The starting point for a great article is a great brief. In almost all cases, we will add to or edit the brief you give us, to make it as useful and relevant to the writer as possible. To show the kind of information that’s most useful to us and our writers, we’ve created an example brief for an audio equipment retailer blog. It’s for a real article, available on Medium (click here), for an imaginary pro-audio equipment website. The brief below is in a format that we would send to a writer; the kind of information in it is exactly what we would need to create the Medium article. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the info to hand when creating your brief – just give us what you can and we’ll email you when we need more!
Example Brief for Audio Retailer
Deadline:
15th August
Job:
A guide to setting up a home digital music studio.
Content Requirements:
One 5500-6000 word article for an audio equipment retailer, explaining the basics of creating a home studio for musicians. Assume the reader is familiar with computers, the basic concept of multitrack recording (what it is rather than how to do it), and can play an instrument and/or sing at least well enough to want to record themselves! The info should be useful for absolute beginners at the above level. However, feel free to include info for home studio users who want to ‘refresh’ their knowledge or are just interested in the subject.
The home recording & mixing equipment market is growing thanks to digital technology. This is comparable to how photography has grown and changed with digital. Readers will want to know what equipment is necessary (as little as possible to get started) and the (detailed) basics explaining how to use it.
Explain that it’s usually possible to get great results with the software that comes with your system. This can be added to with 3rd party software when you’re ready/have the budget for it. The article needs to be enthusiastic about the process of recording and mixing, without trying to sell people things they don’t need.
The info should be as evergreen as possible – software changes quickly, but try to give information that’ll still be useful to users of different systems in a couple of years’ time. The basics of recording and mixing (eg EQ and compression, microphone types) don’t change radically or quickly, so this should be possible.
Links:
Please link to as many useful external sources (reviews, manufacturers’ websites, sites for further info) as you can. Roughly 1 or 2 per page (i.e. per 500w), but not our direct competitors (see below) obviously!
Images:
Screenshots of software would be useful, and if possible some equipment shots. As many as help to explain the processes.
Format:
Please use subheadings to split the text into manageable chunks.
Style:
Informative and encouraging for beginners, amusing where possible!
