Key Blogging Advice
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James Joyner | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 |
I was contacted a bit ago by a “writer/author” seeking to have me contribute to “a book that will feature a selection of interviews with prominent bloggers.”
Dubious, I asked if her intention was to have the bloggers write the book for her. She assured me this was not the case, “any more than a reporter conducting an interview intends for the subject to write the piece for them.”
Her contribution to the project? “I furnish the subject with questions to which they respond.”
Not dissuaded from my original concern but intrigued, I obtained the list of questions along with the terms and conditions. Basically, for no compensation whatsoever, I was to indemnify the author and publisher for everything under the sun and surrender all rights to the material I wrote. The subject, essentially, is how to make money with a successful blog. Examples:
- What tips would you give someone to help them build a profitable blog?
- What do you think is the secret to blogging success?
- What are some common mistakes that you see bloggers make?
- What are the main ways that you generate income from your blog?
The answer to all of these questions can be summarized “don’t spend a lot of time writing for other people without compensation.”
- How do you find post ideas and keep your content fresh?
They just come to me, really.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Too bad you don't have a post online where you address some of these issues a few years ago. (here's the cached version) If I recall, that conversation addressed a lot of what you were being asked, there.
But, still....Yes, it does sound like she's looking for an easy time of it; she's looking for something she can bottle... and frankly I know of very few people who have managed to bottle success in blogging. Most who are successful, even, have no really good idea WHY.
I don't think she wants to bottle it for her own success in blogging. She wants to bottle something that she can sell in book form to make a profit for herself.
If she had a blog, she could bleg.
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