How do you start making money by writing?

You can make money online writing if you are willing to write a lot, willing to work your way up to earning a decent amount, and if you have the time and energy to put into it. It will start out making pennies, then dollars, and may take awhile before it makes anything worth being excited about. However, it can be very rewarding. Fiction doesn't do very well and your best bet is to go with non-fiction articles. I write for several sites. I feel that the best option, if you are serious about money making is to diversify so that if one site goes under you have another to pick up where you left off at. However, it takes a lot of work and a lot of time. I make at least $150 a month from the work I have already done. Last month I had surgery and didn't work most of the month and found this out. I make about $500-700 a month when I work. That is still growing nicely and the more work I do the better it is (plus it is growing that passive income). If you are interested in learning more you can check out my profile and my blog. (Link is available in my profile).

someone said to me about the comparison between helium and triond, that the latter pays well than the former. i could not speak for helium since i am not a member there but i could tell you great stories of triond. lem'me start it this way and first thing that you should know in order for you not to follow my footsteps. triond is strict with sole propriety if your article, poem, journal, short stories, etc that it wasn't published yet in any publication even your own site. so if you in anyway posted it in your website then remove it before you gonna submit it to them. triond ain't that hard and strict as long as it's your own composition/s and not yet published. i've been enjoying the fruit of my labor everyday and the earnings have been increasing everyday. what i did was to email the site where i posted my approved and published articles to my friends and basically to everyone that i knew. i posted it also in a non paid forum and people just kept on coming thinking that i just started with it exactly 15 days ago. even if you don't do that, triond itself will do the rest but if you want to augment and increase your earnings then that's one of the solutions. the more articles you submit and published the better is your earning and the fastest it goes up.

I am on Triond myself, i only have 3 articles (one that is pending approval) so i don't really know how good that site pays but I'm sure I'll find out eventually. I just signed up for helium today but i haven't go much done there. I am looking to make extra money by writing myself and when i have a decent portfolio of work I'm going to look into freelance writing.

Well, if you would like to learn and see the sites that will make you money for writing articles then you need to check this site out http://www.squidoo.com/monetize-your-digital-content

Helium is a great place to start. I like the overall structure of the site. I started writing for them last year and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed it. I also like Associated Content. I haven't used it enough to say that I know all of it's features, but it's still worthwhile. And here's two more great sites; Storymash and Triond.