Freelance-ology: My Helium Experiment Begins

I’ve been dropping snark bombs on Helium.com.  It’s time to give them a second chance—and let the scientific method decide if content aggregators are friends or foes to freelance writers.

A couple weeks ago Tim Beyers, a far-more-successful-yet-nonetheless-fellow freelance writer, took a flying drop kick at the virtual hornet’s nest that is content aggregation while guest blogging for WordCount’s Michelle Rafter.

Donning one of those fancy beekeeper’s hats and getting out my hornet’s nest poking stick, I also took a stab against content aggregators and other traffic-driven profit models for writers, comparing Helium.com to the Hindenburg, the famous Nazi zeppelin that exploded in 1937.

But here’s a little secret that the many people who commented on that post apparently failed to notice: the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, not helium.  Helium, sitting on the far right column of the Periodic Table of Elements, is an inert gas and doesn’t combust under normal circumstances.

Nope, because Helium has one extra proton, it’s as harmless as a sea cucumer.  In fact, helium is one of the seven Noble Gases, making it sound like the name of some anthropomorphic sea cucumber king with a recurring role in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I’m ashamed of myself for trying to slip bad science past the general public and for bashing on Helium the Sea Cucumber King, benevolent friend to all hobbits.  After all, hobbits are fabulous!  Such a gentle, noble race:

"You shall not sully the good name of an inert gas!"

Even though I wasn’t busted by the Webb of Science and not even Pharyngula’s amusingly godless PZ Myers, I feel that I owe the scientific community—especially hobbit and elf scientists—a debt of retribution.  And, more importantly, I owe Helium.com a second chance to prove its nobility.

So, I’ve decided to conduct a little scientific experiment in the newly minted field of Freelance-ology.  For the next eight weeks, I will upload written content to Helium.com and periodically report on the results of my efforts.  There are many aspiring writers (and a healthy number of struggling veterans) in the world that have been asking the question: Is writing for content aggregators like Helium.com profitable and rewarding? I hope to answer that question.

As a control comparison, I am also participating in a Summer Query Challenge with my fellow subscribers at Freelance Success.  I will submit greater-than-usual number of queries and letters of introduction to editors and publishers—the traditional business marketing methods of most freelance writers.  I will track the results of my “old school” efforts and compare them side-by-side with the “new school” freelance writing model.

I’ve signed up with Helium.com, received the confirmation email, and I’m ready to begin.  But first, I wanted to ask for input.

Since I’ve been openly skeptical of and biased against Helium,  how should I set up this experiment to ensure objectivity?  Can traditional freelancing be compared to the new content aggregator model?