Diving into the Guest Blogging Pool: Part I

Guest posting on blogs is a wonderful way to draw attention to yourself, your writing and your book(s).
Strangely, I find some authors are quite reticent about guest blogging. What? Lovers of the craft not wanting to write? I was intrigued. When I dug deeper to find out why, again and again I heard the same reasons:

• I don't have the time.
• I don't know what to write about.
• I'm scared I'll be rejected.
• I don't know how to approach a blog owner.

Let's look at the first two of these today in more detail.

I don't have the time.

Yes, you do. You really do. Think about how much time in a day you waste. Do you slump in front of the TV channel surfing, watching shows you don't really care for? Do you lay in bed for another half hour or hour longer than necessary or go to bed when you're bored, but not tired? Do you camp out on Twitter or Facebook all day reading messages when you intended to just swing by for a minute?

If you do these or similar activities, the time is there. It's a question of priorities. Make your guest blog post a priority. Schedule it into your day. Ask for help getting the kids out of your hair for a while or with chores. Do what it takes to free up your time.

And remember, you don't need to write it all at once. Ten or fifteen minutes here or there over three days to a week can result in a fine guest post. It's done when you say it's done. If you're getting nowhere, shelve it for now and start on a new idea.

I don't know what to write about.

Coming up with topics regularly can be difficult, it's true. I'll address that momentarily. First things first though. Find relevant blogs and websites you'd like to guest post for. Ones related to your area of expertise and/or your book's genre or subject matter are perfect.

Next, get a feel for the blog and its owner before you approach them or put pen to paper. Look at the previous guest posts there to glean any information you can about the blog owner's preferences.

Are they short or long? In-depth or simple? Casual or formal? You know the blogger liked them because they are already published there. Use that knowledge to your advantage. What you don't want to do is write something too similar in topic to existing posts.  What you're focusing on here are the owner's tastes.

Once you've spent time reading their blog, "I don't know what to write about" magically disappears. Ideas will start popping in your head of what kind of slant you could take or an excellent topic that no-one else has tackled. Note them down fast, even just a few words. You can go back and develop them later. Utilize that inspired spark there and then.

I feel this is a more productive use of time than writing a guest post first then looking for a blog it will fit second. Although that works too and often, you may find you need more time set aside to find that suitable blog than it would have taken you to research potential blogs at the start.

My advice? Tailor your post to the blog you're targeting. And always, always check out their guidelines to make sure your guest post, and your submission method, will follow them to the letter. No exceptions.

Try those tips out, and next time we'll discuss the remaining two issues. You'll be diving in that guest blogging pool before you know it! :)