Writing for Helium can be satisfying and fulfilling for anyone who needs a quick outlet for that urge to get off one's chest what is on one's mind. Helium has over 800 individual channels ranging from Arts and Humanities to Travel. If you are a "newbie" and are a bit shy or unsure about laying your work out for millions to view, you might be interested in some words of advice from an old-timer.

First, when deciding what subject to write about, search for existing articles in Helium's treasury. You can do this by navigating the individual channels or doing a search by entering a key word in the white dialog box next to "Go" on the upper right of the Helium Window. Helium is about rating and comparing. Articles that are posted are rated by writers in Helium's community. So take a look at what your peers are writing and rating. Pay attention to how the top ranked articles are written and let them serve as models.

The way to get your articles published immediately is to add an article to an existing title. If you believe your article is so unique that no existing Helium article title can accommodate it, go for it; but remember: You'll have to wait about a day (or more) to have the new article accepted. (You also risk having your article rejected for a variety of reasons.) To add your article to an existing title, though, just click on the pencil icon in the article's window and start writing. When you hit the "Publish" button, the web software will rank your article numerically into the middle of the pack. You'll need to check back later and see how you did: Did your article rise in ranking, or did it sink? If it sank, you'll probably want to rewrite it and go the Leapfrog route. However, give the article a day or two before you decide.

Before posting your article, of course, you have to write it. Writing for Helium is not the same as phone text messaging or blogging. Pay attention to capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Lay off the "OMG" and "UR" type jargon and usage. Helium is neither a blog nor a teenage chat room. It is a writer's site. Read over Helium's writing standards at http://corp.helium.com/help/ho wdoi_heliumwritingstandards before you begin your article. Pay special attention to paragraph 7 regarding paragraph spacing and if you are typing your article in a word processor lay off the "enter" key until you get to the end of your paragraph, and then push two enter codes to double space between paragraphs; in other words, allow your

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