The Teacher Connections Writing Contest, cosponsored with Teachers Without Borders and Helium, yielded high writer participation and quality articles. More than 100 writers participated and created 391 articles. Seven writers shared the $400 in prize money.

Congrats to: Rachelle de Bretagne, Amanda Dcosta, Colette Georgii, Elaine Sihera, Nan Avery, Joan Schroeder, and Jeffrey Ober. And thanks to all the writers who shared, in their articles, knowledge that will help teachers the world over.

 Through this special co-sponsored contest, new members joined both Helium and Teachers Without Borders. And Helium writers added significantly to the article earnings donated to this highly-valued non-profit partner—with over 1,200 articles now collecting donations to help the vital work of Teachers Without Borders.

 Teachers Without Borders Membership Director, Michael Moran, reported: Through the Teacher Connections Writing Contest, we were able to bring new members from Helium over to Teachers Without Borders and increase the quality of discussion revolving around pertinent issues in international education and development.

 Michael continues to welcome in new Teachers Without Border members and thank donors for aiding the success of their organization.

Thanks again for sharing expert content to help those involved in education around the world. Thanks also for your donations to Teachers Without Borders. And thanks especially for sharing your time and talent with Helium!

Today Helium introduced a number of new features and enhancements. In many ways, this is one of the biggest changes to Helium since we introduced Marketplace. The features in this release reflect Helium’s continued strategy of advancing new and innovative solutions aimed at empowering our members to produce high quality content while also advancing our objectives of creating the world’s largest and most supportive writing community.

New Products Introduced: With this release, Helium is advancing a new approach to creating and publishing new forms of content. Up to this point, Helium has solely enabled members to create articles. With this release, we are introducing How-To Guides, News Events and Topics pages.

These new products are based on a closed community approach.  Members must apply to each community to participate and each piece of content created will be reviewed, edited and approved by members of the closed community.

 Instead of leveraging Helium’s relative ranking engine, these new products rely on an application process and a peer approval process. This leverages an underlying collaborative editing capability (wiki model) to enable members to collaborate on creating the best content possible.

 Whereas the Helium relative ranking model works well to enable many people to create competitive articles on a subject (lifestyle content, evergreen content, creative writing, opinion etc), the new content types, such as News, allow members to cover breaking news and to collaborate on creating unique resource centers in our new Topics pages. 

 Added to this release is a new payment method for these new content types for compensation based on a clear formula of views of their work.

 New and improved community tools:

New Messaging Center: Comparable to email inboxes and social networking messaging abilities, now we can send, receive, delete and archive messages on Helium. Members can create their own personalized signatures for messages. Contact this Writer will now use the Helium Inbox (a link will appear at the top when you’re logged in).  Whenever you receive a message in your Inbox, you’ll be pinged on your email — we’ve even included preferences so you can change the frequency of receiving emails regarding your Helium inbox activity.

Easier Access to New Social Tools: Links to social activities, friends, groups, etc., are found from your My Helium, Inbox, and About Me pages via the new top navigation bar.

 About Me pages reflect changes. All of the new products and changes are shown through your About Me page on Helium. Members of How-To, Topics, News and Zone communities will now have tabs presenting their content on Helium — along with your articles, as always. There is also a Social tab directing readers to your expanded profile that embraces your friends, followers, groups you are a member of, and interests you’ve uploaded.

As an aside – I’d like to ask each of you to take a few moments to make sure that you are presenting yourself in the most professional manner possible with your image, and bio. The publishers that  come to Helium to source content for their publications want to know that you are serious about your writing efforts on Helium.  

 Making the site faster and other infrastructure upgrades: Lastly, this new release introduces some improved infrastructure for how Helium serves ads on the site that will dramatically improve the speed of the site. A faster site should lead towards more page views per visit – resulting in higher earnings for all of our members.

As with all new releases and changes at Helium, we welcome your feedback and hope to answer all of your questions. For a more detailed explanation of all of these new features, please review our Helium  Help Guide and for questions regarding preexisting features please visit our community forum, and for all other questions regarding new products, features, and navigation visit our group help forums.

From all of us at Helium, we hope you enjoy the new features and continue to enjoy the site.

Mark Ranalli –  CEO, Helium Inc

Myself and others have explained many times how you can harness the power of Helium to make money for you.  The following is what I hope is a simple tutorial to show you a powerful example.  I am going to show you how to set up an RSS feed for a leaf channel that will update you any time a new empty title shows up.

What does this mean?  This means you will have a page you can go to that will regularly update with empty/shallow titles in channels that directly interest you.  It will be like every morning (or however often you check it) someone shows up at your door and delivers a list of potential assignments for you to make money on.

Let me repeat that.  This will allow you to add any leaf channels that interest you to an RSS reader (I use Google Reader in this example, but any will do) and as long as you check said reader periodically you will be presented with fresh, minty empty/shallow titles to potentially earn empty title bonuses and upfront payments on.

Sound good?  Let’s go.

First Step – go to Helium

Simply navigate to the Helium home page.

Second Step – pick a channel

I like to write to Computers and Technology.  So I clicked on that one.  Pick whatever channel you want.

