Writers Guidelines (Updated December 2009)
MusicBizAdvice.com is committed to providing accurate music business
information and resources for readers at any level of the music industry,
from the local to international level. Our content is designed to provide
accurate information to our readers in an entertaining way.
If you want to submit an idea for editorial consideration, please send a
query letter in the body of an email to
muzbizadvc@aol.com with ARTICLE QUERY in the subject line, along
with the information below. Please do not send full articles or attachments.
For security reasons, all email with attachments is deleted unread.
1. Provide a brief (350 words or less) description of the story idea, along
with your suggestions for the article’s structure and content so we know
what direction you have in mind for the article.
2. If the article is timely and best published at a certain time of year or
in conjunction with certain industry events, include the month the industry
event takes place if you know it. (Example: an article about something
NAMM-related would best be published before the NAMM show in January. That
means we'd publish it in December.) Our minimum lead-time is four to six
weeks ahead of publication, so if your idea is timely you'll want to submit
the idea early.
3. Include your resume or indicate the experience, training, or interests
that qualify you to write the article.
4. If you've been published before, please provide a list of credits and
URLs where we can read your work.
5. MusicBizAdvice.com does not accept music industry articles that have
previously run (or will run) in other publications or online magazines, and
we ask that the article run exclusively on MusicBizAdvice.com (or its sister
sites) for a period of 1 year after publication on MusicBizAdvice.com or its
sister sites. If this isn't acceptable to you, please don't submit a query.
6. Journalistic integrity is important to us, and MusicBizAdvice.com
strictly adheres to
FTC Blogger Disclosure Guidelines in effect December 1, 2009.
Therefore, we require our writers to comply as well. Therefore, we do not
accept "articles for hire" or "reviews" or product recommendations written
by publicists or managers, nor do we accept articles, or reviews or
product recommendations about people or products associated with the writer.
Your submission will be forwarded to the staff member or editor managing
your area of interest. If an editor is interested in your query, you'll be
contacted directly by email. If accepted, our editors may offer suggestions
and tips for the angle of the article and will assign a deadline. You may
also be asked to work with our Researcher.
MusicBizAdvice.com respects and is committed to protecting the intellectual
property rights of writers. By submitting a story idea you are stating that
any articles you submit as requested by MusicBizAdvice.com, our sister
sites, and their editors are your own, original work and not derived from
any other source (i.e. not cut and pasted, not re-written versions of
another writer's work), and that you will sign a statement to this effect
upon request by the editors of MusicBizAdvice.com.
MusicBizAdvice.com sometimes receives similar article idea submissions from
multiple writers. MusicBizAdvice.com accepts no responsibility for and is
not liable for submissions from multiple writers.
Additional information you should know if your query is accepted and the
article is assigned to you:
1. Our editors may offer suggestions and tips for the article and will
assign a deadline. You may also be asked to work with our Researcher and/ or
contact sources recommended by our editor.
2. Sending a query about an article topic indicates that you know something
about the subject and that you already have access to qualified sources and
interviewees. If you don't, don't submit a query. You will be relying mainly
on your own sources.
3. In the event that the article requires additional sources or interviewees
that you don't know, our editor will contact the appropriate people to
"introduce" you, and depending on your track record, may be present at the
interview via conference call. This is to prevent people from falsely
claiming to be on assignment for MusicBizAdvice.com in order to gain access
to interviewees.
4. During the editing process, if our editors ask for changes or
clarification on something, ONLY change or clarify the indicated passages.
While it's tempting to "improve" other parts of the article while you're at
it, please don't. It changes the word count, throws off the editing
schedule, and the "new and improved" version is rarely as good as the
previous version anyway, so the additional changes probably won't be used.
5. MusicBizAdvice.com's style is conversational. In the words of our
Editor-in-Chief, "You don't have to use the Queen's English, but you do have
to show you're capable of correct grammar and are making a conscious choice
when you break the rules."
6. MusicBizAdvice.com strictly adheres to
FTC Blogger Disclosure Guidelines in effect December 1, 2009, and
we requires our writers to comply as well. Therefore we require disclosure
notices of financial, close business or personal relationships, free goods
or services, or other means of personal gain generated in relation to the
article be posted either within the text, or at the end of the article as
determined by our Editors.
In the case of potential conflict of interest (or gray-area thereof), final
decision will be determined by MusicBizAdvice.com Editor in Chief, and
MusicBizAdvice.com Editors reserve the right not to publish, or to
discontinue publication of, the article in question.
Thanks again for your interest in MusicBizAdvice.com! We hope you'll
continue to visit MusicBizAdvice.com for accurate music industry information
and resources. |
