How To Leverage Your Book

A guest blog post offers an opportunity to promote yourself and your book while imparting knowledge and sharing information with the blog’s readership. It is understood that this arrangement is a partnership of sorts: the blog receives content, and you get exposure to a new audience. When executed properly, a guest blog post can help promote your brand and your book(s).

If you’ve been asked to write a guest blog post, follow these simple instructions to get started and produce a high quality post.

The Bio Section

Many blogs will ask that you provide a brief biography about yourself including relevant websites and/or a method of contact. Along with the information in your biography, it is typically accepted to list your book(s). Before writing your biography, ensure that you ask the following questions:

-How long can my biography be?

-How many links can I include in my biography? (Note that many blogs limit the number of links for SEO purposes, so choose the most important one: your website, your book’s retail site such as Amazon, or the social media channel where you get the most engagement.)

Build A Relationship

Most editors are overrun with work and will welcome any additional assistance. If you help them, they could help you in return. Build a relationship with your guest blog site by asking the following:

-Do you need an author photograph for the blog?

-Can I request a publication date for my post? (This is a great question to ask as you may then use your guest blog post during any upcoming promotional activities, such as the release of a new book or a blog tour.)

-Can I make a suggestion for another guest blog post in the future?

Mention Your Book(s)

Although the aforementioned bio section is great, let’s face it — how many people read this section of an article? A reader has clicked on an article link because they’re interested in the subject matter and what you have to say. So, try to work your book(s) into the post. Never over-do this, as the result could be blatant self-promotion, which may be obvious to the reader and cut by the blog editor. Instead, try one of the following lead-ins for a reference:

-“When I was writing my latest novel, Elora of Stone, …”

-“While promoting my latest book, Writing Tips, I tried…”

-“The biggest case of writer’s block that occurred while writing Nirvana was…”

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Have you ever written a guest blog post?