Third Step – Navigate down to a Leaf Channel

A leaf channel has no children.  You can tell non-leaves because they’ll ahve that red down arrow next to their name.  I continue down the tree by clicking Internet.  If you didn’t pick the same one as me, just pick the one that interests you.

Finally I find a leaf channel I like, I choose and click Web Design.  At this point you should be on a leaf channel that interests you.

Fourth Step – find the empty titles container

This is at the very bottom of every leaf page. It’s called “Writing Assignments” right now but could change at a later date.  Click the RSS Feed link in the bottom of the box (not the one at the bottom of the page).

Fifth Step – copy the RSS feed URL

Once you click the RSS Feed link above, you’ll be taken to the RSS feed page.  Just copy the URL in the address bar.

Sixth Step – subscribe to the feed

Our more advanced users (ones who use RSS readers and feeds) can probably skip the rest of these steps.  For beginners, it’s not enough to know how to find the feeds of the empty titles.  The real power comes in harnessing all of these feeds and making them work for you.

You do this by inputting them into an RSS reader.  You can find these in most browsers, most ISP home pages (AOL, Yahoo, Google, even Comcast I believe), even in some e-mail clients.  I’m using Google Reader only because it’s simple if you don’t already have a reader and many people already have Google accounts (for GMail, AdSense, etc) so you have a Reader account as well.  You can find Google Reader at www.google.com/reader.

But I don’t use/like Google!  Fine:

• Adding RSS feeds to Yahoo.
• I couldn’t find any other ones, sorry.

Now, back to the steps, you just copied the feed url and navigated to your Google Reader.  You’re going to see a navigation button in the top left.  Click that to show a drop down.  The very first link should be “add a subscription”.  Click that to show the box below.  Post the feed url in the box and click “Add.”

Seventh Step – make money

Now you have the feed in your reader.  Repeat for all the channels you like to write to.

Hope that helps.

We’re excited to announce the latest winners of Helium Citizen Journalism Award contests.

Barb won the 1H20 Citizen Journalism Award by writing about the main source of pollution in America’s rivers and lakes and how experts think the problem can be resolved. Be sure to check out more information on this contest and the current winner on the 1h20 website.

Elizabeth M. Young won the Center for Responsive Politics/OpenSecrets Citizen Journalism Award by writing about changes she would make to the nation’s campaign finance system.

Be sure to check out the current Citizen Journalism contests and let your voice be heard.

Meet Teachers Without Borders staff member, Michael Moran. Michael has collaborated with Helium staff to bring you the Teacher Connections Writing Contest . This contest is open to all those passionate about education, and it’s attracted scores of educational professionals. Check out the contest titles. Share your knowledge and research on these important topics — topics designed to help teachers and communities around the world. Many Helium members are donating ad revenue share for their contest articles to Teachers Without Borders, who has been a long-standing Helium non-profit partner. Many others are also joining Teaches without Borders, to contribute more directly to their work in the world, especially through their Teachers Network online teacher support system.

Colin Morley, is a journalist and long-standing Helium writer, who has found new excitement and opportunities with professional recognition and Marketplace assignments targeted to professional journalists. Here’s his Helium success story:

I came to writing through an accident which took me off my feet and out of work for a year. I needed something to fill the time to recovery – and longer term, a way to earn  without the physical work. I had always enjoyed writing, but had never seriously considered writing for a living.

I discovered I needed qualifications; my school certificates were inadequate.  I enrolled in a part-time writing course, but wanted more.  Once I was able to walk and drive again, I got myself some part-time work to help pay the bills and embarked on some serious education. Over the next two years I obtained a journalism certificate.

Disappointment followed.  There was a recession and editors would only entertain university graduates.  Despite hundreds of applications, I secured no job.  I took stock and enrolled in a university course.

Happenstance took over once I graduated.  I took on a temporary job in a Human Resources department, still applying for journalism opportunities.  The company liked me, offered me a long-term contract and allowed me to master some intricacies of information technology and learn how recruitment worked.  After eighteen months, a rival company offered me a better position. I wrote for some papers and magazines periodically.

I spent five years in Human Resources, rising to the lofty position of manager and enjoying a salary higher than I could have achieved in journalism until circumstances dealt me another blow.  The company was in telecommunications. The market collapsed, along with my position.  Enter Helium!

I discovered Helium soon after its launch while surfing for opportunities and spending my redundancy money.  I wrote several articles and started to watch the earnings trickle in.  I discovered if I wrote for competitions I could earn more. I won first prize on one happy occasion.  I even managed to sell a couple of articles via marketplace. 

When I took another job in England, I never completely left Helium behind, but spent less time there.  Now, living and working in France, I have re-discovered a new and improved Helium, where professionals are recognized and rewarded. 

As an accredited professional I recently sold two pieces in Marketplace while earning residual income from my older articles.  Helium pays accurately and promptly; and though I don’t envisage giving up my day job tomorrow, it is probable that I will secure more paid writing work through my presence on Helium, thanks to the opportunities it offers professionals.

Thanks Colin, for sharing your Helium success story, and for providing a longer glimpse of Helium and your own evolution as a writer!

