Helium

Helium is the first Writing and Publishing web site that I am going to describe to you. I have been writing on this site on and off for some time now and it has many advantages as well as a few drawbacks. The site is large, I mean really large and it covers just about every type of writing you can imagine. The only section that I can think of that is not covered is Screen plays. The main drive of the site however is the Write and Rate sections.

The site itself is well constructed and only occasionally crashed on me. Some of the interface buttons take a little getting used to. The one that caught me at first was the Write one, used when you wanted to… well, write something. It’s a small pencil and can be easily missed until you get used to looking for it.

Okay, so this is how the site works. When you first log in you are faced by a colourful page filled with Adds, Articles and Features. Down the left hand side of the screen there are a lot of different sections which you can just jump straight into but I want to draw your attention to three of the buttons running across the top of the screen as these will be the three that you will use most at the beginning. They are the Write, Rate and My Helium buttons.

The Write Button
This button will take you to a section where you will be asked to pick a channel (Broad Subject) on which you want to write. You will then be asked to pick from a sub section menu ( I have always fond this part of the operation to the glitchiest) and then once you have got past this point you will be faced with page after page of further sub sections again. The point of all this is to narrow your article down to the smallest possible fields of competing articles and as I have already said this really is a huge site. Okay so now you really are ready to write, don’t for get to look out for the little pencils.

For myself I have always founds it best to write whatever it is I want to write before entering the writing section and then once there simply paste my piece into the awaiting box.

After you have written your piece, your piece begins to compete with other articles in your chosen field and there can be hundreds of them and this brings us to the Rate button.

The Rate button
There are two main ways in Helium that you can Rate articles. The first comes right after you publish something. Immediately you will be take to the rate section of the site where two articles will go head to head, with you as the adjudicator as to which is best. The other is from the site main page where you can choose to go straight to the Rate section.

Both Writing and rating are important to the site and stars are awarded to those who do it most and best. It can be quite compelling to continually go to the site to see how your articles are doing. It is a well thought out draw that keeps members coming back time and time again.
The My Helium button
This is the button that takes you into the section where your profile is kept. It also shows you all your article and what their current position in the running is. More importantly still it will take you to the section where you can find out what your worth. Yes you can earn money from this site but don’t go quitting you day job just yet. I have published many articles on the site and currently have a value of 29 cent. Only articles that are rated in the top ten of, its section, earn money and I’ve had quite a few.

Still there are other ways to earn cash on the site. There are competitions held every week with a huge selection of topics for you to choose from. The winners of these competitions receive seventy five dollars with small prise fund for the runners up. There is also a market place section which lets writers compete to have their articles published for real (On Paper).

All told I would rate Helium as one of the best sites of its nature out there. Its fun and it certainly keeps you writing.

House rating 8 out of 10.