Helium as an international platform for writers
by Karon Brandt
Helium is one of the few writing platforms that accepts writers from all over the world. Originally, Helium's concept was based on the fact that there is a huge pool of potential talent out there that might never be discovered unless that resource is tapped.
Mark Ranalli, Helium's founder and CEO, felt that people - of all ages, from all cultures, educational levels, and diverse experiences - have something of value to add to a world database of fact-based articles and creative writings in Helium's virtual library.
The site is family oriented for members aged 13 and older so the guidelines and principles are almost self-explanatory: no adult content or profanity; stay on topic; and write at least 400 words to the title (with 1500-word maximum suggested by a surveyed web readership). All submitted content is presumed to be the writer's own; a writer can lose membership for plagiarism. The site is self-monitored and no flaming is allowed.
Helium asks all writers to write their best. Diversity in viewpoints, personal experiences and educational backgrounds is expected, wanted, and encouraged. Members are writing for a world-wide, English-speaking audience, who prefer to read articles written on a general-magazine/newspaper, 9th grade level.
The 27 major channels, from "Arts and Humanities" to "Travel" and "Other," are further divided into approximately 200 sub-channels. There is something for everyone. Helium is a web-savvy business, which tries to fairly reimburse its writers on a sliding pay scale according to their quality and quantity of works. Advertisers pay more for some channels than others, which plays into the final formula for payouts.
Helium offers fast-paced, biweekly contests of 100 titles, which pay out $60, $40, and $30 for those who place 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively, as the top contestants. Helium also works with other publishers who are constantly looking for stock content. If they spot something they can use, they pay Helium, which pays a portion immediately into the writer's account.
Helium also lists co-publishers in the "Marketplace" who request freelance material on specified topics, with specified word lengths, by deadlines. Writers can earn cash payouts ranging from about $24 to $100 there, but many publishers are limiting submissions to "experienced" writers who have earned at least one blue writing star on Helium.
Although some channels may be slanted for American readers - like politics, legal topics, and business matters - the majority may be written from any viewpoint about health, relationships, parenting, pets, science, and travel. Anyone can offer something to the Creative Writing channel - from memoirs to poetry, short stories to reflections, for which they will earn a portion of ad share dividends.
Writers are also encouraged to begin new titles that others can write to. Perhaps you want to create a new topic about bullfighting or soccer, Hinduism or boar hunting.
Helium writers earn peer recognition with blue writing stars (based on ranks and number of articles) and group recognition for "Community service" through participation in Helium's unique rating system (with gold rating stars). Helium thinks of its writers as part of a co-op that shares in the workings of the site along with its rewards of stars, badges, peer recognition and cash.
New writers are warmly welcomed and members follow the golden rule: treat others as you wish to be treated. Inexperienced writers can get help and encouragement in the general community forums, ask for general or specific feedback about their works in the writer forums, or request one-on-one help through Helium's mentoring program at mentor@helium.com.
Although anyone may write about any topic appropriate for a PG-13 site. Helium's home base is in Massachusetts, U.S.A.; thus, Helium stresses writing in proper English. Variations are acceptable from English-speaking writers from Canada, Australia, and Britain.
Helium may decide to expand into mostly-Spanish or French or German speaking countries, but, at the moment, all writers are encouraged to set their word processors for American English.
One insurmountable mountain to hit Helium was the participation of writers from India who were greatly disadvantaged by the English writing requirement - so much so that they could not earn high ratings in Helium's competitive environment. English is one of the most complex languages on the planet. Even native Americans with high school educations have trouble writing "proper English" with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Thus, in fairness to all readers, raters, and visitors to Helium, India writers for whom English is a second, not-highly-familiar language were blocked from using Helium until further expansion or inclusion.
Most Americans do not know what pesos, yen and pounds translate into, and many are not familiar with the metric system, but they are the ones who are doing the ratings. Most computers allow users to choose the language they publish in, which should simplify things for all writers.
Re: Ratings. Helium has a unique ratings system, which allows its members to rank articles. Who better to "quality control" articles than other writers who have written to the same channels? Hundreds of thousands of raters share in the task and ranks are assigned according to "group consensus." Writers earn ad-based cash dividends based on their articles' ranks, what channels they're written to, and the number of page views their works earn.
