Hello Writers!

We usually approve payments on Wednesday so that they can be processed and sent out by Friday. Because of the Christmas holiday however, payments will be approved by noon on Tuesday, December 23rd so that we can send them out to you by Wednesday, Christmas Eve.

Joyeux Noël!

- The Demand Studios Team

The hard working editorial staff of Demand Studios would like to take a moment out of each month, or perhaps week to highlight some well-written articles by our writers. Since the weather outside is frightful and tis the season to be jolly and chestnuts are roasting on an open fire and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, we thought we would highlight some articles for the season.

• How to Build a Miniature Christmas Village by Erin Haley
• How to Celebrate Christmas During a Financial Crisis by Jennifer Claerr
• How to Celebrate Welsh Christmas by Cherie Brunetti
• How to Come Up with Last-Minute Christmas Gifts by Peggy Epstein
• About Hanukkah by Andrea Campbell
• How to Have a Festive Hanukkah by Angela Coleman
• How to Make Kwanzaa Treat Candles by Kathleen Bunn

If any writers have other favorites, please leave a comment and share!

-Liana

Hello Writers!

We have noticed that some of you have expressed concern over the shortage of available titles in the Demand Studios tool. This situation has to do with us changing our title-production process, not an intention to scale back production. While we are adding hundreds of new titles almost every day, they are being claimed at a faster rate than we can currently keep up with during this change.

We wanted to confirm with all of you that our plans are to aggressively grow the number of assignments available at any given time. You are a prolific and high-quality team of writers and it is our goal to give you as much work as you can handle. Until this shift to the new process is complete, we are working hard this holiday season to add as many titles as possible.

We are gearing up for a huge 2009. The economy may be slumping, but there will be plenty of work available for our writers.

-- The Demand Studios Team

Hello all,

We'll be performing some routine maintenace on thursday, December 18 between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. PST. Please save your work and log out by 6:45 a.m. PST to avoid disruption.

Thanks!

Some of you may have noticed recently that emails sent through the "Contact Us" portion of the Demand Studios website aren't recieving replies. Please know that we are not ignoring you, instead a bug is blocking these emails from ever reaching our inbox. Our developers know about the issue now and they are working to resovle it. For the time being, if you have any questions or concerns... even compliments, please email them directly to editorialteam@demandstudios.com.

Hello Demand Studios writers! Here are some tips from Richard Lally, our managing copy editor...

Do not turn simple acts into multiple steps. For example, you don't "Take 2 cups of lemon juice and 2 cups of apple juice and mix them in a blender." Instead: "Mix 2 cups of lemon juice with 2 cups of apple juice in a blender."

Presume that readers can figure out some things on their own. For "How to Set Up a New Flat Screen TV," you don't need this as Step 1: "Open the box the TV came in. Remove the TV from the box, and then remove the protective packaging and any wrapping from the TV."

Assume the reader knows he must remove items from boxes and packages before he can work with them.

Hello all,



We will be performing some maintenance work between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. PST today. That is less than an hour from now. Please make sure you SAVE your work and log out by 10:45 a.m. PST in order to ensure your work is not disrupted.



If you have trouble when you log back in after 1 p.m. PST, here are a few tips to ensure the site works properly for you:

o Clear private data in Firefox

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Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, we are going to be approving and sending payments to PayPal a day early this week. Payments will be approved late tonight! Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

-Demand Studios Editorial Team

Another series of writing tips from Richard Lally. Enjoy and comment!

• Don't quote anonymous "experts:" Never commit the journalistic taboo of writing "Experts claim," "Many people think," or "Studies show" unless you can name and quote the expert, the person or the study. When people read any of those unsupported openings, they assume the writer is making the fact up himself.

• Don't include what should be a step in your introduction. When you write the introduction, think "Why would I want to read this article? What are it's benefits?" and use the answers as the basis for the intro. The intro should be actively written and contain a compelling tease to draw in the reader.

• Don't overstate: We've actually seen this "Trying to choose a flat screen TV from among the many options is a daunting task." Well, if that's daunting, what would you call facing a grizzly bear with only a fly swatter as a weapon. Refrain from hyperbole and don't make a task or subject more than what it is. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Hello DS writers!

Demand Studios will be performing maintenance work on Tuesday Nov. 25 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. PST. Please save all your work and log out by 12:15 to avoid disruption.