Monkey Outta Nowhere

Publishing Panel

The next meeting of the networking group Social Media Breakfast in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (SMBMSP) will feature a panel on publishing including our own Kevin D. Hendricks. Our head monkey is honored to be included on the panel with three other local publishing pros. The event is on Friday, Jan. 28 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel.

Monkey in a Box

We're trained to write, edit and roller-skate. But what does that mean for you? Telling clients we do writing and editing doesn't always give a clear picture of how we can help.

So we've put together some simple packaged services. They give a clear idea of what we do, who needs it, why you need it and what it costs.

The idea is that you can easily see how Monkey Outta Nowhere can work for you.

We're all about content that tells your story and connects with people. Check out our packages and let's connect.

HalogenTV

In late 2010 Monkey Outta Nowhere began blogging for the cable network HalogenTV. The network's motto is "be the change". They covers stories that matter, including causes, world-changers, green innovations, art, technology and more.

Our own Kevin D. Hendricks has written over 30 blog posts since October, covering everything from Haiti to street art to a solar-powered cinema.

Here's a sampling of some of the posts he's written:

Open Our Eyes

Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness is a manual to motivate action. The book features the real stories of homeless people and gives insight into what it's really like to be homeless:

"I had it all and ended up on the streets." -Elvin
"I put a smile on my face for my kids' sake." -Cecilia
"I'm hoping I can survive another day." -Eddie

Inspired by homeless advocate Mark Horvath and his work with the nonprofit InvisiblePeople.tv, the book also features reflections from more than 20 social media experts, nonprofit heroes and technology executives, including Trust Agent author Chris Brogan, Ford's social media guru Scott Monty and renowned mom blogger Jessica Gottlieb. Each contributor shares their own perspective on homelessness and how Horvath's inspiring example has impacted them. The book also includes common misconceptions about homelessness and suggestions for how to get involved and make a difference.

All proceeds from the book support the work of InvisiblePeople.tv.

Monkey Outta Nowhere published the book, recruiting Brian White of TriLion Studios for the cover design, Ronald Cox for the interior design, Bradley Watson for writing, and Josh Cody and Michael Buckingham for ideas and support. The book is truly a collaborative feat and an effort to give back to InvisiblePeople.tv.

New Book Project: Open Our Eyes

Monkey Outta Nowhere is proud to launch a second book project of 2010. After Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters successfully raised more than $5,700 to build a well in Ethiopia, now we're releasing Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness on Nov. 9 to support InvisiblePeople.tv.

The book offers a gritty glimpse into the life of homelessness, sharing personal stories from 35 homeless people. It's an opportunity to move beyond the stereotypes and see that homeless people are still people.

"I put a smile on my face for my kids' sake," says Cecilia, a homeless mother of two. "My biggest challenge is to be a successful mother."

Interspersed with those real life stories are reflections from social media experts, nonprofit heroes, technology executives and more, sharing their perspective on homelessness and the work of homeless advocate Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.tv. You'll also find common myths about homelessness debunked and suggestions for how you can get involved.

It's a manual to motivate action and 100% of the proceeds will go to the nonprofit InvisiblePeople.tv.

Contributors include: Brad Abare, Chris Brogan, Wendy Cohen, Lee Fox, Jessica Gottlieb, Alan Graham, David Henderson, Jeff Holden, Michael Ian, Becky Kanis, Natalie Profant Komuro, Jeff Lilley, Geoff Livingston, Heather Meeker, Brandon Mendelson, Stefanie Michaels, Scott Monty, Shannon Moriarty, Chloe Noble, Stephanie Rudat, Kari Saratovsky, Lisa Truong, Nedra Weinreich and Scott Williams.

Blog Action Day: Clean Water

Today is Blog Action Day, when thousands of blogs are talking about the same topic to raise awareness and promote conversation and change. That topic is clean water, something we heartily support.

As part of Blog Action Day our own Kevin D. Hendricks wrote two blog posts for HalogenTV, one announcing the coming event and one talking about why he cares about water.