By way of comparison, articles written for fact-based channels like Computers, Education, Health, and Science earn more than non-factual articles written to the Creative Writing (CW) channel. Creative writers are recognized with badges instead of stars, but all articles earn money.
CW does not earn upfront pay, along with some other "softer" channels like Entertainment, Religion, Politics, or Debates. None of the excluded categories earn upfront pay, but all accrue monthly earnings. Besides earning electronic credentials for your "About Me" page, you can gain great satisfaction by writing to a variety of categories.
Helium has come a l-o-n-g way since its inception three years ago.
Although Helium has no formal screening process, some people still mistake Helium as a Q & A site or a chat room in which they respond to another writer. Inappropriate articles or misplaced articles are removed. Helium has upgraded the site, which includes an automatic, computerized deletion of "ancient," 200-word "comments" from writers that simply mar the integrity of the site.
There are also trained editors who are checking for distracting typos, simple spelling errors in first and last sentences, correct formatting, Microsoft errors of nonsense script in article beginnings, and articles which include writers' names - a no-no that voids the "anonymity" requirement for ratings.
Also, some people intentionally include personal and business information for self-promotion, another no-no that gets immediately deleted from the articles. Additionally, Helium has some dedicated fact-checkers who are checking material for accuracy.
If an article is too short (under 400 words), is off-topic, is incorrectly formatted, has many words written in all caps, has many grammar and spelling errors, etc. - Helium's editors may contact the writer directly and ask him/her to revise and resubmit the article for the chance of a better rating and higher earnings while improving the site's overall quality.
Editors (on the Editorial Advisory Board) are told to never alter a writer's meaning, to never edit an article so much as to give it an edge in ratings, and to never change a writer's style of consistent spelling and punctuation that follows the rules of basic English.
Thus, British-style preferences are maintained throughout if a writer seems to be "intentionally" (not to be mistaken for spelling errors by someone who spells the same word three different ways) writing in the English. If a writer uses words like "realisation" and "colour" and mis-spells a re-used word like "color," the editor is told to keep the spelling consistent and change the word to "colour" for the writer rather than contact him/her to do a typo fix.
Although raters are told to compare articles side-by-side and "vote/click" for the one they think is "better, more valuable, more relevant," and that includes a bit of subjectivity, the voters are also a worldwide membership who may have different values and ideas about which is "better." That's why Helium's rating system is based on algorithms and objective analysis that consider the whole membership in its group consensus.
Someone may rate down an article because he doesn't like its tone; another might feel the writer is patronizing or sexist; and another might rate down an article for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors that pull down an article's overall value and integrity. That's why the ranks are based on "group consensus."
Members/writers/raters from all countries and time zones get to rate anonymous articles around the clock. The system seems to work, as evidenced by how frequently many higher-starred writers consistently rank in the top five.
Some writers may wonder whether they are rated down for simple things like British spellings or differences in punctuation. That does not detract from most raters' choices of the better-written, higher-quality article.
Readers come to find reliable, credible information on topics of interest to them. The site depends on integrity, which can be gained by adding sources within the content (magazine-style) or in end-notes of authors, dates, sources, and links. If the writer has the education, credentials, or personal experience to back his words, he should state that within the article.
Reputation is everything and that's what Helium is constantly building.
Helium emphasizes writing a clean article formatted with left-aligned margins (no indents) with spaces placed between shorter-than-book-style paragraphs (web readers who scroll down to read appreciate more white space). All writers should proof-read their works; always present their best, final drafts with quality content; and always use spell check before publishing articles on-line.
EVERYONE is welcome to write his/her best to any of Helium's 212 major categories. Helium now has one million articles in its database, with more than 125,000 distinct titles. If you can't find an existing title that inspires you to write, create one of your own and submit it for Helium's pre-approval.
Helium's writers/raters are its heart and soul. The membership is what makes Helium's balloon fly ever higher, and every writer is warmly welcomed to the Helium Community.