Guest Bloggers on TPV?

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From time to time, PG receives emails from people who would like to write a guest blog post for TPV.

Typically, he politely declines.

However, as regular visitors will note, PG has been finding a lot of interesting items on Jane Friedman’s blog lately and they’ve been written by guest bloggers instead of Ms. Friedman, who also writes excellent posts herself.

PG’s inimitable blogging style – usually sharing excerpts from interesting items he thinks might be helpful for authors and other highly-intelligent persons that PG finds as he wanders around the web – demands less of PG’s time than if PG were to write items of similar length and breadth himself (although PG was the fastest typist in his high school typing class [Unfortunately, he doesn’t think he still has the certificate attesting thereto.] and, yes, young people, he did so with a typewriter, hence his life-long persnicketyness about keyboards).

So, for the first time in several years, is PG wrong about something?

Should he accept requests for guest blogs from people who seem to be intelligent? (He would read the submissions before posting to make certain they seemed like something that would interest many or all of those who visit here regularly.)

Feel free to share your opinions in the comments.

10 thoughts on “Guest Bloggers on TPV?”

  1. If you feel like it, do it. I trust you, PG. I wouldn’t bother to read and comment on this site if I didn’t.

    Such a policy would not be much different from what you do now. Your quotes from other sites are already like guest blogs, only after the initial publication.

    My advice is not to add guest blogs because guest blogging is a thing, but if you feel like a guest blog is right, post it.

  2. There’s a difference between “I would like to write something” and “here is something you might consider posting”. Were I you, the latter would be more attractive than the former.

    • Depending on the subjects, very much to the latter.
      The former…meh.
      A lot of guest posts are more about exposure for the source than the subject. Or filling the blog. TPV has no shortage of interesting posts and comments.

      • I agree with Felix, here. I would add the note that just about every high quality blogger is quite busy enough with their own blog. Guest posts back and forth are usually, as Felix notes, more for exposure for the source – at which TPV excels already.

        • I agree with both of the above. I really enjoy your current format and voice, and guest blogging seems more of an exposure/marketing tool for the guest more than anything.

  3. I think guest blogging might be an interesting experiment, PG, and if you don’t like it you can always discontinue the practice.

  4. Interesting link to the other one about “expertise”, as I see it as another form of curation. This would likely seem like overkill or too much work, but I think a targeted series of guest blogs could be interesting…like asking someone knowledgeable that you trust to write a January 1st “the future of publishing” piece or someone like Jane to write “Okay, you did NaNoWriMo, now what?” for a December post.

    Maybe it’s just a variation of the other comments, but as a small “thought” that might lead to some deeper thoughts by you if desired, I think I would only do it if you think the guest blog would be something you think should be said?

    For an example of my own, I have my own blog, and it’s just small, only about 250 hits a day. All of the posts are written by me, although from time to time, I imitate you and share an article I like…for me, I will ONLY share an article I like with snippet IF I am also willing to write my views around it. If it is just to share, I’ll do that on social media, but on my blog, I feel like my personal comments should always be there to give my opinion. Otherwise, why share it on *my* blog? I would love to curate like you do, but not really my “voice” or style.

    The only time I have deviated from it being “all me” was a guest blog from my wife…I often write about self-discovery, personal development, etc., and she wrote about finding new hobbies for herself. It fit my blog, it was a different voice than what I myself would say, and I included it because it was something I thought worth reading. For all other “offers”, I decline…I have never seen an offer that really appealed to me. As others have said, it seems more like an exposure exchange and I don’t do that. I also don’t write for other blogs. If someone wants to link to something I wrote, sure. But I am not looking to build a business, it’s purely for love of the word.

    Put simply, maybe you could think of something that you feel is “missing” from larger conversations?

  5. Not trying to upstage PG and his high school achievements, but I had a girlfriend (not in high school) who could type 120 wds/min with accuracy. You should have seen—and heard—her do it. It was amazing.

    • Your girlfriend beat me, Harald. The best I could ever do was in the 98-99 wpm range with accuracy. Never broke 100.

      I did attend a very small and not-very-good high school, so it was easy to be above average.

  6. Thanks for the comments, including the detailed ones. You’ve given me a lot to think about and have definitely pushed me closer to a decision.

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