PR …
I want to be honest here. I am not really all that PR friendly, and these are some of the reasons why…
I am tired of receiving “could you please share this…” newsletter blasts personally made out to “Hey there” from public relation firms. (Nope, I really could not share that, and my name isn’t all that hard to find. Mail merge; learn to use it.)
I have had enough of the generous offers of “high-resolution images for you to share”. (Are you kidding me? There truly are no words for these “offers”.)
And for the love of Pete, I do not need another recipe “to share”. Not for cocktails, cupcakes, main dishes, pecans, coffee, peaches, plums, smoothies, or any one of the thousand other random baking and cooking ingredients that have “national holidays” to promote. I. do. not. need. a. recipe. Now if you would like to make the recipe, take some great photos of that finished recipe, send me the finished product (overnight it please, I expect my delicacies to be fresh!), along with the un-watermarked photos, assign me all rights to that recipe and photos, and pay for blog placement, well we can talk.
I do not work for samples, free coupons, “publicity” or anything else that does not come in the form of cash – or liquor kits. I’m a sucker for liquor kits.
However, I am definitely open to working with clients on sponsored posts, advertising placement, and even the occasional free stuff. (Hey, I didn’t get 72 bottles of liquor in the old cabinet by running to the liquor store daily!) I do disclose any type of compensation I receive, and the links will be no-follow, of course.
I charge the standard $1 per CPM rate. This blog receives 500K to a few million pageviews per month, depending on the month. Keep that in mind when you are emailing me for advertising opportunities, please. If you would like to advertise on Ann’s Entitled Life, it will indeed cost cash payable in US currency. If you can convince my host, my programmer, and my virtual assistants to work for free coupons, a linkback, a sample size of a product, or nothing at all, weeeelllllll, then we can talk if you “don’t have the budget.”
Bills are bills. You don’t work for free. I don’t work for free.
Now I am certain someday I will update this to a more professional PR advertising page, but right now, after opening my fiftieth email asking for something for nothing from a billion-dollar corporation, I can honestly say I have restrained myself on this advertising page. The truth of the matter is that bloggers have not worked for “free” or for a “chance to win” or as an “opportunity” for close to 10 years now. If you are in marketing and you are still of the mindset that paying a blogger is not “authentic”, you are living in 2005, not 2018. Please convey that to the company that just spent millions of dollars hiring your firm for the express purpose of trying to convince a few thousand bloggers to do a little “free” advertising for their product. When you throw stuff at the wall and it sticks, it probably is fecal matter.
Now I can write these things because, in all honesty, my livelihood doesn’t hinge on my blog. I am retired. My husband and I are fortunate enough to lead extremely comfortable lives. If I am labeled a “difficult blogger” to work with due to this page, so be it. I will not lose sleep over it, but I may lose my place on a few random PR blasts. Darn.
This page is written on behalf of the thousands of bloggers that do depend on their blogs to pay their household bills, their grocery bills, their children’s school, and extracurricular activities. Blogging is their job. A blogger is a writer who also owns the publishing platform. Remember that. Respect that. And pay accordingly.
If, after reading this, you are still interested in working with me and have a fair and equitable offer to make, please email me. I do respond to all reasonable offers. Let’s see if you can be this month’s reasonable email.
