My Writing Adventure- Helium

The Internet is such a wonderful place to earn extra money if you can find the right media .  I love to write.  I have decided to take a chance and join a few writing sites and see how I do. I know the potential for earning money is there.  I know that I need patience to let my earnings grow.  Patience is not my strong suit though.  I decided to do a few different sites.  This way, I can kind of be a "guinea pig" of sorts for others.

Helium
I love this site, for the most part.  I will tell you....READ ALL THE INFORMATION YOU CAN BEFORE YOU START WRITING ABOUT THE SITE AND HOW IT WORKS.  Did you hear that clearly?
The reason being that my daughter and I joined Helium.  She joined about 2 days after I did.  She is earning money, and I am not.  I have written 11 articles, and she has written 7.  Why?  I did not understand the "rating" system.  When you publish and article, you will be automatically directed to a rating page.  One title, two articles, and you pick the one you like most.  Ok, so I did a whole bunch of them!  That is not the way to do it.  I had 75, but my rating percentage was very low.  You need 75% to get a rating star so you can earn money.  My daughter rated 12, 10, and 11 over the next three days and got her star!  I am at 217, as of today, and my rating score is 70%.  I started 12/31/10, and still have not earned any money.  So PLEASE make sure you only rate about 10 a day, or you will be in the pickle I am in.

Other than that glitch, they have so many ways to write articles, that it is a writer's dream.  You can find titles for an article, go to the market place and get paid in advance for writing an article, write for a debate, do a "how to" article, share a news article, or write for a contest.  You will have a VERY hard time finding something to write about at this site.

After you write your article, you will be "rated".  You want to be in the top three of that article title.  My daughter wrote a "dark fantasy", (yes you can write stories ) and she is rated #3 out of 42!  That is pretty amazing, and encouraging to keep writing. 

I will continue to blog about my experience at Helium.  If you have any questions, please comment.   I will be sharing the other writing sites in different posts.

I give Helium 4 out of 5 pencils!  :)