How To Get A Paid Guest Blog Post In 5 Hours

I am extremely happy to announce that my very first guest blog post, “Why I Stopped Reading” was published yesterday on the blog “Read. Learn. Write.”

It was a very exciting moment for me, and I’m so happy that I was able to contribute to such an interesting blog.

I’ve had readers ask how I was able to get a blog accepted in such a short period of time. I think it was a combination of a few factors:

1) The right resources – I have been following a couple of really great bloggers – Sophie Lizard and Carol Tice. Sophie has a great list of blogs that pay at least $50 per post.

I’ve had the list for a couple of weeks, but never really went through it very thoroughly. Then I saw that Tice’s blog also listed this same blog, so I started reading it and the guidelines.

I realized this blog was unique, and it wasn’t a ginormous blog with a zillion entries that possibly mirrored or resembled my own idea. Speaking of my writing idea, I had…

2) A fully-developed idea – I have a personal blog that I started a couple of years ago, and I decided to use it as an opportunity to talk about my experiences with reading and why I don’t do it as much as I’d like. I was able to take that blog post and expand it. So I already had a lot of meat that I could submit as part of the query. That leads me to my next tip.

3) An engaging query – I absolutely love it when expert writers post not just ideas on what to do, but actual examples. Here is the actual e-mail I sent to Read. Learn. Write.

Guest post pitch: Why I Stopped Reading

Your blog was recommended to me, and I have enjoyed reading your posts. I’m really hoping this idea will encourage me and others to restart (or start) reading for pleasure. I read voraciously as a child, and it helped develop my writing skills. I also studied to be a journalist and did so for several years. However, I’ve had limited success in reading for pleasure.

I’ve touched on some of the reasons why on my personal blog (http://thirty-somethinglife.blogspot.com/2010/07/power-of-written-word.html), but I wanted to expand it. Mainly it has to do with my love for the web and all things social media. My attention span has been shortened and I really have to concentrate to remember what I’m reading. I’m definitely going to take your posts to heart and try something I’ve tried in the past – joining a book club. It has some of the elements of “required reading” without all the pressure. I’d like to share all of this with your readers.

Let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.

Williesha Morris
Administrative Consultant and Writer
http://Williesha.wordpress.com
Portfolio – http://Williesha.contently.com

Please note the following characteristics of this query. If you are an experienced writer, you should recognize these as essential elements of a good pitch.

• Brief – Since I knew that this blog was popular and probably gets several pitches, I had to make sure it was quick and got right to the point. I included all of the necessary links at the bottom of the e-mail in case he wanted to see what I had written previously. I didn’t include it all in the body of the e-mail itself.

• Specific – I included a potential title which he ended up using as the subject line, so he can know immediately what I wanted to write about. I also added elements of his blog that I had actually enjoyed and avoided making it sound too generic, as though I had submitted the idea elsewhere.

And the fact of the matter is that I hadn’t submitted it elsewhere. I had an idea I had written about before that fit the blog I pitched to. Which leads me to the last element of this pitch.

• Unusual Idea – If you start reading a lot of writer’s guidelines, you’ll find that all blogs (or any publication, for that matter) want something different. I was very fortunate enough to find a blog that caters to folks who want to increase their level of reading, so I knew an honest blog about why people don’t read as much as they used to would work.

I have a very simple method to how I gather some ideas for my blogs, but I’m hoping to actually pitch that to another blog! So here’s a bonus tip from my bonus blog:

• Bonus Tip: Cherish and Develop Your Best Ideas For the Best Blogs – I don’t have a very well-established blog yet. So when I get an idea that I really, really like, I try to work on it and develop it for a while. Then, once I feel like it’s meaty enough to pitch, I do so. Even though I had that acceptance within a few hours, the idea I had obviously took much longer than that to bake.

There you go! I hope this helps.

What has been your best query that you’ve experienced? Your favorite guest blog you’ve done? What tips do you recommend? Also, please let me know in the comments other blog ideas or questions you have for me.

Like what you’ve read here? Need more tips? Contact me about a free 30-minute writing or administrative consultation.