the deadline, go for it.
Make Helium proud and earn some quick money while showing off your best writing skills.