If anyone wants information about writing for Helium and getting your professional credentials recognized, write to Barbara Whitlock, New Member Outreach Manager and Credentialed Professional Program Coordinator, at bwhitlock@helium.com.

The Teacher Connections Writing Contest — co-sponsored with Helium’s non-profit partner Teachers Without Borders – brings together passionate educators throughout the world to share their knowledge and help students everywhere.

•  What?  The theme focuses on building connections among teachers and across geography. Writers will compete on 30 titles about teaching techniques and international issues and support for teachers.

• When? The contest starts noon EST on November 18^th. There will be a 3 week writing window: Nov. 18-Dec. 9. Then one more week of ratings, and winners will be announced on Dec. 16. Payments must be requested by month’s end, and deposits will be accessible in your PayPal account (set up upon registration at Helium.com) by Jan. 10.

• Who? Any writer passionate about education, and who can write high quality articles that meet Helium’s Writing Standards, may participate. Professional educators can apply for recognition badges that position them for extra article-earning opportunities at Helium: teachers, university professors, adjunct professors, college instructors, school administrators and school counselors. Homeschoolers, who have a letter of approval from state officials or a private school, can also get recognition badges as educators. Send verification information and your Helium About Me page URL to experts@helium.com.

• How? If you are new to Helium.com, register on the site and set up your writer profile page (called your About Me page). Be sure to showcase your professional background and areas of writing expertise for publishers when you create your bio. Add your photo to complete. We’ve found that writers with complete and professional bio pages get selected by publishers 75% more often. Then just go to the contest page on noon EST on Nov. 18 to see the titles and to start submitting.

• Why? Help teachers the world over and support the work of Teachers Without Borders. You can further support Teachers Without Borders by donating ad revenues on your Helium articles to their cause. Just click the “donate” button and choose Teachers Without Borders’ non-profit listing on the drop down menu, when you submit each article. You can also share in the $400 cash prizes, if you place well in the contest.

Share the Teacher Connections Writing Contest with educators you know, and let them know of other opportunities for educators at Helium.com.

If you’re new to Helium, need help or more information, my inbox is always open: bwhitlock@helium.com.

Meet L. Woodrow Ross, a professional journalist and contributor to Helium.com. Ross writes about his experience freelancing at Helium.com. As an established journalist, with a rich background in print journalism, Larry shares insights for professional writers who are tapping into the vast opportunities offered at Helium.

As a professional journalist, you might question what participation in a group such as Helium would contribute to your success.  You may have worked hard and achieved some level of success and feel that Helium is for “amateurs” only.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!

 Helium offers the opportunity to polish your craft.  Your articles are rated by your peers, so you get immediate feedback on the acceptance level.  In addition, you have an opportunity to supplement earnings for your writing.  By meeting certain criteria, you will earn for each article you write.  Publishers post writing topics, and you can earn significant dollars for your articles selected in Marketplace.  This also is a barometer of the quality of your writing as more publishers select your articles for publication. To be chosen for publication over many fellow writers is very gratifying as well as profitable.

The site has a place for biographical information, and allows the writer to reach a wide range of readers and increase their readership.  The wide range of topics will allow you to hone in on subjects that fit your qualifications, but also stimulate you to branch into new “genres” and expand your capabilities.

 On a personal note, my wife was cynical when I told her I was planning to join Helium and write articles to be posted on their site.  The first couple of months were uneventful, and then the dollars began to accumulate.  Needless to say, she has a new opinion of Helium.

 You will find Helium to be very professional in their dealings with writers.  They are punctual in payment and honorable in the way they conduct the business end of the organization.

On the flip side, don’t expect a free ride.  If your writing is sub-par, it will show up in ratings, or the site stewards will provide feedback to let you know where the problems exist.  They want to see you succeed, but you have to be willing to work in order to earn at a reasonable level.

 If you are looking for a way to improve your writing, expand your horizons and earn some extra dollars, you couldn’t find a better place to start than Helium.

 L. Woodrow Ross

 Ross is a newspaper columnist/photographer, writing a weekly outdoor column for the Anderson Independent Mail.  He is a contributor to outdoor magazines, including South Carolina Sportsman and maintains a blog for the Greenville News.  He lives in Travelers Rest, SC, with his lovely wife Margaret.  

If you are interested in learning more about opportunities at Helium, email Barbara Whitlock, New Member Outreach Manager, at bwhitlock@helium.com.

One of the more common confusions on the boards is what 30 day and 90 day rating score are, how they are used, and how one qualifies for writing stars – or how many stars one qualifies for.

First, if you didn’t know, you can find your scores (including writing) on your My Helium page.
Second, the rating scores and amount of rates needed to get stars is explained on our help wiki.

But, again, the question most commonly asked is “What’s the difference?”  Many users are confused because they’ll have many rates in the last 30 days and a high score, but a much lower score for their 90 day average and will be confused why they have only 1 star.

