Why the Association of Ghostwriters Does Not Accept Outside Guest Blog Posts

Every week we receive at least one request from someone who is not currently part of the Association of Ghostwriters (AOG) community asking to submit a guest blog post. That number has been increasing lately, perhaps because the website has been attracting more traffic.

This week alone I’ve been offered posts by John, who has a “background in the Writing topic;” Amanda, who has repeatedly offered posts, this time on “What’s a Ghostwriter;” and Victoria, who wanted to offer her “guest posting services,” which were included on a list alongside other services such as TAT (whatever that is).

While it’s certainly a compliment that people want to be associated with the AOG, all receive a polite “no, thank you” because we do not accept blog posts from non-members.

That is the policy for a number of reasons, which include:

Guest blogging is a member benefit. Professional writers who are part of the AOG membership have a strong sense of what their colleagues and aspiring authors – their clients – know and do not know. Hence, the blog topics they propose are much more relevant and on-target than topics proposed by outsiders. Members can submit up to two guest posts per year that include a brief bio and link back to their website or AOG member directory listing.

The writing quality by members is professional grade. Perhaps it goes without saying but blog posts penned by professional writers who belong to the AOG are of higher quality than those written by non-writers or aspiring contributors looking for clicks. Because they recognize that their post is likely to be read by fellow members, guest bloggers deliver work that reflects their experience and expertise. Meaning, posts are well-written and interesting.

Non-members are typically not well-educated about ghostwriting. Sure, some have expertise that would be relevant to this audience, but many have only a surface-level understanding of how ghostwriting works. For that reason, their advice may not actually be smart for ghostwriters.

Quality control is time-consuming. The flip side of limiting posts to members for quality control reasons is that opening up submissions to anyone and everyone creates significantly more work. Ensuring that posts are relevant, cogent, and follow the tone and style of other AOG blog posts would take hours that could be spent supporting the membership.

The potential for spammy links is higher with non-members. Given that guest blog posts are proposed to benefit the writer in some way, it’s quite possible that an outsider could deliver a post that targets keywords that have nothing to do with ghostwriting or the AOG but that boost their own website’s or blog’s traction. They could insert links that weaken the AOG site’s relevance and suggest connections to unrelated businesses. This is not good for the AOG or for you as a member.

I’m sure many of the folks proposing guest blog posts are decent writers and some of the ideas aren’t half bad, but for all of the reasons shared above, we’re going to continue to limit guest blogging opportunities to members only.