Those of you who have read along here for a while now should be quite aware of the fact that livingwithmusic.com is a highly subjective affair. It’s an outlet for me, and a rather eclectic one at that. I’ve gone over the top to praise some of my favorite items in a collection that seemingly wants to push me out of my own apartment, I’ve been known to rant about things that bug me and that make our collectors’ lives more difficult than they should, I’ve only touched on the odd hardware issue here and there, I’ve made it known that I’m not a fan of digital files, although most of you out there are, and I’ve written quite a bit about storage problems and furniture that can help solve them, as well as storage solutions that might be interesting to those of you who have a lot more money stashed away somewhere than I will ever have.

When I launched this site, I was surprised that actually some readers contacted me with a major bug they had found: My categories were supposedly screwed up. Because music collectors and fans are quite the educated bunch, some noticed that category (5) was missing. Again, invariably, I was asked if I was unable to count from one to ten because those who know me are also aware of my failure at maths in high school. And we’re talking complete failure here.

This time though, I could truthfully answer that it had all been planned.

Category 5 is tentatively titled “From the Outside”, and it’s waiting for content. Actually this call for submissions right here will be the first post in it.

See, I want to open this site up to contributors … if there are any out there. Actually, I know there are, but I simply don’t know yet if they would want to write something for this site. I’ve been contacted many times in the past about the possibility of contributing here, and I usually declined, saying this was my baby, but the more I thought about the idea these past months, the more I liked it. So, I provided the possibility by keeping a category unfilled and I made sure to use a content management system that would allow me to open the site up for anyone who wants to write one or more articles.

Currently I’m in touch with one person who suggested contributing one post and I’m going to see if I can get him to expand that idea into a series of posts. Enticement is the word. I’m thinking of some other regular readers here who have an insane amount of as yet untapped expertise in various fields and genres that we could all profit from here, and once in a while someone pops up here with a highly dissenting opinion.

So, why don’t you contribute something? You know, light that creative spark and give the pen or keyboard a whirl to see what you can come up with.

01) What I’m looking for
I’m looking for people who are passionate about music, an item in their collection or a piece of furniture that helped them solve that one problem that had been bugging them for a while. I’m looking for people who supply all of us with some instructions when it comes around to working with digital files. I’m looking for people who have an issue they want to discuss. In short, I’m looking for anyone out there willing to write up a post or more about anything related to music, music collecting or the highs and lows of our hobby.

02) What do you get out of it?
Well, besides fame and fortune, nothing really. And even that was a lie. See, these past months my posting schedule here had to slow down a bit - it is going to pick up again to at least one post a week - so the number of unique readers here has dropped somewhat. I don’t have the insane numbers other sites have to show for themselves, but before I killed all the statistics for the old version of livingwithmusic.com, I usually averaged around 10.000 unique hits a month. Before December of 2007, that number was on the upswing. So, lots of people would read your take on whatever you decide to write about.

Secondly, if you have a site of your own, it would be another way of pushing some readers your way. Mind you, it would be your job to hook them when they arrive, but getting them there is usually the difficult part. Writing here would push a couple of thousand of (in many ways) your target audience your way, over time.

As you know, I’m also a teacher and the last aspect that could perhaps entice you into writing something here is the one that I often experience in my day job, and that’s the one of achievement. It’s simply a good thing to know that you sat down, researched something or organized your ideas on a topic that you’re an expert at or at least knowledgeable on, put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and crafted a legible and solid piece of writing out of it.

03) Requirements
None, really. Besides, any requirements would have to depend on what you want to do here. As it stands right now, the only thing you need is a computer, a keyboard and a means of getting what you wrote to me in just about any format. That’s it. Have a look below to see how things could be done.

04) Procedure
If you have a closer look at this site you will notice that a post doesn’t require much. Most of what is published here is of quite some length, but that’s not a requirement. Each post is accompanied by a header image and, if possible, it supplies links, maybe a fact sheet, a list of prices for products or the like. And that’s it.

1. Contact:You can always contact me through this site’s contact form initially and we’d set up some way of communicating thereafter. If, for some reason, none of the contact forms or comment forms work for you, just send me a mail addressed to bigwhig[place_that_squiggly_symbol_here]livingwithmusic.com.
2. Length of text: There’s no upper limit, but a guest post or submission should have an absolute minimum of 650 to 700 words. The reason is simple: The text needs to run longer than the sidebar and that one will have another box or two added to it as we go along.
3. Photos and Images: There’s no need to supply any, but it would help. I have the template for header images set up here and I could insert any photo you send. If you don’t have one, I’ll make one for you from stock photos I have access to. If you want to supply some photos, they will - for now - be uploaded to the flickr stream I keep, linked to from your article and will, as soon as possible, be transferred to a gallery which will be integrated here when I have the time to style it properly (it’s already installed here).
4. Transmission of files: The easiest way would be to just send me a text document (I can read just about any file format) which I would then turn into a post for you, header image and all. If you would like to participate in a more encompassing manner, I could set you up as a contributor here and let you write and post on livingwithmusic.com, but that’s not a must.
5. Language: The language on this site is English. If that’s stopping you from contributing here, you can submit what you can manage and I’ll turn it into something we can post, proofread it, whatever.
6. Avoid!There’s no pimpin’ of your own products around here. I might make an exception if there are valid reasons for it, but so far I’ve turned down a countless number of requests for product placement, sponsored product reviews, etc. I’d probably decline any request of pushing your wares.
7. Publication rights:

Anything you decide to write and send me remains your property. If you one day decide to have it removed, it will be removed. You’re the sole proprietor of any of your material posted here.

So, can you describe how to de-click an LP transfer? Do you have a passion for collecting? Has collecting endangered your relationship or even your marriage? Do you have a single item you’d like to passionately recommend to others? Do you think the music industry is as incapable as I think it is? No? Do you live in a country that is producing spectacular music the rest of the world knows next to nothing about? Is there someone producing useful storage items in your area? Did you stumble over a unique product that could help us collectors? How about your take on software which could help all of us? The list of possible topics is endless.

So, don’t be afraid, have courage and … contribute!

Categories: (05) From the Outside, (07) Site
Tags: contribute, livingwithmusic.com, news, submissions, website