Publisher's "Victims"

Blogging to help the author from the publisher's perspective.

Publisher's "Victims" - Blogging to help the author from the publisher's perspective.

Tag Archives: zls

Should I Pay To Be A Guest?

Dear ZLS Publishing: I received an email from a blogger the other day telling me they like my blog and want me to be a guest blogger. Here’s the catch: They want me to pay them $19.95. I’m stumped. Is this the norm? Should I pay to be a guest blogger?

Our response: No, you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, pay to be a guest blogger. Wow, people’s schemes never cease to amaze us. Unless the definition of guest has changed, guest means guest. Guests don’t pay to go anywhere or do anything for any other industry or reason (think if invited as a guest to eat) and it is the same thing with blogging. If you are being asked to pay, then you aren’t a guest. Never spend money to write for someone else. No legitimate blogger is going to charge YOU to write from THEM. Run, hide, block their email. Sounds like an identity theft scheme in the making.

What does your author brand look like?

If you are author, how would your customer define your brand?

What words would customers use to describe you as an author?

Steven King’s brand is horror.

Danielle Steel’s is romance.

Suze Orman’s is finance.

Joel Olsteen’s is religion.

It is important to remember that as an author, the key to your success is to have a brand for yourself. You must have  a brand for yourself before you can market your work.  Branding first, marketing second, that is the golden rule.  Branding is what the customer thinks about you, not what you think about yourself.  Creating a brand is hard for new authors because they don’t know how to brand, what to brand, or are too close to their story.

If you were too pass away today or tomorrow and you are an author, what would you like to be said about your work? This month, we will discuss branding for authors and hope, like everything else we do, will help you become a better author, but more importantly, a better brand!

ZLS Publishing

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