Basically, this is how it works:

1. We check your 90 day rating score and amount of rates done in the past 90 days.  Do you qualify for any stars (done more than 30 rates and have a score >= 75%)?  If so, apply stars and done.  Else, go to 2.
2. We check your 30 day rating score and amount of rates done in the past 30 days.  Do you have a score >= 75% and >= 10 rates in that time span?  If so, apply 1 star.

So again, we only check the 30 day score/rates if your 90 day score/rates doesn’t qualify you for a star and your 30 day total can only qualify you for, at max, one star.

The basic idea behind it is to allow new users to quickly come in, make a few rates (as few as 10) and start earning revenue payments right away – keeping them active and contributing to the site, which helps everyone.

I hope that helps.

Helium has had a long-standing partnership with Open Secrets, an organization committed to keeping watch on Capital Hill and advocating for citizens. They regularly offer journalism awards at Helium. Writers in this contest compete for the $100 prize and greater writer-exposure. Check out the contest page for details.

If you could change the nation’s campaign finance system, what would you do – if anything – and why? Write a well-researched 750-word article by November 5^th, and you could walk away with $100, while adding to your exposure as a writer and possibly influencing public debate.

Campaign funding is an issue that directly affects the quality of our republic and the representatives selected. Your contributions can add to informative debate on this vital issue.

If you are a professional journalist looking for ways to expand your online presence, this is a great outlet for your political writing. If you are a citizen journalist, looking for ways to earn more for your writing, here’s your chance.

Check out Open Secrets, the contest guidelines, and find the title link on the Citizen Journalist Open Secrets page.

If you enjoy this opportunity, check out other journalism award opportunities at Helium, and learn about Helium’s exclusive partnerships with The National Press Club and Society for Professional Journalists.

For questions, write to me at bwhitlock@helium.com.

This is the first in a series of articles by Helium members testifying to ways writing for Helium has helped them further their career and earning goals as a writer.

I’m Glory Lennon , and I’d like to share how Helium has helped me as a writer.

Well, that’s a no-brainer. I was an amateur, a complete novice who started writing a garden advice column for a dinky (and I mean dinky!) little town paper as a favor for the editor (The grandmother of my son’s best friend) who needed something to fill space.  It turned out to be more than filler after many people said they liked my writing. I thought I had something there.

When I found Helium I had already started several novels and had many short stories in my stash but I didn’t know what to do with them. Was Helium the place? I was skeptical but I posted one old garden column. It ranked very low so I figured I didn’t have what it takes to make the big time. Seven months later after reading many other Helium articles and learning what was expected, what did well and how to be a better writer I posted a second article, this time a short story. That did better and so I was hooked.

About 400 articles later I was contacted by the editor of a Canadian based indoor gardening magazine Maximum Yield, who was looking for a monthly contributor for their new USA edition. She had read some of my Helium articles on gardening, (my favorite channel, besides creative writing, and the one which has proven most profitable to me) and she liked my no-nonsense way of telling people how to garden. So, now my name is seen next to my articles in this beautiful magazine all over the USA and Canadian.  Shortly after that I was appointed Steward for the Tree and Shrub sub-channel at Helium’s Home and Garden channel.  Is that the big time?

For someone who never thought she would make a penny putting simple words together, who marvels every time she gets “fan E-mail” and is astonished to find editors willing to pay for her articles, I would say yes and Helium had a great big part of it, for sure and certain.

I love Helium and everyone there. It is a place where everyone is in love with the written word and is so willing to help and guide those starting out so that they in turn once they become better writers can do the same for other novices that show up at Helium. It’s an amazing and wonderful cycle and I encourage anyone who longs to write to start at Helium. There simply is no better place.

I know this is much more than you wanted but it had to be said. I’d be nowhere without Helium. Now I have a novel Violet’s in Bloom serialized in a zone too. Jim Bessey encouraged me to do it and so there it is. Now I’m kind of a novelist just like Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas and Henry Fielding all of which serialized their works. Imagine that!

******************************************************************

Thanks Glory! . If you’d like to share your story too, send your testimony, name and Helium About Me page URL to me at bwhitlock@helium.com.

Helium is proud to announce that member Cathie Beck’s “Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship” is officially published today!

Described as a wild ride of a memoir—a “Thelma & Louise-like” tale of love, perseverance, friendship and triumph, Cathie’s book can be purchased on Amazon.com and you can read more about the memoir on her Helium Zone and her website.

Kirkus calls “Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship” a “searing portrait,” and ForeWord Reviews says, “Beck’s writing is breezy, polished
and fun to read.”

Visitors to Cathie Beck’s website can get free “Signature Cheap Cabernet” wine and she has also promised to launch a Helium-based presence on her book promotion to help other Helium authors get their books published and promoted.

We’re excited to announce the latest winner of a Helium Citizen Journalism Award contest.

Mark Sullivan won the 1H2O Citizen Journalism Award by writing about whether future wars are going to be fought over water or if leaders will be able to resolve conflicts as they have in the past Be sure to check out more information on this contest and the current winner on the 1H2O website.

Be sure to check out the current Citizen Journalism contests and let your voice be heard.

You really don’t know how tempted I was to call this “Badges?… We don’t need no stinkin’ badges…” as that phrase comes up every time we change anything about badges – but I managed to restrain myself.  Moving on.

