Disappointed, Frustrated and Angry
Can I rant for a minute? Yes? Good.
As you may know, I spent a good bit of time back in March and April doing an experiment with the article directory site Helium. I had some amazing success, earning more than $1000 writing part time over 40 days. The potential for residual income seemed to be high, as well, and if my Helium work continued to earn the same rate it had been earning, I’d have been looking at $100 a month or so in residual income.
I detailed my experiences here, and even wrote a few posts telling you how to do well in Helium contests. I even put together a report detailing my experiences and offering advice on how writers can make money at Helium.
Some of my readers joined Helium and experienced some success. At least one managed to sell an article in the Marketplace, and another won money in a writing contest.
So, why am I disappointed, frustrated and angry? Here’s why:
- The changes to Helium’s earnings policy have turned the potential $100 a month into around $3 a month. They’ve claimed to be making changes to the structure, but after several weeks of waiting I’ve not seen it.
- The rate of recursive income my recruits are getting is scary, if Helium is doing things the way it says it is. I’ve recruited nearly 40 writers, of which I should be getting a 5% bonus based on their earnings. To date, that’s been $.05. This means my 40 recruits have earned about $1 - total - between all of them.
- Helium claimed they were going to make changes to the article writing interface, offering more exposure to the author and possibly outbound links. This has yet to be done.
- The contest structure has been revamped, with about half the weekly amount of prizes.
I’ve been one of Helium’s most vocal advocates in the blogosphere, and have recruited a good number of writers. Helium’s changes and failure to follow through have made me look bad. The fact that my 40 recruits have earned $1 makes me look like a shill.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Helium. I want it to work. I like the combination of the marketplace, contests, and residual earnings. I’m also a big advocate for the ratings system. Helium has the potential to be the greatest of all the article directories.
But I earned more money last month with five eHow articles that I wrote in January and February than I earned with the nearly-400 articles I have on Helium. My dozen or so Associated Content articles did about the same that Helium did.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t come up with a good excuse for that.
None.
So, what will change my mind, bring me back on board with Helium? There are three things Helium needs to do to regain credibility:
- Restructure their payment formula to be at least within striking distance of other directories.
- Offer at least one outbound “resource” link in each article.
- Figure out what they’re doing with contests, both in terms of structure and rankings, and stick to it.
What will NOT help is the status quo.
So, what do you think? Was it a mistake for me to promote them to begin with? Am I being too harsh? What else could Helium do to restore credibility? How is Helium doing for you these days?
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Tell It Like It Is
One of the biggest problems I had in grad school was the ethics involved in writing research papers.
Now, I’m not talking about plagiarism or anything like that. This was much more subtle.
We were expected, when writing papers, to have a thesis and support it. That’s pretty standard, I think, for most types of non-fiction writing. Build your argument, provide evidence, that sort of thing. But, there was something we weren’t allowed to do: point out potential weaknesses in our arguments. You leave that to others in the field who will, no doubt, offer up critical thought on your work. Only after they raise objections do you address potential problems with your thesis.
In other words, you can’t tell it like it really is.
To me, this seemed irresponsible. Why? For several reasons:
- Others can completely miss a weakness that you’ve readily identified. Your argument, then, stands not on its own merit but on the lack of insight on the part of your critics.
- Failure to point out potential problems with your argument prevents others from finding solutions to that problem. You eliminate your cheering section and defenders.
- This approach only provides a singular view of the topic. The paper exists in a vacuum, speaking only to itself and, in many ways, only being heard by like-minded folks.
- Leaving out important information in this context is, in my mind, akin to deception.
In some ways, copywriting is a lot like writing graduate research papers. When you’re writing copy, you write about the positive points of a product or service - its features or benefits. You don’t write about potential problems with the product or about how another product might function in a similar way. You restrict the flow of information and leave it to the consumer to discover the counter-arguments or problems on their own. If you don’t, your copy doesn’t convert.
Is this good or bad? Do the ethics of academic research apply to the ethics of copywriting? Should academic research take the same approach as copywriting? Is it possible to tell it like it really is when writing copy and still make sales?
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The Dangers of Success
Ganesha, Hindu God of Success
Anyone who’s been freelance writing for any amount of time can probably tell you about the feast-or-famine cycle of what we do. Like any other small business, the freelance writer is subject to a number of forces beyond his control, not the least of which is the market itself.
