Studio Blog

As many of you know, the date for the next round of grant applications is quickly approaching. Many of you have asked what we look for in grant applications, so below you’ll find a few tips, facts and insights to help shape your application:

1. Follow the directions exactly. This may seem like a given, but that includes paying attention to dates (applications are accepted on the 1st through the 7th). Don’t sell yourself short by not following instructions closely enough.

2. Tell us a story. This goes for all of the grants. We received a huge number of grant applications this month and the winning applicants gave us a quick close-up that left a lasting impression. They didn’t use different language, style or voice – they simply told a really honest, vivid story.

3. Pictures can’t hurt. This is especially true of the Professional Resources grant. While it’s not required, it can really help create your story. What’s more effective:  Telling us your laptop’s “A,” “E” and “S” keys are broken, or actually showing us your laptop with the missing keys? Not having a photo won’t put you out of the running, but having one could definitely help you gain an extra edge.

4. Have a definite plan. This goes mainly for the Work/Life Balance grant. Most of us could use an extra $250, but what makes your plans special? What exactly are you going to use it for? Remember, it should be one thing that will serve to balance your work with your life. See April’s grant winners for great examples.

If you have any questions, post them in this forum thread.

Good luck!

We are excited to announce this month’s Grant winners! It was a tough decision to make, but we chose this month’s selections based on the applicants’ vivid stories, dedication to their work and clear desire for the grant.

Our Professional Resources grant goes to CE Sandra Holcombe. Sandra has spent 6 months battling the broken monitor on her laptop. She’s resorted to hooking up the laptop to an ancient monitor on her kitchen table. Sandra’s new laptop will allow her to be mobile, as well as have dinner at the table again.

Our first Work/Life Balance grant goes to writer Juliet Harpe. Juliet has been with the Studio since August 2009. By her own admission, freelance writing keeps her mind sharp, but requires an increasing amount of solitude. She will use the grant to take her family to the Meadowgrass Music Festival in May.



The second Work/Life Balance award goes to CE Theresa Danna, who doesn’t have the funds to meet her 7-month-old great-great niece, Maddie, who lives 200 miles away. What’s more, Maddie will be moving to Alaska with her family next month. With the grant funds, Theresa will now have a chance to see Maddie before she moves away.



Our third Work/Life Balance award goes to writer D.M. Gutierrez, who will use the funds for a new exercise bike. Her last exercise bike helped her lose 70 pounds, lower her blood pressure and brighten her overall outlook on life. This story was truly an inspiration to all of us, and we’re excited to help her replace her broken bike.


The final award goes to a writer who would like to remain anonymous – for now. He’ll be using the award to put toward an engagement ring for his girlfriend of 7 years. We’ve promised to keep his name secret to ruin any surprises, but he’ll be sending photos of the ring and proposal once he’s surprised his soon-to-be fiancée.


Finally, our Short Film grant goes to writer Nicholas Miles for his short film “Reciprocity.” This sci-fi short is about man who learns to travel through time and wants to return to the past and save his murdered girlfriend. We were enthralled by the script and clips, and can’t wait to feature his finished product.

Remember, if you didn’t win this time, you can apply twice more with the same application. It was a tough decision to select just six applications, so don’t get discouraged.


Please join us in congratulating the winners!

Ever wondered about the titling world? Meet two of our Contributor Award titlers, Misha and Dawn.











More advice for someone new to DMS…


“Guidelines. Take them seriously. Understand the formats, know the process, practice the voice, appreciate the sourcing requirements, check the AP Stylebook. Following the guidelines closely will save a writer endless grief and rewrites, and will improve a copyeditor's reviews.” – Mary Kay Linge, Copy Editor




“Expect a learning curve and be grateful when you get feedback from CEs. All writers are edited.” – Wendy Gould, Writer



“Take your time and try not to do too much at once. When I began titling I was making anywhere from $4 to $6 per hour. I wanted to make sure I was doing it right. When you get an audit, take it to heart and fix those mistakes without getting down on yourself. Audits are there to help you improve.” – Kim Kirsch, Titler

Today’s close-up is from a CE winner, Adam O’Connor Rodriguez. Adam shares his top tips to Copy Editors (and writers!) for polishing and perfecting each article.

