Writers who market their work through Helium have earned a total of more than $1 million since the online writing community launched in 2006 Helium said Monday.
Helium said half those earnings were generated in the past six months. "At present over 1 000 Helium writers have earned more than $100 and top earners have made over $5 000 in a matter of months " Helium said.
It said traffic on Helium.com has jumped 70% in the past six months.
"This milestone represents definitive proof that there is a real market for writers to be compensated for their work online " Helium CEO Mark Ranalli said in a statement. "In the midst of increasing volatility in the traditional media industry Helium is attracting thousands of publishers and connecting them with high quality subject matter experts on a regular basis."
Media outlets including many newspapers can buy articles through Helium s Freelance Writing Marketplace. The articles are rated by peers.
Helium has established links with newspapers including Hearst Newspapers which uses it to get local and lifestyle editorial content for Web sites including hyper-local sites.
Helium recently formed partnerships with the Society of Professional Journalists and The National Press Club.
Helium calls itself "the world s largest community of writers " and says writers have published more than 1.25 million articles on 125 000 unique topics.
By E&P Staff
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/departments/newsroom/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003974037