Addition by Adoption

Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters is the first work of non-fiction from our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks:

A work-at-home dad turns to Twitter to share updates about kids, causes and life. It’s a curated selection of bizarre quotes, funny stories and temper tantrums. Woven between potty-training woes and breakfast time songs is a family growing through adoption and learning how to change the world, one status update at a time.

Released in May 2010, the book is available from Amazon.com and other retailers and is also raising money for clean water through charity: water. So far the book has raised enough to build a well in Ethiopia.

The book has received dozens of positive reviews and Kevin has been interviewed a number of times, including a Father's Day feature in the Pioneer Press.

Monkey Outta Nowhere published the book, recruiting Brian White of TriLion Studios for the cover design and Ronald Cox for the interior design.

Father's Day Feature

Yesterday the Pioneer Press did a Father's Day feature on our own Kevin D. Hendricks and his new book, Addition by Adoption. The article, Tweet Dad: West St. Paul father writes about his kids’ lives 140 characters at a time, covers how Hendricks works at home with the kids and connects with adults through social media.

Emergent Productions

Emergent Productions founder Brian Glassford approached us to help with copy for his new website in 2010. We worked closely with Brian to hone in on the concept for what the copy should say about Emergent Productions and their varied work in marketing, digital media and production. In the end we focused heavily on story and Emergent's role as a storyteller.

TriLion Studios

In 2009 we wrote the copy for the TriLion Studios website. After nearly a decade in the industry the company was rebranding from an individual design studio named Solo Multimedia to a team of creatives. We took the TriLion name and came up with a tagline--A creative pack that has your back--and copy that tapped into the lion imagery.

We helped founder Brian White talk through some of the branding issues and land on a way of talking about his newly named company that worked.

I Wrote a Book with Twitter

The promotion of the book Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters continues with a guest post by our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, on the Twitter tips site Twitip. Twitip is run by ProBlogger founder Darren Rowse, who is regularly featured for making a six-figure income as a blogger. As of today the guest post had been re-tweeted 116 times.

OurChurch Guest Post

Our own head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks wrote a guest post for OurChurch.com exploring the idea of online evangelism. It's part of a series for Internet Evangelism Day, which was on Sunday, April 25.

Twitter Book: Addition by Adoption

Monkey Outta Nowhere is again venturing into the world of publishing with our first nonfiction title. Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140-Characters comes from our head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks. It's a curated selection of tweets (posts to the social media site Twitter) about life with kids, the causes Kevin's family has been drawn to and their adoption journey. The 82-page book will be available for pre-order April 13-20 and will be available on Amazon.com beginning May 11. A portion of the proceeds from the project will go to charity: water to build a well in Ethiopia.

The book features cover design by Brian White of TriLion Studios and interior design by Ronald Cox.

Color4aCause: Helping Haiti

Last week's earthquake in Haiti has prompted an out-pouring of response, including donations, humanitarian trips and all manner of charity and fund-raising projects. Our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, has enlisted the help of his 4-year-old daughter Lexi and launched Color4aCause.

Lexi draws pictures to encourage visitors to donate to Haiti relief efforts. Make a donation, get a picture. It's that simple. In the first week $635 has been raised. So far Lexi has drawn 26 pictures.

The money raised is going to the relief efforts of Kevin's church, Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minn., which has a 20-year partnership with organizations in Haiti.

In addition to making a donation and getting a picture, the site also invites other children to color for a cause and submit their own pictures.

Kevin admitted it's a crazy idea on his personal blog, noting how quickly the idea came together. He formulated the idea on Friday, recruited designer and coder Ben Jordan to design and build the site and it went live Sunday night.

The site also has a Twitter feed and Facebook group to keep fans updated. Color4aCause has been featured by We Life Simply and Halogen TV.

Bloggers to Watch in 2010

Our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, was chosen as one of 11 Kingdom Bloggers to Watch in 2010. He's in some pretty renowned company there.