I joined Helium this week. If you don’t know Helium, it’s a site that pays writers to write and post articles in competition with other writers.
I’ve written a few articles so far, but I haven’t submitted any creative writing over there.
I’m only now getting used to the site, and so as of now I don’t have an opinion.
Very cool. I wasn’t aware such a thing existed. I wonder if there’s money in it.
Good luck. Let us know how you make out.
Well, so far I made about $53 and they did pay me exactly on time and according to their payment guidelines, so it’s definitely not a scam.
If you’re considering writing for them, then go for it, but I strongly recommend reading all of the guidelines through first, because there are conditions on what things they pay for (not everything), how much they pay (differs from person to person for the same wok) and whether they pay at all (you have to earn a writing star by your name).
It’s a shame that writing pays so little. I remember taking a feature writing course at Ryerson University and our prof. said that the average “per word” rate hasn’t changed since he started out in 1970. He went on to say that even top Canadian freelance writers, who are published all the time in various newspapers and top-rated magazine are lucky if they can pull down over $50K annually. Not very encouraging.
Nevertheless, for doing something one loves, most are not too concerned about the money end of it. I have a part-time gig writing and editing a national trade magazine. Fortunately, they pay me very well.
My dream employment would be to write and take photographs for fun and profit, along with offering a side dish of editing services.