Call for Guest Bloggers

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Would you like to be a guest blogger for Writer Beware?

To vary our subject matter and present differing points of view, we publish occasional guest blog posts on subjects relating to publishing, self-publishing, books, writing, the writing life, and, of course, literary schemes and scams. If you’re interested in writing about a current issue or problem in the industry, if you have a point of view about writing or publishing that you’d like to share, if you’ve had a writing or publishing experience that you think would help, inform, and/or warn other writers–we’d like to hear from you.

Here are some examples of guest blog posts we’ve hosted:

One Author’s First Month in KDP Select

How Deliberate Practice Can Make You An Excellent Writer

How Libraries Choose Books to Purchase

Self-Promotion: Starting Too Soon?

Grants for Writers: As Diverse As You Are

The Scam of Private Label Rights Articles

Distributor vs. Wholesaler–Getting Your Book on the Shelf

Posts must be at least 500 words, and can be as long as 1,200 words. We’re not a paying market, but we’ll give you a byline, a bio, and links to your website, blog, or whatever; we currently have over 21,000 subscribers, as well as more than 13,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter combined, so your post will definitely get some eyeballs. We’ll also expect you to be available to respond to comments on your post.

Please note our guidelines–and follow them.

– You must have expertise in your subject. That doesn’t mean you have to be a literary agent, editor, or even a published writer (though we would love to have guest blog posts by industry professionals)–but you do need to have some experience or skill that qualifies you to know what you’re talking about, and to write an informative, useful post that will be of interest to our readers.

– Your primary purpose must be to inform, not to promote. We understand that guest blogging is a way to raise your online visibility, and that’s fine. But please don’t contact us if you’re just interested in writing a puff piece in order to drive traffic to your own website or business. Obvious self-promo or SEO bait will be deleted without response.

– Your subject must be appropriate for the blog. If you’re not already a reader, please spend some time here to get a sense of what we’re all about. We often hear from would-be guest bloggers who haven’t done that–and we can always tell.

– Your views must be compatible with the general outlook of this blog. Again, if you’re a reader, you’ll probably have a sense of what that is. If you’re new to Writer Beware, read back for a few months to get a feel. We’re not suggesting that guest bloggers have to toe any sort of party line–we are always open to different and provocative viewpoints. But if, for instance, you want to argue that literary agents are greedy, cruel, and indifferent to real talent, we’re not interested, because we think you’re wrong. Or if you want to predict that in ten years there will be no more publishers and every author will be a mini-entrepreneur servicing a niche audience…we aren’t going to go for it, because we think that’s a pipe dream.

– You can pitch us your idea to see what we think, or simply write the post and send it in. Whichever works best for you.

– We reserve the right to reject your post, or if we accept it, to edit it. Editing is usually on the order of light copy editing (if your post needs content editing, we’ll probably reject it).

– We prefer original content, but will take reprints if they’re especially helpful. Be sure to let us know if your article has already been published.

So if you’d like to blog for Writer Beware, please contact us or leave a comment here, and we’ll be happy to discuss it!