But sometimes, it isn’t feast-or-famine. Sometimes, it’s just enough. Your kids are fed, your mortgage is paid up and you’ve even managed to take up a golf habit without breaking the bank. Life is good.
So, what’s the problem? A steady income doing something you love - that’s the dream, isn’t it?
Yes and no. Yes, that’s certainly part of the dream, but that’s not the dream itself.
My First Writing Client
I’ve told you all my story, about how I got into Internet writing, and about how I spent those early days as a Jewish woman in Atlanta. What I haven’t told you, at least not directly, is that that first client was my only client for more than two years. She paid well, and I was still working on my Master’s degree, so it wasn’t as if I needed a long list of clients. She also provided a ton of encouragement, constantly telling me how lucky she was to have me.
I was comfortable; successful.
So, I didn’t really look for other work. My parenting and pregnancy gig paid the bills, at least the part of the bills my student loans and Angie’s job didn’t cover.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, or at least a trickle. My client just ran out of things for me to write. That was all right with me; I’d become more than a little burnt out on the topic. By my guess I wrote more than 3,000 parenting and pregnancy articles over three years for that client. It was even to the point where I was writing slowly and losing productivity because I’d rehashed the same topics so many times.
Branching Out
When the pregnancy writing slowed, I did a few things to try to replace that work. First,I opened my roleplaying blog and a work-at-home mom blog. Neither was especially successful. The RPG blog is still up, and I’m treating it entirely as a hobby. The WAHM blog is gone, although I’ve got it in a WordPress backup file and have thought many times about a relaunch.
I also began bidding on projects at the freelance sites - Guru.com, Scriptlance.com, Elance.com, etc. I garnered a few clients from those sites, but nothing stellar. Again, it was enough to get by.
In retrospect, I didn’t branch out soon enough. Had I been smart about it, I’d have leveled off my pregnancy writing slowly, rather than sucking that well until it was dry. I think I’d have become less burnt out on the topic, too.
At any rate, my writing career moved into a feast-or-famine cycle. Mostly, it was famine. The work I was finding just didn’t pay what I needed, and there wasn’t enough of it.
That’s the thing about hunger, though; it will motivate you. That lack of steady work forced me to be on my toes, and find clients wherever I could. Eventually, I found a steady gig.
The Contract
Finally, after a good long while, I landed a big writing contract. It was steady work with unlimited potential. The pay was low, but I could write as much or as little as I wanted. On top of all that, it was a three-year contract. I was going to be set for a while. The topics were varied, if not interesting, and the client used a bulky interface to upload the work, but it was steady. I kept a few smaller clients on the side, but nothing significant in terms of volume.
I was humming along, quite content to work way too much for way too little. After all, it was a form of success. It paid the bills. I probably would have continued that way, too, if it hadn’t been for this blog.
The Blog
Not long after opening up the Writing Journey, I gained a new client. The pay was, generally, better than my contract work. We quickly established a smooth working relationship. I did good work, and the client liked it. On top of that, the client started throwing all sorts of new types of writing my way, and I was able to delve into niches and styles that I’d never done before. The client even talked about “discovering a gem.” Itt made me think about that first writing client, and how she said she was lucky to have me.
Finally, one day my new client said something that really hit me. “Bob,” she said, “Get out of that little freelancer mindset and start rocking things. You’re better than this.”
Success had, once again, made me complacent. My client was calling me out on it, and she was right to do so.
Helping Internet Writers Achieve Their Dreams
In part, that conversation was responsible for the Dream Meme post. It’s all about refocusing, remembering that success isn’t just putting food on the table. It’s about doing something greater. It’s about doing something that benefits my readers, and really making a difference with my writing and with my work. It’s about writing what I want to write. It’s about finding new clients, and being an entrepreneur on top of being a writer.
So, I’ve been doing some work on a couple of levels. First of all, I’m putting the final touches on a services page. You should see that later this week. Second, I’ve spent some quality time working on my writer mentoring program, bringing that project into a clearer focus. In fact, you can expect an announcement on that topic some time in July, and I think you’ll be pleased with it. I’m so geeked about it that I can hardly contain myself.
In short, I’ve been shaken up out of my success nap, and things are hopping.
So, what about you? Have you ever found yourself just sort of getting by? What did you do to stir things up? Or are you stuck with a small mindset, and do you need someone or something to shake you out of it?
