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Following MP guidelines is vital to success because, by not following the guidelines, you are guaranteed to fail.

Helium's platform encourages creativity and self-expression in articles written in language suitable for a PG-13 audience. But Helium's Marketplace publishers are targeting their own specific audiences and require different guidelines. Their guidelines are "set in stone" for writers who want their material purchased.

There are some similarities and differences in writing for Helium vs. Marketplace publishers.

Helium allows a word range of 400 to 1500 (and even more); most Marketplace publishers want about 500 to 800 words, with some ranging up to 2000.

Helium allows personal articles to be written to the Creative Writing channel and many memoirs, reflections and short stories are written as first person, "I," experiences. Few Marketplace publishers want intimate or emotional stories/articles written in the first person.

Previously, with over 200 channels to write to on Helium, anyone could write about almost anything in their personal "voice." More recently, Helium has raised the bar on "quality, fact-based, knowledge articles" and asks its writers to use the more general, third person point-of-view and to support their material with credible references, if needed. "Magazine-style" writing discourages articles written in the first person.

Some Marketplace publishers request that same credibility and ask authors to use reliable references, often as end notes or possibly as links, so they know where the material is coming from. Or they expect writers to have specific credentials that back up their material.

No one needs to be intimidated by writing to an assignment; but they must follow the guidelines exactly. Publishers know what they are looking for.

If you're already accustomed to Helium's magazine-style writing: fact-based, third person, short paragraphs with lots of white space, you are already on track for most newspapers, magazines, and web-style formats. You should also be able to weave sources into your article (if asked), and you should know how to copy/paste from a Microsoft Word program (so you don't lose material to a computer blip).

Every writer should proof read, use spell check (and grammar check if you have it), and check the final preview page on Helium before submitting the article. Keep your language on about an 8th or 9th grade level for most general-magazine and newspaper readers (about the level of "Reader's Digest" material). The

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