a single source, nothing corroborates it

Book the guest posts the week you pick the idea

Editorial queues, not writing time, are what make launch day guest posts fail: two to three weeks typically pass between a yes and publication, so the pitching has to start before the product does. Pitch far more sites than you need, personalise both the proposed piece and the mail, and expect most to decline. A month of runway produced five live posts on launch day against a target of ten to fifteen.

The method

1. 01

   Make lining up launch-day guest posts the very next task after settling on the product idea.

2. 02

   Get the finished draft to the host blog far ahead of launch, because editorial review and the publishing queue add weeks after approval.

3. 03

   Line up guest posts to publish on launch morning, and pitch far more than you need because most will not run.

4. 04

   Pitch guest posts to many sites at once and personalise both the proposed article and the pitch email, expecting frequent rejection.

5. 05

   Large blogs will take your pitch if you get introduced to the author first.

What it returned

• 5

  A one-month runway produced 5 posts live on launch day (September 4th) plus 1 the day after, against a goal of 10-15

• 2

  2-3 weeks between approval and publication was typical

• 15

  Targeted 15 guest posts, landed 5 (Think Traffic, Pocket Changed, Six Revisions, Web Designer Depot, SpeckyBoy)

Sources

• What I learned selling $6,000+ of my ebook today.Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The Launch Strategy · 2012-09-04
• Don’t Repeat My Product Launch MistakesNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 2. Waited too long to schedule and submit guest posts · 2012-09-18