 
I started working as a CE for DMS as a way to make extra money that also accommodated my insomnia – I sleep less than five hours a night and my most productive hours are often after 2 a.m.

When I started editing here, I had the copyediting part of the job together but didn’t understand gatekeeping. Now I understand that it’s quite simple: don’t publish the bad articles; publish the good ones.

I now have a “smell test” for gatekeeping DMS articles. I ask, “Does this article provide useful information to the reader that’s at least 75 percent relevant to the title? Do I stumble over the writing? Is the article written within 85 percent of DMS guidelines?” If it meets those criteria, I do whatever I can to edit and accept. I hate rejecting articles, because it means I didn’t do my best work just as often as it means the writer didn’t.

Writing great rewrite requests is another key to being a great CE. Pointing out what’s wrong does little good without clear steps to fix the problems. I actually use numbered lists to detail the problems and solutions. I go down the list and if the writer fixes all of the material problems, I do whatever’s possible to accept. If the references aren’t formatted correctly or there’s a minor style violation or one step doesn’t begin with an actionable verb, I edit and approve, so long as the serious problems are addressed. We’re copy editors; line editing should be the easy part.

Other good advice for CEs (and writers, too):

1. Learn DMS guidelines and best practices inside and out.

2. DMS editing isn’t like other editing jobs – gatekeeping is 50 percent of the work; giving clear, constructive rewrite requests is 30 percent and the remaining 20 percent is the minutiae of copyediting – fixing commas, smoothing an awkward phrase, enforcing minor style issues.

3. Trust each other. It often seems like there’s an “us versus them” mentality between CEs and writers. There’s no need for that. As a CE, I treat every writer like they’re an honest professional and I know I can expect the same treatment. Snide comments or an unreasonable request on any side of the communication is unnecessary.




More ideas for writing and editing great articles…

“Prioritize quality over quantity. I know it's easy to say if you don't have bills to pay. Still, you have to set a threshold and stick to it. I kept thinking of something one of my combat shooting instructors used to say a lot: ‘Speed is fine, but accuracy is final.’ It applies equally well here; prioritize accuracy, and the speed will come.” – Pete Gatlin, Copy Editor


 
“Learn the guidelines. Next, read the important ‘sticky’ threads in the forum such as ‘Why Your Overview Matters.’ Then, browse through forum topics and read those that offer advice and tips. A gold mine of valuable information exists, not only in recent threads, but posts that are years old.” Kevin Lee, writer


 
 “Don’t hesitate to communicate with your copy curator, copy chief and other copy editors when you have questions and suggestions. The Demand community is a mother lode of experience, expertise, resources and support—take advantage of it.” – Bud Knecht, Copy Editor

Today we have a blog post from LIVESTRONG.COM winner Andrea Cespedes. Andrea shares how she started writing for Demand Media Studios and how she fits writing into her hectic lifestyle. Read more about Andrea at her blog, http://www.fitnessbetweenfriends.com.

I must admit, I am a food diary junkie. I’ve tried about a dozen different ones, but always come back to The Daily Plate. When using it one day back in the summer of 2009, I saw an ad to write for LIVESTRONG.COM.

I’d always had aspirations to be a freelance writer – I’d won creative writing awards while at Princeton and even dallied with food writing after culinary school – but had never really figured out where to start. That was August 2009, and I wrote a whopping 2 articles that month for eHow. I thoroughly researched each one – printed out pages and pages of studies -- and was bolstered when an editor gave me big props for one.

In the beginning, I made my share of mistakes. I did not pay much attention to formats – back then there were almost too many to count. I’d get rewrites because I wrote to the wrong format. I kind of just dove in without reading the guidelines. What’s more, I over-researched. I would have far too much information and articles would be so long that it took time to trim them down. I even chose articles that were “writable,” but took a lot of extra research because I did not have inherent knowledge of the subject.