Image by Pingu1963
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The Hard Truths of the Writing Life
Meryl Evans, the Content Maven, is an amazing colleague who was hanging around the blogosphere long before most of us had ever heard of blogging. She’s celebrating her 8th year at Meryl.net, and as part of the celebration she’s asked several rockstar freelance writers to put up guest posts.
She asked me to send her one, too 
We talked yesterday about Why Writers Fail, and those can be some hard truths to face. In that same vein, my guest post over at Meryl’s place talks about the hard truths of the writing life.
Go check it out, and give Meryl a visit today to help her celebrate her success, won’t you?
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Why Writers Fail
“That’s not fair!”
I could hear my daughter’s voice three rooms away. Summoning the courage requisite to parent a teenager, I proceeded down the hall with trepidation.
Peering into her bedroom, I asked “What’s wrong, Kate?”
“ERRRGH! I can’t believe this! My stupid History teacher gave me a ‘D’ on my biography project! I HATE her!”
Now, I remember the biography project. This was a project the teacher assigned in December, due in April. I remember Katie working feverishly on that project. She slaved away for about half an hour, the night before it was due.
Of course, that was the only time she’d touched the project. Truth be told, I was surprised she got a passing grade at all.
“Well, Kate,” I was trying to choose my words very carefully. I didn’t want a blow-up over this. “Do you think you deserved better than that?”
“Well, duh! Of course I did. I worked hard on that project! She just hates me. My teacher hates me!” Katie’s eyes were beginning to swell up with tears.
I wanted to give her a big hug, tell her it would be all right. That the teacher was a moron, and that Katie is probably a stronger reader than the teacher (it’s true, too).
I didn’t. I had to tell her the truth.
I sat down on the bed next to her. “Well, Kate, look at it this way. You only put half an hour into it, right? I know you worked hard for that time, but you had four months to work on it. You know as well as I do that you could have done much better on that project. Be glad you got a passing grade, you know?”
“You don’t understand! She’s just mean!” Katie started to cry, uncontrollably.
I held my daughter. “It’s OK, kid. It’s OK. No one hates you. It’s all right.”
I like to believe that, on some level, I got through. I don’t know. I hope I did.
———-
So often in life we look at our situation and say, “This is so unfair.” We blame a teacher, a boss, fate, God, or just dumb luck for our situation. We think that the universe has it in for us.
Fact is, though, sometimes you fail because you screwed up.
It’s as true in the writing life as it is for Katie. Sometimes, writers screw up. But, how? Why do you fail as a writer? There are a few possibilities:
You’re a poor writer
There’s a chance, my friend, that you suck at writing. Maybe you can’t get the grammatical conventions straight. Maybe you can’t spell to save your life. Maybe homophones trip you up every time. Maybe you have a lousy writing voice. Whatever it is, if you don’t write well, you will fail as a writer.
Successful writers hone their craft. They soak up every bit of writing advice they can find. They master the tools of the language and they find their own unique writing voice.
You can’t or won’t sell
I said it last week over at Freelance folder:“You’ll never make it as a freelancer if you don’t get over your fears, get out of your comfort zone and knock on some doors. Your writing does no one service if it sits on your computer alone.”
You can’t be timid if you want to make it as a writer. You’ve got to toot your own horn. You’ve got to identify the value you add and sell the crap out of it. Successful writers sell.
You stink at math
If you don’t know how much time you’re spending in a given week writing compared to how much time you spend doing research, sales or bookkeeping, you will fail as a writer. Miserably. So what if you can write four $5 articles in an hour? That’s not $20 an hour. It’s probably less than $10, before taxes.
To succeed as a writer, you’ve got to keep good books. You need to learn a little bit about accounting, or you hire someone to do it. You know how much time you’re going to write in a week and you don’t underestimate how long it will take to do a project.
Life’s not fair
Sometimes, shit happens. You get sick. You lose a limb. You go through a messy divorce and become horribly depressed, unable to write. Maybe the market in your particular niche dries up, and you can’t competently write in another niche.
Sometimes, you fail because life isn’t fair. The question is, though, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to take the beatdown and whimper off? Or are you going to get mad as hell and beat failure away with a stick?
It’s all up to you. What are you prepared to do? How far are you willing to take it? Your answer will determine your potential for success after you fail.
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