New changes to upfront payments in Helium

Hello, UmiNoor. That's the main problem I have with the change. Helium's upfront payment system set it out from other sites - now earning is a lottery. I agree that standards need to be improved, but it strikes me the good writers will suffer more from this move. Still, I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

I don't like this move, either. However, as you say, Helium is still one of the better paying sites. I think Admin need to come up with a way to convince the consistent writers that they value their input, perhaps with the occasional incentive programme. Helium, are you listening to your loyal writers?

I am in agreement even the best writers will suffer from this change as your intial upfront earnings will be down. Still it is one of the only writing sites to offer upfront payments. Though checking you now have to give them exclusive rights if submitted on the Market Place, so they are paying you $2 for an article with exclusive rights where previously I earned more per article with no exclusivity

Hello, UmiNoor. I agree that something needs to be done about poor writing on Helium, but I think this method punishes the consistent writers, such as ourselves, who write regularly for income. It's going to be a bit of a lottery from now on. Still, I'm comfortable with writing for Helium, so I'll give the new system a chance. And they do say that if the system doesn't work, they'll change it. However, as it's going to mean Helium will pay out less, I can't see that happening.

Yeah it does sound bad I mean I used to plan what articles I was going to suggest then write so all that will most likely go out the window now. Plus $2 minimum an articles is less then what you got for an empty title now if you had five stars which would have got you $3.50

It certainly does I have checked the new market place I will now earn $2 for a number one spot article and $1 for any other article that they except where previously I was making $2.50 or $3.50 for an empty title, plus I will now have to write to the titles that they suggest. And surely the star rating system was meant to help weed out the poorer writers on there anyway?

Yes but depending what kind of articles you write to they offer a lower intial rate. I am a 5 star writer with around 600 articles so writing to an empty title would have earned me $3.50. Now with the changes for example in the hobbies and games section the average article gives $2 for the single best one they choose and $1 to everyone else. As it stands the passive income is the same currently with hints of them possibly making it better but nothing concrete at all. I was also under the impression the editors did check every submitted articles as it was previously, people can still write to topics just with no upfront fee so there will still be articles that are rubbish on there. Just check out some of the stuff that appears on site like Triond (though of course there is lots of good stuff). And to be honest since it will let 3 star writers (3 stars gives you the market place premier writer badge) now right to any article does that not effectively lower the standards as it is easier to get. And the way I understand it you still have to have one star to gain the Market Place approved writer (and if you can get one star basically adding articles to 30 gets you 2 stars) this would have earned you $1 the amount you are currently most likely to get paid, $2 for an article to an empty title, so even new writers are losing out. Still we can but watch and wait and see if the income from articles views increases as they have suggested and the quality of articles increases. Even so it is unpredictable, one of my best earning titles is a review for Deep Heat Rub of all things and other titles you presume would do well (for example World of Warcraft and Starcraft titles though of course competition is fierce) do not. The other thing is the copyright issue any selected market place issue means you give the entire rights for the article to Helium leaving you unable to use it elsewhere, and depending on them to pass on any income earnt. Also remember there is a strong chance they will be paying you only $1 for that.

Helium is still paying upfront but only to titles in the marketplace. And only the chosen best article would receive the upfront payment. I think this is to ensure that only quality articles get what they deserve.

Sadly only Associated Content and they only pay Americans upfront, it a shame maybe it wont effeect earnings but I cant see it.

From what I understand, writing stars are still important with regards to whether you get premium marketplace titles. Other than that I think now all writers can write to marketplace titles. Upfront payment is only applicable to these titles. And not everyone will earn. One writer would be chosen to earn the amount stated for the article and then there will be between two to five other writers who will get credit which will also depend on the quality of the articles submitted. Helium is now focusing more on quality rather than the fastest writer who is able to write within the first five articles to a title.

Yes you still need one star to gain the Market Place Approved Writer and three stars to gain the Premier Market Place Writer. The first allows you to write to some titles and the second allows you to write to all but specalist topics.