As most posts, this idea came to me as I was reading the boards and I decided to move it to the blog to make it more “sticky” and central.  You can see the original thread here if you’re interested but we never really go into the following discussion.

The basic idea is this: In badges, we have the ability to “sort” in the sense that we can group collections of badges together.  We currently do this in a very rudimentary way in that we show the writing/rating stars first by themselves… then everything else (or it may surprise you to find that writing/rating stars are, architecturally, badges).

However, there is nothing to say that we can’t expand the number of collections (I’ll move away from using the word “group” as it’s used in another way with badges that you’ll see in a minute and would likely cause confusion) in order to provide more semantic value to badges.  This is especially important to consider as the number of badges available number several hundred with no sign of slowing – though no user can get every badge, they can still accumulate (potentially) a dozen (or more) which begins to get confusing, visually.

So, first, terminology:

• Badge: single instance of badge architecture.  I.E. Channel Steward Arts & Entertainment
• Badge Group: group of badges served out of single template (most importantly using a single icon).  I.E. Medical Professional Badge group: Medical Doctor, Registered Nurse, Pharmacist, etc.
• Badge Collection: collection of badge groups sorted for visual needs. I.E. “star badges” (writing/rating) and everything else.

So the basic premise of this is to examine how we might further narrow the collections, suggestions of a strategy, and a request for feedback from the community.  This is not something currently slated for development however it is something which is beneficial in two ways:

1. It is easy to implement.  Would require no changes to architecture, only to data (badges) and some UI tweaks (for visual presentation).
2. It is likely needed soon.  The argument being that a user having dozens of badges becomes useless unless they are sorted and displayed in a manner which presents meaning and value – in all senses of the words.

My initial proposal for sorting follows.  Feel free to constructively criticize:

1. Star Collection - first both for legacy and because provides a “baseline” for credibility / credentials.
   • Writing Stars
   • Rating Stars
   • (any future star badges)
2. Credential Collection - establish authority in subject areas.
   • Professional badge groups – medical professional, journalist, etc
3. Results Collection - show success in areas, which builds upon itself.
   • Contests won
   • Marketplace articles sold
   • Stock content articles sold (proposed)
4. Helium Collection – things internal to Helium.
   • Marketplace Approved/Premier
   • Channel Steward badges
   • Editorial Advisory Board
   • Creative Writing badges

Would love to hear your feedback, thoughts and constructive criticism, as I said.

Hope this helps.

Most people, thinking of the importance of citing source, may just think about the rating end of it. Citing sources can indeed help in how well the article is rated. However, there is a much more important reason for using citations – to prevent claims of plagiarism.

Plagiarism is something that people don’t usually like to talk about, and even less often, want to think about, but it does happen. Helium is committed to stop it from happening, and it is grounds for removal of your account entirely.

Plagiarism isn’t just copying words verbatim; it can also be copying the ideas of someone else. In addition, rewriting something someone else said and using that is still plagiarism. Rearranging words or rephrasing something doesn’t correct this. If it isn’t from you, it is plagiarism.

This includes instances where you might own a book, and use information from it. Books are copyrighted, and unless you wrote the book, using information from it is plagiarism. This sounds grim, doesn’t it? What can you do, if you’ve researched a topic? After all, some of the things you got from the research are going to come out, aren’t they?

The answer is really pretty simple. If you include a word, sentence, or paragraph in your article, word for word, first put it in quotes. Then cite the source of the material. This is extremely important, and it will be something the plagiarism team will look for. Even if you rephrase it, cite the source. In all cases, if you aren’t the one who came up with the idea or the words, cite the person or people who did.

Keep in mind, too, that a majority of the work needs to be your own. All of this is agreed to every time you write on Helium and check the box in order to submit the information, and it is contained in more depth, in the User Agreement.

Sometimes information will be totally rephrased, but will be largely from several sources. At the end of the article, cite them all as sources.

Not only is this important in regard to protecting yourself against plagiarism reports, it shows that you have taken the time to research, which raises the value of the article to most people. Articles written from personal experience naturally won’t have many citations. Still, if you quote or use from anyone, any book, any magazine, or any article you didn’t write, take the time to add quotation marks and cite the source. Not doing so could mean losing your account and much more. Plagiarism is punishable by large fines and possible jail time. Don’t get nailed for this just because you didn’t cite your sources.

We want you to succeed at Helium!

You’re a writer, so it’s natural for you to share opportunities at Helium.com with other writers. But did you know that Helium has scores of professionals who share their expertise in articles, even though they don’t self-identify as writers? And everyone has expertise to share about something, including one’s own town/city. So when you think of people to invite to Helium, think broadly.

Of course, writing well is a prerequisite, but we all know that writers don’t hold a monopoly on quality communication. Read this article to learn why you should be inviting your doctor, nurses, dentist, car mechanic, accountant, financial planner, psychologist, teachers, business owners and neighbors to write for Helium. And see how to spot expertise in your neighbors too.

