Want to be featured on my blog?
I'm open to inquiries regarding articles! I'm still in my early stages as a journalist and am learning. Read below to learn about my vision as a journalist and the types of articles I write. Feel free to email me at louisegeriblog@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram at @louise.geri!
My Vision
My vision running this blog is currently to raise the voices of women in music. "Women in music" is not a label exclusive to female artists. It extends to instrumentalists, businesswomen, lyricists, songwriters, photographers with music-related focuses, and more. However, as I add more sections to my blog, I plan to find ways to accommodate to men and other non-female gender identities. My goal with the current overall women-in-music angle of my blog is not exclusion, but to create a project surrounding a big question I've had for years: why do men stay holding more power in the music industry when women, particularly female artists, are much more relevant in the industry?
Below, I've listed some types of pieces I write and what the process consists of. Services are currently free of charge. You are welcome to contact me with a specific request for an article type, but considering that I'm a full-time college student and approach this blog creatively, I may have to pivot from the original plan. Please understand that I have your best interests at heart.
Interactive Feature Types
By interactive feature, I mean a feature that involves detailed conversation with the people involved. Non-interactive features (which I don't take requests for, but I might do on my own accord alongside an interactive feature) include in-depth album reviews, rankings of albums, summaries of what I've been listening to recently, concert reviews, etc. Reviews are not the same as features, and I don't currently take requests for any type of review. Below are the interactive features I take requests for:
Standard Individual Feature
If I'm contacting someone about writing a feature or doing an interview, or someone else is contacting me about that, a standard feature is generally what I'm planning to write. They're typically 600-1200 words long and include around three photos. These articles are the format you'd typically expect if an artist posted that Rolling Stone, Vogue, etc, wrote an article about them.
Scroll (mobile) or look to the right (desktop) to read about Lily Kincade, one of the first artists I ever did a standard individual feature on.
Standard Showcase Feature
I've done one showcase feature as part of a Showcase package. The package was promoting Sisters in Song, a showcase at Nashville's Exit/In. Navigate to the Sisters in Song tab of my blog to see the pieces I wrote. This package consisted of a launch announcement of presenter and business River & Row Management, five individual features on each artist involved, a showcase feature on all five artists involved, and a concert review/photo story. For full showcase packages such as this, contact me to discuss details.
A showcase feature is over 1000 words, in order to properly account for all artists.
Scroll (mobile) or look to the right (desktop) to read about Sisters in Song, the first and only showcase feature I've done.
Business Launch Announcements
These are more brief and succinct. I typically refer to my subjects by their first names in order to make them seem more personable, but considering that there's a different goal for businesses, I refer to people involved by their last names.
Scroll (mobile) or look to the right (desktop) to read about River & Row Management, the subject of the first and only business launch announcement I've done.
Q&A
The writing process for this type of article is quick and easy. However, these articles can take longer to collect information for, as they're done over text or email.
Scroll (mobile) or look to the right (desktop) to read about Lilly Martin, the subject of the first and only Q&A I've done.
Stories Behind Songs
I discuss discographies one song at a time, explaining the stories behind each one, with more direct quoting from the interviewee than what would appear in a standard individual feature. These articles are not intended to discuss every song in a discography, though I am not opposed to doing this for smaller discographies.
Pre-Release Preview Features
I interview artists regarding their upcoming releases, and we include a snippet of a song on my page for those who read the article. Audiovisual accompaniments capturing time in the studio are also something I'm in the early stages of developing with this feature type.
FAQ
How do you access the people you work with?
I cold-email or DM most people who appear on this blog. Some have been referred to me through projects with River & Row Management or the Belmont Vision. Others have straight-up asked me to write about them, which is an honor.
What is to be expected going into an interview?
I'm a people person! I love making friends and don't want anyone to be nervous going into interviews, even though I know I would be (and frequently am!) This is not a job interview. For the best results, come into the interview excited, and try your best to provide detailed information. My job is to milk what you say so that I can write something that makes people want to interact with what you do. Many a time, I have initiated an interview saying, "We're just having a fun girl time", and that is truly what it is. I go off on tangents, and you're welcome to as well. You get the gist. I want to bond with you. How else do I show people why they should?
How long is the turnaround time?
Turnaround time is reliant on how busy I am with both the blog and school, but since I'm usually promoting things that are running on a strict timeline, such as a release or a concert, I'm wary of deadlines. The longest turnarounds will occur if I'm pushing your piece to a publication, as they manage many writers and typically have busy content calendars.
Will I get to see my piece before it's posted?
Yes, you will typically see your piece before it's posted. The main exceptions are if I'm mainly interacting with your team (it's industry standard that teams don't need to approve articles), if there's more than one or two main people the article is focused on who are being discussed as separate entities (checking with more than one person can slow down the turnaround process more than it's worth), or if I reach out to you, and you respond, and I'm so shocked you responded that I want to take up as little of your time as possible. If none of these conditions are met and I still post the article before sending it to you, it's likely related to tight deadlines.
Can I ask you to change anything in the article prior to posting?
Yes, you can ask me to change inaccuracies or misrepresentations in the article before I post it. Sometimes, artists accidentally add words that alter what they're saying, and I'm happy to remove those at your request. I also use Otter AI for my transcriptions, which is the only AI I use besides occasionally Grammar.ly, and sometimes it messes up what you say and I don't catch it. Please let me know if something looks like a mistranscription. I don't like using AI, but my time and money are too limited for me to manually transcribe or pay another person to do it.
Is anything said on the Voice Memo/Audacity recording fair game?
My philosophy on which quotes I include that I have on record is less about game and more about decency. I've made mistakes before and I'll make mistakes again, but I typically only use potentially inflammatory content if your passion about it is clear, and I'll only use deep personal things if I think they're telling about who you are. Even then, I'll keep the details to a reasonable minimum. However, I will almost always run a portion of it by you if there's content I'm genuinely worried about, even if a condition for me not to share it with you before posting is met.
Where do you pull photos from?
I may ask you for photos, or I might try to get them on my own online. I try to avoid screenshots, but sometimes I don't have much of a choice.
How are articles promoted?
I typically post links to my articles on my Instagram story and tag whoever it's about. Sometimes I'll do a collaborative grid post. There's not much rhyme or reason to whether or not I make a grid post, but if someone being featured has a posting style that seems cohesive for promoting an article, I'm more likely to push for a collaborative grid post. You are not required to promote the article at all, but it's a wise business move for both of us. Even just resharing my story to your story can be effective. Regardless, I value evidence of people gaining insight from my articles more than I value evidence that they clicked on the article link.