Opportunities on this blog

Below is a list of the opportunities open to anyone wishing to take part in my blogs.

I welcome new submissions for everything below but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read the guidelines before you submit anything, and please don’t just send the content; I am human, please say “hello”!

I would ask that you read an already-posted item to get a feel for the layout of the item you plan to submit for. It really does make all the difference. All content has to be family-friendly so no strong violence / language etc.

Before you start working on any of these options, please email me so I can add your details to my register and discuss any queries you may have. To ensure you have the correct format for each item you wish to do, please look the existing pages (in green) / previously-posted items (listed on the pages) as examples.

Please allow a minimum of two weeks after submitting for a reply before chasing me!

I welcome writers of any genre (providing the content sent to me to go on this site is ‘family friendly’, especially for the Flash Fiction Fridays) as it’s more about you as a writer than your books (although you will of course have plenty of opportunity to mention it / them). I no longer accept content from online bloggers with links to non-writing websites.

Each new posting on all the WordPress sites I have (listed below) is linked to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Yahoo and LinkedIn, with over 4,000 subscribers, followers, friends etc.

I offer the following choices (feel free to do any / all):

• (a) author spotlight; made up of 1,000-word max. third person biography, 1,000-word max first-person about your writing / anything interesting writing-related, then links to you and your work (see the already-posted spotlights listed below, the green links, as examples) and your website / book purchase / social networking (etc) links – ideally the text together in one document please. You can also provide a photograph of yourself and your book cover(s) to add some colour to the post. Please email me as attachments rather than email-embedded text / photos. Thank you. These are currently posted every weekday morning (and sometimes weekend mornings) and are currently booked into June 2013.
• (b) provide a writing-related non-fiction guest blog post of a topic of your choice but should be of an informative / educational format – please discuss topic with me in advance) c.<1000 words, ideally ending with a question, or equivalent statement, to encourage the reader to comment, <500-word third-person biography, <500-word max synopsis one of your books, and your website / book purchase / social networking (etc) links and optional photo/s. Currently posted Tuesday and Thursday evenings UK time. These can be done as often as you like (up to one every 6-8 weeks) providing they have a writing-focus. Further details on the guest blogs page. The content remains yours and I have no issues with you using content you’ve previously posted elsewhere or posting it again elsewhere. It’s your writing after all. There have been many topics covered to-date and I have produced a list of them on the topics page which may help you decide what to write about. Please note: I am not longer accepting submissions from online bloggers with non-writing-related site links. Currently booked into June 2013.
• (c) <1000-word flash fiction, together with the inspiration behind it, your link(s), photos. These are posted every Friday evening (UK time) and are subsequently podcasted – see Flash Fiction Fridays for details. These can also be previously-published pieces. Currently booked into June 2013.
• (d) <40-line poem posted every Monday evening (UK time) with a few words on the inspiration for the poem, third-person biography and  and your website / book purchase / social networking (etc) links – see Post-weekend Poetry for details. Again this can be a previously posted item and you can do with it what you wish thereafter. Poetry also welcomed for Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group. Currently booked into June 2013.

You are welcome to offer a giveaway of any of your books on any of the above (main blog) options. The usual format is for visitors to leave comments then you choose a winner (or you can offer giveaways to anyone who leaves a comment if you wish) and I send you their email address for you to liaise with them directly.

• (e) Due to time restrictions I’m unable to do any book reviews (if you’re an author click here for some that do) but if you do book reviews, I’ve opened up Wednesday evenings for guest book reviews (on other people’s book, not your own!). See http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/reviews/book-reviews for the guidelines.
• (f) I run 5a.m. Flashes for anyone wishing to promote free eBooks (ongoing or limited period). I do need a week’s notice for specific dated promotions.
• (g) The Feedback page invites writers / readers to swap contact details to give feedback (directly rather than on the blog) on writers’ work (of any genre). If you are willing to give feedback and / or looking for feedback on a current work-in-progress or finished (available or otherwise), do take a look at the page and send me the relevant details. I also welcome pieces for feedback on my five Online Writing Groups.
• (h) I can also list up to five of your books at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/books-other-peoples. I just need your published name, your / publisher’s website or blog address, book title(s), book link (where it/they can be bought from), genre(s) and summary in no more than 15 words (a test of your editing skills) per book. You can send this to me any time.
• (i) The blog interviews are now running on weekend mornings only. I posted 670 interviews without charging but because of the time these take to prepare (I add in comments as if we are chatting) this has meant I’ve had little time for my own writing. In order to free up some of my time, I therefore started charging for them at £10 / €12.50 / $15 per interview (payable via PayPal to my email address: morgen@morgenbailey.com upon submission of your replies). Let me know if you’d like to take part in an interview and I shall send you the relevant questionnaire (for novelists / children’s / non-fiction / short story authors / scriptwriters / poets – I also have them for editors, agents and publishers). The blog interviews are posted on this blog then later on two interview-only blogs – http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com and http://morgensauthorinterviews.blogspot.co.uk. The closest alternative to the interview on the main blog is the author spotlight, option (a) above, which remains free.

As mentioned above, in January 2013 I set up five online writing groups and these all welcome submissions for critique by the blog’s visitors (readers / writers). See the Submissions pages on each blog for full details:

• Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group (http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374)
• Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group (http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189) <5,000-word novel extracts.
• Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group (http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934) <50-line poems.
• Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group (http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017) <5,000-word script extracts.
• Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group (http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445) <5,000-word stories / story extracts.

I’ll leave it up to you which one(s) you go for but if you want a specific date (to coincide with launch dates etc.), I will need plenty of notice. If you go for more than one option you can send them back individually or together, whichever is easier for you. I don’t mind what font style or size you use (I convert it to Times size 10 single-spaced anyway) but would appreciate no indenting wherever possible (saves me pulling text to the left-hand margin). Also please no coloured font other than the default blue for website links to avoid me having to pick through the text and change to black and finally (sorry to be fussy). Also please send files as attachments wherever possible. Thank you.

Due to some content not arriving in time and me having to chase and re-arrange the schedule at the last minute, I book dates when your content is sent to me. I’m sure you appreciate that I wish to avoid extra work, given that I post at least two items a day. Thank you for your understanding.

Whilst the above are opportunities to tell readers of your new book, and each posting will provide links on your website / sales areas, they have been designed to tell visitors about you as a writer or how you write, rather than being too much ‘please-buy-my-book’ and it’s a format that works better than a hard sell. The copyright for any fictional content you send me remains yours – I do not use it for any other purpose, unless agreed with you in advance, and it should be family-friendly please, no overt swearing, extreme erotica etc. Please ensure you own copyright of (or have permission for) any photographs you send me. Thank you.

Please ensure that you send everything to me, e.g. full and correct content for each item, third-person (not first person viewpoint) biography of yourself, together with any photographs you wish including. Please don’t direct me to websites where I might find the information. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I really don’t have the time to go looking. And all website links to be included should be writing-related only.

Finally, other than the interviews, everything offered here is free of charge (although I do, as of November 2012, have a donate button should you ever feel so inclined). I am grateful for your time and the content you will be providing me for me and the 200-500 daily visitors (110,000+ hits since March 2011) spread around the site. If you’d like to see what I write, I have a list on Books: mine.

Thank you again for your interest in my site and I look forward to hosting you.

Kind regards

Morgen Bailey

• morgen@morgenbailey.com
• http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com
• http://shortstorydaily.wordpress.com and
• http://icanbuildyourwritingblog.wordpress.com (blog design for writers from £50 / €60 / $75 – please do pass my details on to anyone you think may wish to have a new blog, and not just writers ).