Publishing E-Books For Dummies

Writing Guest Posts for Relevant Blogs

One technique I use for promoting my specialized nonfiction e-books, such as my Blogger’s Guides series, is writing guest posts for large, related blogs. A guest post is free content that a writer adds to someone else’s website. If you write a guest post, you might add your name to your bio, describe your e-book, and add a link to your Amazon page or your own website.

You don’t have to wait until your e-book is published to start guest posting, though. Writing guest posts is quite an effective way to build the readership of your blog or e-mail newsletter — before you launch your e-book. Writing guest posts can also boost your credibility and reputation, especially if your field is one with a strong online presence.

Authors sometimes worry that they need large online followings in order to secure guest-post slots. The truth is that most blog editors don’t care how many readers you have — they’re interested in the quality of your content. In fact, when I started out guest posting to promote the first e-book in my Blogger’s Guide series, I had no active blog or mailing list of my own. I had only a website with a sales page for the e-book. (I had stepped back from the two blogs I had run in the past, to focus on my freelancing work on larger blog sites.) But despite not having a blog of my own, I was able to promote the first Blogger’s Guide effectively by guest posting.

Crafting your guest post carefully

When writing a guest ...