Local writer finds success online

By Angie Thompson/senior reporter

TIFTON — A retired high school literature and creative writing teacher found an outlet for her love for writing and in the process was named Helium’s top earner for 2008.

Holle Abee taught British literature, world literature and creative writing at Tift County High School for 17 years before retiring in 2008. When Abee gave her students a writing assignment, she would also write on the topic and share her writing with her students.

“I love to write and usually wrote with my students,” Abee said. “It was good modeling for them.”

Abee was surfing the Internet a little over a year ago and by accident she stumbled across Helium, a Web site for writers to share their work for possible publishing in newspapers, magazines and other publications. She said the company is a good place for people who are just starting to “dabble” in writing because the site offers peer critiques and other services that helps people improve their writing.

The first story Abee, a grandmother of six, wrote and published on the site was a short story about her grandson and his fishing experience in the Florida panhandle.

“I sold it for $16 and I was tickled to death that someone wanted to publish it,” Abee said. “Since then, I’ve sold $100 to $200 articles but I haven’t had the same excitement as I had with that first $16 article.”

Abee has written about everything from bass fishing to anniversary gifts to hidden gems in Florida and vegetarian recipes on a budget.

Last fall, Helium became the first writing Web site to offer upfront payments for all new articles written. Writers can also earn shares from advertising revenue and win cash prizes from Helium’s weekly writing contests and have their work published by one of the publishing partners in Helium’s Freelance Writing Marketplace.

Abee said the length of the article she writes doesn’t necessarily determine the amount of money she will earn from writing it.

“I wrote a $200 article about the best horse breeds for trail riding and it was not very long,” Abee said.

Since its inception in 2006, Helium’s writers have published over 1.25 million articles on 125,000 topics. The topics publishers are looking for are advertised on the Web site and several writers can submit articles on that topic. The publisher chooses which article to use based on a set of criteria.

Abee said she found it interesting that some people use the Web site to improve their English skills.

“There are some who use it that English is not their first language,” Abee said. “There are people who have Ph.Ds, there are professional writers and a lot of teachers who also use the Web site.”

Abee said that she enjoys expressing herself through the written word and would encourage others to do the same.

“One of the questions on the Helium profile asked why I write,” Abee said. “I write because if I didn’t, my head would explode.”

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.

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