The coveted helium writing star
By Canellita
@Canellita (12029)
United States
June 24, 2009 9:17am CST
Oh for another little blue star next to my name... It took several weeks to figure out the system at helium and the whole writing to competitive titles thing to finally see the coveted star next to my name and then wonder of wonders suddenly there were two of them! With nearly two dozen articles in circulation I am holding fast at two stars and wondering what it will take to earn a third.
On the other hand, I have five, yes five (count them!) rating stars of which I am quite proud as in earning them in the previous month I also earned the $3 rating bonus! When I logged in on June 1 to check that I had indeed been successful at it I discovered the joy of upfront payments!
Now if I could only get that one more star I could increase my upfronts to $1.50 (confused? see the how to earn section on helium) so that instead of a mere $4 for this months articles posted to empty titles (4 so far) I would make $6! What would be really great would be to have four stars and I could reach payout each month by writing enough articles to empty titles and having a few decent performing ones that received regular page views.
So close, and yet so far... How many writing stars do you have and how long did it take you to earn them?
2 people like this
6 responses
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
24 Jun 09
I don't do helium I do associated content, and I make about 12 to 15 a month there at this point in time, it keeps going up as you have been there longer. It does sound like helium pays more but I tried it once and didn't like it I forget way, I think they rejected an article because I had already posted on that topic and that turned me off.
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
25 Jun 09
I only get page views because I am canadian, but my main income is from freelancing the old fashioned way and most of that is ghost writing which is cool
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Well I started there first and I wanted to at least finish what I started in order to see the little work I had done at least pay off and as I learned more about it I have decided to build it up so that I see actual income from this passive income scheme.
I plan to get back to AC next month so I will better be able to compare. I have only submitted one actual article to AC and I asked for upfront payment. They offered $4 and said I could still earn from the page views. I have a few slide shows there and I plan to start uploading audio and video stuff soon.
I am interviewing a fairly well known Jazz musician this afternoon and I will see how that goes when I post it to AC. If they offer a good price, I will continue in that direction. At any rate, dealing with either of these sites is a lot easier than going about freelancing the old fashioned way.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
24 Jun 09
haha Canellita, you are really very ambitious.
I started writing for Helum in mid Feb 09, and just managed to get the third writing star a couple of months later. However, that was a bonus star, which I managed to keep for just two months.
Now I have more than 100 articles, so manage to see the three blue stars again. I give up hope on gaining the bonus star. The writing score is just over 82%, and I do not feel confident in leapfroging a few articles to push up the writing score.
I hope Helium new policy will not last longer than three months, hard to find titles with less than 5 articles, and write to them. I expect there will be a drastic drop of submitted articles once the new policy kicks in.
2 people like this
@mrtimharry (1180)
•
24 Jun 09
I believe the deadline for upfront payments is for articles submitted before midnight tomorrow otherwise they will count to next month's amount.
2 people like this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Well, I started in April and I have been working in slow motion so I figure if I step up my activity I might make it. How many articles did it take for you to get the third star?
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
24 Jun 09
I submitted two new articles this morning. One was an empty title on prom dresses and another was a competitive title on having a nice wardrobe with a small budget. I expect the prom dress one to sit dormant until prom dress season starts up but I the other article to see some traffic right away as this is a subject that is always an issue to someone somewhere.
I did a bit of rating too and I figureed out I need to submit to 6 more empty titles to make it to payout. I think I joined helium back in April and I have put very little effort into it until recently. Next month when I am on a break from teaching you can expect a surge of new articles!
1 person likes this
@AnythngArt (3302)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Well, you are doing well! I only have one star, and it's disappeared from time to time. It seems to be ok at the moment, but it drives me nuts when I lose it because then you don't get paid for writing articles at all. I have a lot of articles, but I also write to a lot of titles where there are only two or three of us, so if my article gets downgraded, then I am in trouble.
I am working away to get to 300 articles so that I can have a little more stability and stop worrying about not having any star at all. I hate spending time trying to manipulate the system (constant leapfrogging) to make sure I have my star. At 300 articles, the star level is easier to achieve.
How many articles do you have?
@mrtimharry (1180)
•
24 Jun 09
Have four writing stars and five rating stars, and have been writing seriously on Helium for about a year and a couple of months. Should have five writing stars by Sunday, need six more articles to make it.
2 people like this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
24 Jun 09
Congratulations on your achievement! Any idea how many one needs to obtain three writing stars?
1 person likes this
@mrtimharry (1180)
•
24 Jun 09
If you articles are rated highly enough you can get three writing stars with 30 articles
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@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Thanks for the info! I wish I had seen this yesterday when I still had time to try and crank out three more and then if I had done three more today I would have made it!
Unfortunately my summer schedule and all kinds of other issues are making it difficult for me to turn out work for the next few weeks. Ah, so close...
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
24 Jun 09
I think I had four writing stars at the most. Right now I have none and I'm all right with that. I refuse to leap frog articles that are already at their best. I used to but I found that articles with misspellings and other errors were still getting ahead of mine.
I rate only because of the unfair rule they put in place that forces you to or they keep what you have earned. My articles are still being read at this point so I'll continue rating until they no longer do. I don't want Helium getting a cent of my earnings. I speed rate simply because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which article is better.
2 people like this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Well, no I don't take it personally. I just don't think being forced to rate to get your own money is right. That's like working a nine to five job then being told you have to mow the boss's lawn before you get paid for your work.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Jun 09
You can't take the rating system personally. You have to remember that the same people submitting articles with all those errors are also rating articles so it is extremely important that the experienced writers do the rating because they have a better sense of the appropriate criteria.
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
24 Jun 09
Hello Canellita...I had one writing star and the premier writer privilege that came with it, but boomp! I lost the star and have yet to get another. I do usually have 3-4 rating stars. So, I am still working at getting my writing score high enough to get the first star back and add to it. You're doing great, however : )
Karen
2 people like this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Thanks Karen! I hope to follow in the footsteps of those who write Marketplace articles and participate in the contests once summer session ends and I can devote more time to the writng.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
3 Jul 09
Thank you!
I have figured out the key to the writing stars is the writing score. If you post articles to a couple empty titles you will see a slight increase in your writing score.
I regularly peruse the empty titles and I know which ones have been sitting there for a bit. When I post an article to an empty title no one seems to be interested in I am almost guaranteed to stay 1 of 1 for that title indefinitely.
I have posted several articles to empty titles in the past few days and my writing score is just over 92%. I still have 37% of my articles in competitive titles so I really don't have to do any of those for a while.
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Jun 09
Oddly enough, I have sold six or seven articles outright in Marketplace, but just don't rate those stars! It must be something I'm doing...or not doing. I will just keep trying! You write very well, by the way :D
Karen
1 person likes this
