Guest Blogging Etiquette 101

As most of you know, my book released last week (squee!) and I've been embarking on a promotional blog tour. That means I'm writing not only my own blogs, but also putting together another 1-2 daily. It's been a lot of fun, but is a LOT of work. I hired Goddess Fish Promotions to help me organize mine because I just couldn't juggle everything on my own, and that's been a godsend. But it still take a lot of time and effort to manage a successful tour. 

So as I go through this, I was reminded of this post I did last year about Guest Blogging Etiquette. Using these guidelines can make the guest blogging process mostly painless for everyone. Hope you find it helpful!

GOOD NEWS ALERT!

- CRASH INTO YOU debuted at #3 on the Barnes and Nobles Trade Romance Bestsellers List!!! I'm shocked and so excited. Thank you SO much to everyone who has bought the book. You guys rock!

Now on to today's post..

Guest Blogging Etiquette 101

So if you've been blogging for any amount of time, you've probably had some experience with guest blogging--either inviting people onto your own site or doing a post on someone else's site. It's a great thing to do to cross promote and once you've got a book coming out, it's often a big piece of your marketing. Blog tours are all the rage because the internet is a great place to find readers and build word of mouth.

I get requests on a pretty regular basis both to be a guest on other sites and from people wanting to do a post here. It seems once you get past 500 or so followers, a good number of people want to hang out on your site. :) That's awesome. I love doing guests posts and I certainly love having people stop by here.

However, there is some etiquette that goes along with this process. Some people follow it and others fail miserably. So I figured I would give some quick tips I've gathered from my experience that may help you navigate the guest blogging waters.

If you are going to ask someone to be on your site...

1. Be polite when asking and give them a clear out so you don't put them on the spot. (i.e. if you're too busy, I completely understand.)

2. Give them an ample amount of time to get back to you, but it is best to give them a deadline

Don't say, "Hey, I'd love you to be a guest, can you get me a post by next week?" Give them a few weeks minimum. And you can give them an open-ended--whenever you can--kind of deadline. BUT, be warned--this may result in less success of getting that post. I am an epic failure at saying "yes" to open-ended, can you guest post for me sometime and then I never get to it.

3. Provide options.

A guest post takes a lot of time. I can whip out a daily post over here in under an hour, but when I know I'm going to be on someone else's site, I feel more pressure to get it perfect, for it to be epic. So, it takes more effort and time. Therefore, if you really want someone on your site, maybe offer to interview them instead of a guest post. This makes it easier for the person to just answer questions and not have to come up with a topic, etc.

4. If you are going to ask for a post (not an interview), provide suggestions for topics you might like to see from them (while also leaving it open for them to choose whatever topic they want.)

It is SO helpful when someone approaches me for a guest post when they say--hey, maybe you could do something on yadda yadda yadda. I may not know what topics they've already covered on their own blog, so this saves me from having to research what's already been covered on that site.

5. Once you get their post and schedule it, email the person on the day (or day before) the post is going to go live.

This a) reminds the person and b) gives them a the chance to do some promotion for you and send people there.

If you want to approach someone to be on their blog...

1. Do your research and know that blog/blogger (at least a little bit).

If someone emails me wanting to post here to promote their book and I've never had any interaction with them, their chances are way lower that I'm going to pay attention. They don't follow the blog, have never left a comment, have never talked to me on Twitter, etc. They're a complete and total stranger. I feel like they stumbled across my blog, saw I had a platform and said--ooh, ooh, let me sell stuff here! My blog isn't here as an advertisement board for anyone who wants to stick a flyer up. (2016 Update: Over the years, you'll notice that the only authors I'm promoting are ones I've read on my own time and want to share. I may occasionally share affiliate links or invite a guest, but I've gone away from doing much else.)

2. Offer the blogger a number of options--an interview, guest blog, contest/giveaway.

Show them that you can provide whatever type of post they need. And just like the reverse of the above, an interview is more work for the host blogger, so don't just offer that. It's also a lot of work to ask someone to review your book. That means they have to have time to read it, like your genre, etc. When people email me asking if I can interview them or review their book, I usually respond with--can you do a guest post instead? I just don't have time lately to come up with interview questions specific to you and your book. (2016 Update: I do not accept review requests or requests for guests posts anymore.)

3. If you get the go ahead to do the guest blog, make sure you send something with quality content, no typos, and include your bio and pic.

Don't make the blogger have to correct your work.

4. Get the post to the person on time. And do not ask them to send you a reminder. 

If they give you a deadline, keep it. And it's your job to remember when it's due--they are doing you a favor.

5. Promote that post on your own blog when it goes live. This helps you and the host blogger.

6. Offer to reciprocate. If they let you on their blog, let them know they are welcome to stop by yours

Overall: 

The key to remember with all of this is to know who is holding the power in the exchange (can you tell I write BDSM romance?) The person who benefits more from what the other person has to offer has to go out of their way to make it as convenient as possible for the other.

