‘Tis the Season to Be Chaotic, Is Reblogging the Answer?

I don’t know about anyone else, but this is a rough time to get any writing done. I did great throughout November for NaNoWriMo, but since then I think I’ve gotten in only 7,000 words. And most of those words were written the first weekend of December, right after NaNo ended. *sigh*

I’m also supposed to be getting my Golden Heart entry ready for the contest sponsored by RWA. But, uh, I haven’t even started that yet. Yikes.

Between Christmas get-togethers, activities, shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking, my schedule is packed. Wait… Christmas cards weren’t on that list, were they? Ugh. Maybe I’ll do New Year’s cards.

Of course, that list doesn’t even include blogging. Uh-huh, right. When are we supposed to fit that in?

Yet, we do. Or at least we try. Even though blog traffic is going to be next-to-nothing for the next several weeks.

Marcy Kennedy had a great post yesterday about the etiquette of reblogging, which is the blogging of something previously posted on another blog. I found it interesting to come across the topic of reusing someone else’s work so soon after we had the conversation about reusing our own work.

However, when we’re pressed for time, we might do a post with a collection of links to other posts. Or we might even feature just one post with heavy quoting from the original article.

That technique can help us when we want to post something, but we need to be aware that there are rules associated with that method. I haven’t had anyone try to repost one of my whole blog articles (which, even if you include a link, is copyright infringement if you don’t have prior permission), but I have had people reblog a few paragraphs and then include a link to my post with a “Read the rest of the article here” note.

That type of reblogging I don’t mind at all. That’s essentially an expanded version of the link collection posts that many of my friends do (and I greatly appreciate for helping me catch up on what I missed!).

In fact, that’s how I initially met Janice Hardy. She shared the first three paragraphs of one of my posts on her blog. At first I freaked out for a second, but then I saw it was only three paragraphs and that she directed her readers to my blog to read the rest. Awesome!

Now Janice and I are great real-life friends and we beta read for each other. So both parties can benefit from this type of reblogging.

Inspired by Marcy’s post, I added a “policy” page to my website to cover the other circumstances. (Which I really didn’t have time to mess with, but I didn’t want to forget about it.) These are important policies to lay out for people to avoid misunderstandings.

On my Contact page, I now have a note:

(If you have questions about my guest post, quoting, or reblogging polices, please check here.)

On my Polices and Blah-blah-blah page (yes, that’s really what I named it *smile*), I now list my policies for guest posts, endorsements, and reblogging or quoting/linking:

Guest Posts

I do run guest posts on my blog. However, I do not accept guest post requests (with very few exceptions). Most “I’d like to guest post on your blog” requests are from spammers who don’t know me, don’t know my blog, and don’t know my readers. These requests are ignored and deleted.

If I know someone and if they offer a post with content I think would benefit my readers (no promo-only posts), I’m happy to consider a request. I’m very picky about who I let guest blog for the reasons I outlined in this post. I maintain the right to edit or refuse all submitted guest posts.

I expect all guest posts to consist of new content that has not already been shared elsewhere (unless cleared in advance). Also, I expect guest posters to wait a minimum of three months before reposting their portion of the guest blog content on their blog (or elsewhere) and to include a link back to my blog with the notification of where the material had previously appeared.

Endorsements

I don’t endorse any products (software, etc.) or services (publishers, editors, etc.) because we all need to do our own due diligence to find the publishing partners right for our goals.

Reblogging, Quotes, Linking

You may quote or reblog up to three paragraphs from one of my blog posts—only if you give credit and a link back to my full post. Anything more than three paragraphs requires written permission. I attempt to reply to all commenters, and I appreciate the opportunity to continue the conversation here, where I won’t miss questions or discussion on the topic.

Under no circumstances do I permit anyone to reblog (copy or repost) a full post (even with credit and a link). I will consider requests for offline use if a link and full credit is included, but my written permission is required prior to such use. Otherwise, I consider any use of a whole post as plagiarism and copyright infringement, and I do actively search out and use tools to find violations.

I haven’t made a study of how others approach these policies, however, so I don’t know if I’m missing aspects or need to make some items clearer. I figured I’d share my version to a) get feedback and b) give people ideas about what they could include with their policies. Check out Marcy’s post for her thoughts on the reblogging etiquette rules and the reasons behind them for more ideas about how to approach this issue.

Have you been able to squeeze in writing this month? How do you balance everything? Have you ever reblogged a post, and if so, what were your reasons and how did you approach it? Do you have a “policy” page? What policies do you cover? Do you have any feedback or suggestions for my page? Am I missing anything?