Studio Blog

We like to give kudos to those DMS community members who go above and beyond what is asked of them to make our community great. We want to spotlight those who are active and positive contributors in our forums, on our Blog, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. It's our creators who make us great and you deserve to be recognized!

This week we want to give Community Kudos to Studio writer and titler Vickie Ferguson.

Vickie has been working with Demand Media Studios for well over three years now. As a constant voice in the community forums, Vickie is always ready and willing to answer questions for both new and seasoned members of the Studio community. She is always encouraging and willing to provide her insight as a Demand Media Studios veteran.

If you see Vickie in the forums, be sure to give her kudos of your own. Thanks and congratulations, Vickie!

PM us with your contact info & we'll send you a DMS T-shirt & some other goodies to say,

Thank You!

Congratulations to this month’s winners!

Our Professional Resources grant goes to writer Chrissy Carol. In July her apartment building was destroyed in a major fire. Living on the top floor, all of Chrissy’s personal belongings were destroyed, including her computer. She is currently using her boyfriend’s computer but is need of a long-term solution. We are happy to help Chrissy get back on her feet, and get back to writing, after the ordeal and destruction of the fire last July. We wish you all the best Chrissy! Some photos of the apartment fire are included below:

 

Our first Work/Life Balance grant goes to writer Zoe Glass. Just finishing her Master’s in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, she hopes to attend her graduation ceremony this November. Currently living with her family back in the US, she is saving up to travel back to Scotland for the occasion. The first member of her family to earn a post-grad degree, we want to help Zoe celebrate. Zoe will use the grant award funds to purchase a new dress to make her big day even more memorable. Congratulations Zoe! 

The second Work/Life Balance award goes to writer William Kinsey, who has a full-time job and writes for Demand Media Studios to support his family. With two young children, William and his wife work hard to keep their house in order which often means they don’t get time to themselves, outside the home. His wife home schools the kids, supports William and keeps their house in order. William wants to treat his wife to a night out on the town to say ‘thank you’ for all she does and we are happy to help!

Our third Work/Life Balance winner is writer Anita Dualeh. A LIVESTRONG.COM and Home & Garden writer, Anita hopes to raise her own chickens. What would be a welcome change of pace away from the computer, investing in laying hens would allow her and her family to enjoy fresh eggs and would enhance their collective gardening endeavors. From cultivating the soil, providing manure for fertilizer, to foraging weeds and garden pests, raising chickens would allow Anita to strengthen her health/ home & garden expertise and we cannot wait to see the results!

The final Work/Life Balance award will go to filmmaker Jay Windland. A stay-at-home dad, Jay would like to use this grant to support his professional endeavors. With their previous access to inexpensive childcare no longer an option, Jay has found himself caring for their two children (ages 1 and 4) which leaves little time for himself to pursue his filmmaking career. Jay will put these funds toward childcare in order to free up some time for himself and his career.

We are also excited to announce our newest All Access winner, DMS writer Shannon George. Shannon wrote to us expressing her desire to attend the Southern California Writer’s Conference in San Diego this winter. A creative non-fiction writer, Shannon hopes to publish a book and has written several creative essays- one of which will be published in the next issue of the literary journal “Two Hawks Quarterly.” Attending this conference will allow Shannon to attend writing workshops, panels, and networking events. The workshops will help Shannon refine her craft while the networking events will allow her to meet and connect with editors and agents. We wish Shannon all the best as she pursues her professional goals and we can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Remember, if you didn’t win a grant this time, you can apply twice more with the same application. We also accept All Access applications on a rolling basis and we look forward to reading yours! It was a tough decision to select this month’s winners, so don’t get discouraged.

Please join us in congratulating the winners!

A few months ago we introduced the DMS community to Booklr, a social media and promotional platform for writers and published authors. They have made a few exciting changes and we are happy to announce that we will continue to work with Booklr to offer our community exclusive access to their premium offerings.

With Booklr, you can share your writing with others, read and review your peers' work, publish eBooks, as well as market and socialize your own published works.

We know that many of you are working on your own creative projects and we are excited to work with Booklr to help you reach your goals. Going forward, all DMS contributors will receive three months of free access to Booklr's Premium Writer Tools (a $297 value!). These tools will be especially beneficial to those who have published, or are hoping to publish, their own books.

With this service, you can track your social media interaction and influence via Twitter and Klout, get detailed geo & demographic data on your fans and followers, and track your book sales and review data. This unique data will help you better understand your readers and sales trends as you market your books.

For information on how to get 3 months free of Booklr's premium service please visit this forum thread. We hope you'll take advantage of this awesome perk!