For instance, if I want my book reviewed on a big book blogger site--the power is in their hands. I'm the one who has to go out of my way. But if a brand new author who just self-published wants me to do a feature on their book here where I have a big following of potential readers, then I'm the one holding more cards. Sounds kind of snotty, but it is what it is. You'll be on both sides of the equation at some point.

So what do you think? Have you had any negative guest blogging experiences? How do you like to be approached for a guest blog?

"Revved up and red-hot sexy, CRASH INTO YOU, delivers a riveting romance!" --Lorelei James, NY Times Bestselling author of the ROUGH RIDERS seriesCRASH INTO YOU is now available!

Five Ways To Guard Your Brand

So last week I got a lovely invitation from a friend of a friend to join Triberr (called the reach multiplier). Basically what happens with this service is you get invited to join a tribe of other bloggers (it's by invite only right now). If you accept, then what you agree to is that anytime one of your tribesmates blogs, a link to their blog is automatically tweeted by all member of the tribe. In return, you get the same treatment, you blog and your link autotweets from every one in your tribe's twitter accounts. The idea behind it is that you get exposed to lots more people and your reach is thereby amplified.

Sounds cool, right? And it is. But as I dug into exactly what it all meant, my control freak side took over. Did I really want to auto-tweet twenty-something different peoples blog links without really knowing them? What if they didn't blog content that I liked or that was relevant to those who follow me on Twitter?

I put out the question on Twitter to see if anyone had experience with Triberr and guess who tweets me back? One of the founders of Triberr (oh, the power of following keywords on Twitter). But guess what he told me? That I shouldn't use Triberr. He also sent a link to this post: Why You Shouldn't Be on Triberr

It seemed a little odd that the owner would try to talk me out of joining, but I realized why. One of his reasons the service may not be for you is: Your Twitter Stream Is Your Brand

Well, bingo. That's exactly why I was hesitant.

Everything I put out on the internet (whether I intend it or not) is part of my "brand."

The things I retweet on Twitter aren't haphazard.

I'm tweeting it because I: a) read it b) enjoyed it or found it informative and c) think my followers would appreciate it.

I do that because I want the people who follow me to trust that I am going to give them good content. (Well, in between my ramblings.) They (hopefully) know if I tweet or retweet a link that it has a high chance of being something worth clicking on.

Your brand is the promise you make to those that follow you

--whether that be on your blog, facebook, twitter, and your books for that matter. For instance, I know if Elizabeth Craig retweets something, it's often going to be something I find useful because she's proven to me that her content is consistently great. If she started tweeting random posts that weren't worth my time, she'd lose some of my "trust." I know if erotica author Tiffany Reisz tweets a link, there's a sixty percent chance it will involve nudity, lol. So of course I always click on hers. ;)

So don't be afraid to be protective of your brand. Sometimes it can feel like you're being snobby or something, but it's vital to keep your arms around it. For instance, I get many requests from people to read their book and feature it or them on the blog. For the record, I don't do reviews anymore anyway. But I've had to learn to say no a lot, which goes against my nature. I want to help people out. But if I don't know you or your writing (and don't have time to read it), I'm not going to feature you on my blog and let it look like an endorsement.

See it sounds stuck-up, doesn't it? But it's the promise I've made to you. If a book or author is featured here, it means that I either have read the book and loved it. Or I know the author and am familiar with the quality of their writing and their guest posts, etc. That's why I handpicked the Monday genre guests. I knew those ladies rocked at blogging, so I felt comfortable (and honored) to have them be a part of my blog.

So here are some suggestions...

Five Ways to Protect Your Brand

1. Don't accept every offer people give you to guest blog on your site.

Make sure you like their blog and know that they can provide something your readers will enjoy.

2. Don't accept every "free book" offered to you in exchange for featuring that author on your blog.

With the onslaught of self-publishing, there are a lot of people looking for places to be guests. They will offer you a free book in exchange for the promotion. That's cool. But what happens if you don't like the book or don't have time to read it? Vet it before you promote it to your readers.

3. Don't give 5-star reviews to all your friends on Goodreads and Amazon simply because they are your friend. 

If you really love the book, then great. But just agreeing to give a perfect review just because you're BFFs will teach people not to trust your reviews. (If you do reviews.)

4. Don't auto-tweet things you haven't looked at first and don't only tweet your friends posts just to be nice.

I don't expect my friends to retweet me just because we're buddies. I only want to be retweeted if the post is worth it.

5. Be very careful with group blogs.

There are many awesome group blogs out there. But be careful when deciding to join or start one. You need to know absolutely that the people you are blogging with are going to be a fit with what you want associated with you. This is why my group Tumblr blog lasted about, oh, five seconds before I went on my own. (Kristen Lamb would also argue that group blogs aren't effective because no one remembers the individual bloggers' names.)