Eventually, I started using tips from people in the forums to streamline my writing process. Particularly useful tips included sticking to writing about things you know and abandoning titles when they take too long to write.

Over time, I’ve started to develop my own tricks. I write all my articles in Word and run spell and grammar checks. I also look for words I tend to repeat and use the thesaurus function often to add variety. I have a number of go-to references memorized. Sometimes I even use blacklisted references to get information and then find acceptable references that say the same thing.

Perhaps my best piece of advice is what to do when you’re not writing. Honestly, I don’t always feel inspired to write. During those times I look for new titles, add pictures to titles in my queue or fill in references and key words.

Other than that, I multi-task and work hard all the time – there’s no magic, just plain determination. I get up at 4:00 am almost every day to finish one or two articles before I teach a 5:30 am cycle or kickboxing class. Try to finish another in the morning between 8:30 am and 10:00 am and then do my best to fit other writing in after 12:15 when my son goes to preschool and I have about 3 hours to myself. My computer is in the kitchen/living area so I can always write while making dinner, assisting with homework and pretending to watch Icarly with my daughter. I set a goal to do at least 4 articles per day, but really try to write more. It’s not easy, however. I teach about 25 group fitness classes per week, act as a consultant for Gold’s Gym here in Colorado Springs, have four personal training clients weekly and am training for a marathon. I also have two kids and a husband…and a very messy house.




More tips on achieving your daily goals…

“Choose topics that are enjoyable and teach you something. That way, you grow as a person as well as a writer.” – Barbara Dunlap, Writer

“I used to purposely look for titles that interested me, but were about subjects I didn’t know much about.  I thought that would put me in the position of the reader looking for valid “how to” or background information on the subject. I still try to do that, and I recommend that to new editors as a way to ease into this.” – Ward Triplett, Copy Editor

“When, where and for how long I work day to day is closely tied to my other obligations, namely homeschooling my children. I've learned to adapt and change things up quickly as life throws me the inevitable curve balls. Sometimes that means getting up at 4:30 in the morning to get a few hours of work in before the kids get up. Sometimes it means picking one day a week to send the kids off with family so I can have my own little all-day DMS Titling Fest in order to meet my goals for the week.” – Stephanie Hoyt, Titling

Since we announced our Contributor Awards, we’ve heard many of you ask how our editorial team decided who is the “best of the best.”
   
Truth be told, it was hard. Our editorial team spent hours poring over our writers, copy editors, titlers and bloggers, trying to decide what exactly constitutes “best.” It was a close race but in the end, we chose winners based on impeccable work, passion for Demand Media Studios and dedication to always getting better.

But that’s not the only question we received. So many of you also want to know: what’s their secret?

To uncover the secrets, tips and tricks of our top contributors, we conducted interviews, sent out surveys and commissioned videos to truly surface their secrets. Throughout the week, we’ll be featuring an interview, blog or video from at least one of our winners.

To kick off the series, we wanted to share some top tips from a variety of our winners. We’ll continue to share more tips, along with a featured winner each day.


“Create a ‘flow’ that works for you. Last year I was completing my first novel. For a while, my goal was to work for X-number of hours on fiction and X-number on articles daily. But I gave myself permission to spend more time on my novel if it was really flowing...and equal permission to work on articles if I met a creative slump or needed to let a part of my novel marinate.” – August McLaughlin, writer

“Mornings are best [for writing], but all too often I ended up with late nights to get as much done as I could for the day. And I hate doing that. The more you accomplish early, the better you feel to keep going and pull off a great goal for the day. Nothing feels better than knowing you've written X amount of articles by lunchtime. Makes the rest of the day less stressful to be over the hump.” – James Highland, writer

“The difference between how I edit now and when I began is that I…look through the entire piece before I start editing to get a feel for it and to judge whether I think I can approve on first read or will have to send back, which then informs how closely I edit.” – Suzanne Tarrant, Copy Editor