Associated Content, Helium closes its doors to international writers!
@justdroppingby (296)
Philippines
April 29, 2010 12:28pm CST
I have sad news for all non-US writers out there who write for Associated Content (AC) and/or Helium (I'm posting it here, so I won't have to post under both AC and Helium):
First, for AC writers: A few minutes ago I received an email message from AC saying that "Contributors who are not enrolled as a Featured Contributor, or are not accepted into this program, will not longer be able to earn Performance Payments from [AC] as of May 1, 2010" A final payout will be given out by AC on May 12 for page views through April 30, if you qualify for the $1.50 minimum.
This pretty much means, for us international writers, that AC will be off-limits for us anymore starting May :( [I'm not even considering the Featured Contributors program, since you have to file a W-8BEN tax form, etc, which is quite a hassle.]
For Helium writers:
I've observed that I've been having trouble logging in to my Helium account for the past week. When I emailed help@helium, they responded by saying that "there are regions primarily in the far east that we had to block users from creating and or logging onto an account". I emailed them again, asking them if users from the Philippines were blocked from Helium. And my reply was "Yes. That is one of the regions that has been blocked,"
(okay, so the Philippines is just one country, but I'm having an inkling we're not just the non-US country being blocked from accessing the site.)
I'm quite devastated right now. I just started exploring both AC and Helium (started just 3 months or so ago), and of course I was excited at the prospect of writing for both sites, only to be faced with this :(
I'm also quite disappointed with Helium. I find it quite underhanded of them to just start blocking accounts without prior notice. At least AC had the decency to inform their users beforehand. :/
*sigh*
2 people like this
5 responses
@maezee (41997)
• United States
29 Apr 10
Wow! That's a bum deal. I'm luckily not in that position - I live in the US, where I believe these two online writing companies primarily get their writers from.. But the sad part is that while I'm a member of both, I never write for either of them! I've written ONE article for AC in the past six months and nothing for Helium, and I've also been a member for about six months. I just have no motivation to write, and I've had lifelong writers block.. And I can never think of a compelling article to write. *shrugs*. It's too bad that we can't switch our residences.. It's unfortunate that eager people like you can't participate on these sites just because of your geographic location, while people like me - who couldn't care less about these sites - have all the opportunities in the world. I wish there was something I could do.
But I wonder why they both targetted "far east" countries? I've heard of sites blocking countries like China because too much 'fraudulent activity' took place on accounts from users from those countries.. But, scams are run in EVERY country - does this mean they're going to start blocking every country? THEN who will write for them? Aliens? Haha 
.
.2 people like this
@justdroppingby (296)
• Philippines
1 May 10
Haha yeah. I read something in the Helium forums (or is it AC, I can't remember) that since most of their publishers are in the US they'd prefer to focus on their American writers. Or something like that.
Now doesn't that make you count your American blessings, eh? Might as well make the most out of it. Both Helium and AC accepts articles that have been previously published before, and are not really that strict in terms of editorial control. So you can pretty much post anything, if you're not really interested in money-making (there are better tips elsewhere on MyLot on how to make the most out of these sites), and by the end of the year the cents you earn from page views will accumulate.
That was what I was planning to do, anyways. Suckity sucks.
@SydneyHazelton (4586)
• Singapore
30 Apr 10
Hi justdroppingby,
If this is really true, I must be quite lucky, because I have submitted most of my articles to Triond instead of AC or Helium. I have a couple of articles in both, but somehow the two sites never did entice me to write more. Furthermore with the complicated star ratings in Helium which I could never understand, I was more compelled to other more straight forward sites.
But I do know many international writers in both of these sites. I hope they are not that affected by the changes.
@SydneyHazelton (4586)
• Singapore
1 May 10
I am aware that I can repost my articles. In fact, I did for a few of my articles but unlike you, my articles in Triond did better than AC/Helium. So I was not that motivated to repost my articles. Don't know why...
@justdroppingby (296)
• Philippines
1 May 10
I'm sure all non-US writers are affected by the AC lockdown. Not so sure about Helium though.
Yeah, I'm also on Triond. I've noticed though that my articles posted on AC earn more compared to Triond. Anyways, mostly I just repost articles on AC and Helium (you can post previously published articles there) for the residual income. Was just planning on writing seriously for Helium so that I can qualify for the MArketplace (which pays upwards of $8 per article), but my troubles with the site has made me think if it's really worth the effort.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
30 Apr 10
justdroppingby hi Thats not really fair I do not think. I am in the US and so no problem but I haven't signed up for either Helium or AssociatedContent,too busy on mylot.Is there any markets for writers in the Phillipines? Have you tried sending articles to popular magazines like Readers Digest,they pay well for anything they accept. I suggest getting a copy of WritersDigest as it has a lot of good information on markets for writers.
1 person likes this
@justdroppingby (296)
• Philippines
1 May 10
I tried mailing blurbs for "Life's Like That" and "Laughter the Best MEdicine" on RD once, but I never got an answer. Maybe it was because I was just a high school kid then. lol. I've aslo observed their sense of humor is quite different from that we consider funny locally.
There are still other writing sites out there - like Bukisa, Factoidz, Triond, etc - that so far have not closed their doors on non-US writers. OF course, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Will be on the lookout for WD, I must admit I haven't heard of that one :)
@iakulchen (615)
• Singapore
30 Apr 10
Actually, Helium's blocking of certain regions has been going on for quite some time now. As far as I can tell, it's not country-specific, since I have seen cases where people from one country (India to be precise) were complaining about being unable to log in while others were unaffected.
I'm not sure if it's the same in your case.
Anyway, here's what I gather from AC's notification:
1. Non-US writers will not be paid from 1st May onwards. I suspect that means you can still write there, log in etc, but you will not be paid
2. You have to enroll as a Featured Contributer to continue being paid. AC has a list of certain categories (travel, technology etc) and you have to apply for one.
3. After they accept you, you have to publish in your category at least once a month, and you'll also have to file a W-8BEN tax form. YOu'll also only be able to withdraw your payments only after it reaches $100.
1 person likes this
@justdroppingby (296)
• Philippines
1 May 10
Hi iakulchen. Yeah, I read from the Helium forums that it has been going on for some time now. As for country-specificity, I asked the Helium help desk specifically if they were blocking users from the PHilippines, and their response was in the affirmative.
I have observed however that there were odd moments (few and far between) that I manage to log in to my Helium account. Now I'm afraid to post any new content on the site for fear that I won't be making the most of it in the future.
One of the reasons a lot of international writers joined AC is because of its cash incentives, even if you just get cents for Performance views. I doubt it if after May 1 there would still be non-US writers active on the site.
As for being a Featured Contributor, AC has set rigid standards to be considered as one, so relatively new members to the site (like me) or those who post just 1 a week will not qualify. Plus getting a withholding tax form can be such a hassle if you're from outside the US.
Still sucks.