Professionals can boost their resumes with published articles that document their professional expertise. Having titles that detail professional know-how on a resume elevates that candidate to a prospective employer by highlighting demonstrated expertise. Plus, you can show what you know more expansively in articles than in a resume or interview. Learn how you (and your friends and family members) can Advance Careers by Writing Expert Articles at Helium.com.

What if you can’t think of any published writers or professionals to share Helium with? How about your friends who aspire for a writing career? Helium is a great place to get a writing start, because there are so many opportunities and because you get peer assessment in a supportive community. Some compete to advantage and some don’t make it, but it might be worth a try if you notice areas of expertise in others. If they don’t seem writer-types then you can interview them for your own articles. Countless article options are open to you if you keep a close watch and listen with a writer’s ear.

And what about hyper-local content, always in high demand from publishers, especially newspaper partners? Everyone has expertise to share about your town, city, state and the places where you’ve traveled. Review every restaurant you eat in, movie you see, book you read, museum you explore, business you frequent, hobby you do, sport you play, etc. And don’t just write one article about each thing — write about all aspects of each.

The 19th century British poet and essayist, Matthew Arnold, once wrote about the secret to good writing: “Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.”

So now you know some good folks to invite, and you’ve expanded your thinking to more than just self-identified writers. How do you invite writers to Helium, and how can this benefit you?

You earn 5% on all the ad revenue your Helium invitees earn at Helium (in perpetuity with minimal active participation). Just make sure you do the invite process effectively, because if your invitees join outside of the process they can’t count on your account. Here’s how to be sure your invites count:

1. Send an email to your invitee ahead of time. Let them know you’re inviting them to Helium; and ask them to only register from the special link that email contains, so you get referral bonuses. Have them clear helium.com from their spam folder or check the junk folder to make sure they receive the email from Helium.

2. Choose a title to use as invite bait — a topic of interest to that writer.

3. Click on “Article Tools” next to the title or article.

4. Click on the My Invites link within that menu.

5. Follow directions for how to send out invites. (Only send these out after you’ve given your invitee a heads up.)

6. You can keep track of your invitees — who’s accepted or still pending as well as those that expire due to inaction– by going to your My Invites page (via the My Helium button on the main menu).

7. Help your friend submit that first article. Give a shout out once it’s up. Send suggested titles you can find on the site via the Title-Finder tool to inspire him/her to write more.

So many people who have ideas to share. You can help make it happen, and profit for the effort. If you’d like any help or suggestions, my inbox is always open: bwhitlock@helium.com.

Helium is pleased to welcome author Tony Verna to our site. Tony is a highly-respected director of live events for television. In 1963 he created the Instant Replay that we all take for granted today. Over the years he has published four books about the television industry. He brought his first fictional foray right here.

In a project supervised by Paul Kerstein, Helium’s Director of Content & Community and managed weekly by Jim Bessey, one of Helium’s Senior Stewards, Tony Verna’s new novel Beyond the Blue and the Gray emerges chapter by chapter in our Novel Excerpts channel. We’re using a companion zone to promote Tony’s work and package the chapters in one place.

Blue and Gray debuted on August 31 with Chapter One: Smoke and Mirrors. Chapter two was released just after Labor Day. Each Monday a new installment of this novel will be published on Helium and in the novel’s zone. Every chapter will be linked from the zone page, so readers can backtrack as needed. Verna’s novel totals 60 episodes, so this project will continue well into 2010.

What does this mean for Helium’s writers in general?

Many of us have a novel “waiting to happen” — waiting for time and the inspiration to keep writing. So far, Helium has hosted thousands of short stories, poems, personal essays, and novel excerpts. Until now, we haven’t formalized a way to publish a novel in successive chapters because there was no infrastructure to easily handle serial fiction. Most of the pieces have been in disparate places: author profile pages, our open publishing platform, peer review and critique, and more recently — Zone pages for members.

Novels can be intimidating for authors. However, when you break one up into a series of chapters over a period of months, the impossible becomes manageable. Tony and Helium found a unique way to approach this issue. Each of his installments is a stand-alone story under a stand-alone title. The magic comes in working with a Zone, which brings the whole package neatly together for readers. While Tony’s novel arrived complete, your book could be a work in progress that you release over time for feedback from our readers. Once you’ve started, you won’t want to stop!

What about copyright?

One member, who says she’s already “hooked’ on Blue and Gray, likes this idea. She wants to give it a try, but worries about copyright issues. Here’s the scoop: your published work at Helium IS protected by copyright, as it has been all along. You share non-exclusive rights with Helium. Many well-respected authors have produced novels in serial form — in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet — and later published the same work (often with added material) in book form. You’ve probably seen “this novel first appeared in installments in Esquire Magazine” (or similar) in novels you’ve read.

This is a way to “get published” and to get motivated to write the novel you’ve been putting off for years. At Helium, we hope you’ll join us in following Beyond the Blue and the Gray. We hope the experience inspires you to begin your next novel and share it here with our readers. Your feedback and creative input for this project is always welcome.

(Special thanks to Jim Bessey for writing and submitting this post.)

In addition to writing opportunities, writers come to Helium  for opportunities to connect. (Writing can be a lonely profession.) Every new writer has questions. As you dig deeper into opportunities at Helium you’ll have more questions. As you look to expand your audience and earnings, you’ll want to venture further into social networking.