So what do you think? Do you feel there is an inherent "brand" trust between people and their followers? How do you feel about services like Triberr? Has any blogger/tweeter ever lost your "follower trust"? Have you found yourself saying yes to feature people or books that may not fit on your blog?

Tweet

Guest Blogging Etiquette: Let's Make a Deal

So if you've been blogging for any amount of time, you've probably had some experience with guest blogging--either inviting people onto your own site or doing a post on someone else's site. It's a great thing to do to cross promote and once you've got a book coming out, it's often a big piece of your marketing. Blog tours are all the rage because the internet is a great place to find readers and build word of mouth.

I get requests on a pretty regular basis both to be a guest on other sites and from people wanting to do a post here. It seems once you get past 500 or so followers, a good number of people want to hang out on your site. :) That's awesome. I love doing guests posts and I certainly love having people stop by here.

However, there is some etiquette that goes along with this process. Some people follow it and others fail miserably. So I figured I would give some quick tips I've gathered from my experience that may help you navigate the guest blogging waters.

If you are going to ask someone to be on your site...

1. Be polite when asking and give them a clear out so you don't put them on the spot. (i.e. if you're too busy, I completely understand.)

2. Give them an ample amount of time to get back to you, but it is best to give them a deadline
Don't say, "Hey, I'd love you to be a guest, can you get me a post by next week?" Give them a few weeks minimum. And you can give them an open-ended--whenever you can--kind of deadline. BUT, be warned--this may result in less success of getting that post. I am an epic failure at saying "yes" to open-ended, can you guest post for me sometime and then I never get to it. (To those of you waiting for a post from me, I'm sorry. I plan to go on a guest blogging marathon after I get done with this draft.)

3. Provide options.
A guest post takes a lot of time. I can whip out a daily post over here in under an hour, but when I know I'm going to be on someone else's site, I feel more pressure to get it perfect, for it to be epic. So, it takes more effort and time. Therefore, if you really want someone on your site, maybe offer to interview them instead of a guest post. This makes it easier for the person to just answer questions and not have to come up with a topic, etc.

4. If you are going to ask for a post (not an interview), provide suggestions for topics you might like to see from them (while also leaving it open for them to choose whatever topic they want.)
It is SO helpful when someone approaches me for a guest post when they say--hey, maybe you could do something on yadda yadda yadda. I may not know what topics they've already covered on their own blog, so this saves me from having to research what's already been covered on that site.

5. Once you get their post and schedule it, email the person on the day (or day before) the post is going to go live.
This a) reminds the person and b) gives them a the chance to do some promotion for you and send people there.

If you want to approach someone to be on their blog...

1. Do your research and know that blog/blogger (at least a little bit).
I have a pet peeve about people emailing me wanting to post here (to promote their book) and I've NEVER had any interaction with them. They don't follow the blog, have never left a comment, have never talked to me on Twitter, etc. They're a complete and total stranger. I feel like they stumbled across my blog, saw I have 1200 followers and said--ooh, ooh, let me hawk my wares here! I love promoting other authors, but my blog isn't here as an advertisement board for anyone who wants to stick a flyer up.

2. Offer the blogger a number of options--an interview, guest blog, contest/giveaway.
Show them that you can provide whatever type of post they need. And just like the reverse of the above, an interview is more work for the host blogger, so don't just offer that. It's also a lot of work to ask someone to review your book. That means they have to have time to read it, like your genre, etc. When people email me asking if I can interview them or review their book, I usually respond with--can you do a guest post instead? I just don't have time lately to come up with interview questions specific to you and your book.

3. If you get the go ahead to do the guest blog, make sure you send something with quality content, no typos, and include your bio and pic.
Don't make the blogger have to correct your work.

4. Get the post to the person on time. And do not ask them to send you a reminder. 
If they give you a deadline, keep it. And it's your job to remember when it's due--they are doing you a favor.

5. Promote that post on your own blog when it goes live. This helps you and the host blogger.

6. Always offer to reciprocate. If they let you on their blog, let them know they are welcome to stop by yours.

Overall: The key to remember with all of this is to know who is holding the power in the exchange (can you tell I write BDSM romance?) The person who benefits more from what the other person has to offer has to go out of their way to make it as convenient as possible for the other.

For instance, if I want my book reviewed on some big book blogger site--the power is in their hands. I'm the one who has to go out of my way. But if a brand new author who just self-published wants me to do a feature on their book here where I have a big following of potential readers, then I'm the one holding more cards. Sounds kind of snotty, but it is what it is. You'll be on both sides of the equation at some point.

So what do you think? Have you had any negative guest blogging experiences? How do you like to be approached for a guest blog?

Guest Blogging and Giveaway!

Today I'm guest blogging over at historical romance author Ashley March's blog!  Be sure to stop by because there's a giveaway! You can win an online consultation (from moi) evaluating your social networking strategy/presence OR a ten page critique!

With A Little Help From My Friends

–How Blogging Helped Me Land An Agent–