How do you negotiate this complicated web? And where do you start? This article will point you to some good starting places, in a sequence that is manageable and not time consuming. You game?

• New to Helium, have questions? Where do you go? You can get information directly by going to Helium’s Help Guide. Search by topic, and you’ll find answers. If that doesn’t work, head to the Community Boards. Scroll to the bottom of any site page to find these links.
• Want to connect with other Helium writers who share similar interests? Find or start your own Group in Helium beta. Join in discussions and meet other members. Start your own topics to get discussions rolling. Have fun. Use Helium’s keyword search to find writers who write to similar topics and invite them to the Group. Build a mini-community within Helium — one relationship at a time.
• Do you have a Facebook page? Head over to Helium’s new corporate page on Facebook. Become a fan and check out the testimonials Helium writers are leaving. Add your own or get inspired.
• Are you a “tweeter” yet? Twitter is a great way to let folks know what you’re writing and to spread your name recognition. Make sure you head to HeliumWriter on Twitter, and click the box to follow. You’ll get posts daily to learn of the latest opportunities, with abundant chances to extend your network.
• Venture deeper into the professional world of social networking by connecting on Linked In. Do join the Helium.com writers group on Linked In too. Helium writers share networking opportunities and recommendations. This is a great way to build your professional expert writing portfolio.

These are all easy ways to make connections and gradually extend your network of writers and readers on the Internet.

You’ve come to Helium to write, but you’ll find that extending your network expands your writing opportunities. Don’t miss the social networking wave, and make sure you connect with Helium writers everywhere you can.

Writing need not be a lonely profession when you come to Helium and explore the vast opportunities through social media outlets. Get connected and take your writing further!

We’re excited to announce the latest winners of Helium Citizen Journalism Award contests.

Jimmy Nightingale won the 1H20 Citizen Journalism Award by writing about why rivers are straightened and the effect it has on the environment. Be sure to check out more information on this contest and the current winner on the 1h20 website.

Ludmillia Jones won the Center for Responsive Politics/OpenSecrets Citizen Journalism Award by writing about whose voice is being heard the most in the debate on health care reform.

Be sure to check out the current Citizen Journalism contests and let your voice be heard.

Helium is pleased to say that our Fact-Checking Program is stronger than ever and having great success in the second half of 2009.

From Helium’s Lead Fact-checker, Amanda Fox:

The Helium fact checking program has recently reached its six month anniversary, and in that time many things have changed. Slowly but surely the “verified” icon is appearing on site to denote articles which have been vetted for accuracy. In a likewise manner some articles which failed to meet standards for accuracy have been upgraged to do so or removed from site to help raise the level of quality content on site.

Contrary to popular belief, fact checking is a true community initiative in which every Heliumite plays a role. It begins with authors who provide good quality content to be displayed. Those who take the time to do their research and provide solid knowledge articles are the key. The next link in the chain are all the Helium members who take the time to provide good flags for the fact checking team to help identify information on site which may not be correct. The final link is the fact checking team which then investigates each flag and pools their resources to determine the validity of the information presented.

Receiving a notice that your article has failed a fact check can be for some an unnerving experience, however there is no need to feel that way. Each notice will detail what information is in question, and provide an online resource to allow the author to investigate this as well so they can make a determination of what steps they will take regarding their article. An author may agree with the findings of the fact check team and make the noted correction. In some cases an author may disagree and chosse to contest the failure notice.

If an author chooses to contest a failure by contacting content@helium.com, they should forward the entire notice they were sent along with the reason why they feel their information is correct and any supporting sources. The information is then reviewed again by a third party and a determination is made along with an explanation to the author for the decision reached. The key to the entire process is communication between the author and the fact checking team.

As an entire community this is a program which can grow and thrive and be a major factor in what helps set Helium apart from all other writing sites on the web. Solid information people can depend on elevates the profile of Helium as a whole which benefits each of us as members and the visitors we attract. With each member doing their share of providing accurate content, taking time to flag incorrect information, and enlisting in the fact checking corps to help verify iformation, we all reap rewards.

Amanda and the rest of the fact-checking team have taken on a Herculean endeavor on Helium and the appreciation, as well as the angry emails, means the program is certainly working as planned.

Helium also recently heard from a member of a reputable journalism organization (we’re not able to say who and where at this time) who was amazed and delighted to hear that Helium was actually fact-checking articles like a reputable newspaper or magazine. The value added here, especially for the Marketplace and stock content program, is huge.

Couple this with the fact that Wikipedia recently started using a color-code system to convey how reputable the online editor/source is. According to Daniel Ionescu at PC World, “Starting this fall, text from new or questionable sources will be signalled with a bright orange background, while trusted authors will get a lighter shade … the more people view and edit new text on Wikipedia, the more “trust” the initial edits get, turning from orange to white.”

Helium is leading the pack of community-sourcing content publishers when it comes to creating a solution that verifies the content being sold is reputable and factually correct.

Here’s to another six months of fact-checking success!

Fact checking tip: If you see an article that is factually incorrect, please flag it for “Incorrect Information” and don’t forget to be specific about what informaiton is wrong within the article.

(Do you have editing or fact-checking experience? Are you a young magazine or newspaper writer looking for more experience? Maybe you’re a journalism student looking to get your foot in the door. If you want to become part of the fact-checking team, sign up today.)

Helium has discovered a correlation between user images and Marketplace success rates.

Helium writers with a professional image, name and bio are receiving 75% of all Marketplace and stock content sales.

We’ve also been hearing from an increasing number of publishers who’ve said they are more likely to purchase articles and give byline credit to Helium members with a real name for a pen name and a professional looking photograph.

In our constant push for quality and for members to represent themselves in the best possible manner, we recommend that all of our members upload a professional looking photograph, use a real name for a pen name and write a professional bio on their About Me pages.

These are three easy steps that can help you pave the way to continued success on Helium.

Here are a few titles and articles here that will provide more information on making the most of your About Me page:

• Tips for creating a good About Me page
• Guidelines for presenting yourself professionally on Helium
• Why you should put your picture and bio on your Helium About Me page

Still have questions? Feel free to contact one of your Site Stewards, who are featured on channel pages throughout the site.

CNN has pulled the TV spot featuring M.J. Joachim this morning. However, the feature will appear on www.cnn.com later today. We’ll post a link when it is available.

Watch Helium’s own M. J. Joachim (aka Teresa DePoy) on CNN News between 7 to 8 and 8 to 9 am tomorrow morning (09/04/09) Eastern Standard Time for her investigative reporting expose of Essaywriters.net.

Essaywriters.net advertises “where good writers make great pay.” After writers face what seems like a thoughtful application process, they begin getting writing assignments. The assignments, however, come from students paying to get their homework done for them. Read M.J’s article Website reviews: Essaywriters.net, and send a shout out to her for getting her work noticed on national TV.

Robert Ruff, a producer at CNN, contacted M.J. about a month ago, after reading her article on Helium. Her research provided an inside glimpse into how innocent writers get sucked into Essaywriters.net’s false claims.  M.J. said Ruff, at first, was looking for a writer who contributed to the site. But M.J’s experience of getting sucked in initially for good pay, only to discover a dishonorable student hiring her, provided an effective first-hand account.

In this interview M.J. was watching out for her colleagues at Helium too: “I mentioned Helium in my original interview, and brought up the site when they filmed me working too.  Hope it gives Helium more hits and our writers more page views.”

The interview was interviewed by live feed in a local studio, and a local film crew also came to her home. See for yourself tomorrow morning: CNN News 7 to 8 and 8 to 9 am Eastern Standard Time.  This will also be available online. We’ll keep you posted!

Thanks M.J. for making us all Helium proud!

Helium is excited to announce our new partnership with R.R. Donnelley, a global provider of integrated communications.

With this relationship, Helium can leverage R.R. Donnelley’s vast business network of publishers, content providers and other partners to bring countless writing and business opportunities to our members. Likewise, R.R. Donnelley can now take advantage of the various products and stable of talented writers in Helium’s knowledge cooperative to increase its content offerings to worldwide partners.

To say that the business potential for everyone involved is huge would be quite an understatement. We can’t wait to bring more writing opportunities to our members, as well as continue to show the world what Helium writers are capable of.

Be sure to read the press release and stay tuned for future freelance assignments through the Helium Marketplace.

So early Wednesday a new release was pushed to Helium.  The boards have been active with people asking what exactly we did, what it affected, and what new features they can expect.

This release contained several bug fixes – including the “featured article” fix.  However, the vast majority of it was devoted to improving, upgrading and expanding Helium’s widgets.

You may have noticed that for awhile now we’ve had a “get a widget for this title” link at the top of article and list pages (as well as side by side for debates).  This enables anyone to get what we call a “public widget.”  This means that all the links go back to Helium, it has standard branding, and goes to the top article for a title.

With this new release we now have “partner widgets.”  This means partners of Helium can get special widgets that can point either to Helium or to their own site.  Why would they want a widget that points to their site?  Simple – for our new full article widget.

The current public widget is what we call our “top article” widget.  A top article widget points to – you guessed it – the top article (articles in a debate) in the title.  It contains a “teaser” blurb and then links to Helium to read the full article.  However, if a partner has a full article widget they can instead point the “read more” link to that on their site.  This widget will display – you guessed it again – the full text of the article on their site.

What does this mean for you, the Helium user?  More exposure for your articles.  More people seeing Helium content on partner sites, following links from there to Helium, joining Helium and growing our ranks.  More writers, more content, more revenue, and more earnings for you being the end result.

So, directly, there weren’t many features that you, the average user, gets to play around with in this build.  Indirectly though, the benefits are there.

Remember that although you can’t always see what we did or have a tangible feature that you can use that doesn’t mean that we haven’t tweaked something behind the scenes – to either make you more money, optimize the site (SEO or performance wise), or do some other small change that improves the overall Helium experience.

And don’t worry – some of those cool tangible features that you get to play around with are coming soon in near future builds.  But that’s for another post in the near future.

I hope this helps.