Hello dear readers. I'm writing today with some blog news. Over the past few months, I've been approached by a couple of companies to jump into the world of sponsored posting.
When the first email came, I thought, hmmm, not sure that's for me, and moved on.
When the second email came, I thought, I like this company's style, but not their product, which happened to be ... cottage cheese. Which I haven't eaten in years because I think it's kind of gross and couldn't bring myself to even contemplate promoting it, whether or not there was money involved. I'm sure I could have figured out a way to bake with it, or feed it to my husband, or something, but that felt like a big cheat. And completely inappropriate.
So I told the cottage cheese marketing reps (yes, apparently there are cottage cheese marketing reps) the truth. I can't stand cottage cheese and I'm not a good fit for this. If you ever have other promotions though, let me know.
And they did this week. And it's pretty cool.
I have to admit I've got conflicted feelings about sponsored posts. I don't want this blog to turn into a series of advertisements. And yet, I've been recommending books that I love and nonprofits that impress me and food that I want in my mouth now for most of my life. I like to connect people to the world around them.
Years ago, pre-social media, I remember (and some of you might as well) sending out a few-times-a-year email newsletter of sorts just letting friends and family know about some of the cool things I'd recently discovered or fallen head over heels with. It included everything from my newest favorite pen (back then, the Uni-Ball Vision Elite Rollerball in Blue/Black — which, by the way, I still love because it's super smooth and an awesome shade of ink) to giving opportunities through Kiva (if you're not familiar with Kiva's microloaning, get yourself to their website immediately). It was a true project of love.
After becoming more and more familiar with the blogging world, I've realized that now I can do the same thing, and make a little cash through the process too.
I promise you that I won't ever recommend or write about something I don't believe in or feel in some way connected to. If a post is sponsored, it will be clearly labeled as such. And you will still always get an honest opinion from me about anything I set aside space for here. Sometimes you'll have an opportunity to win a cool prize, as, assuming all goes as expected, will be the case later this week.
It's a new part of this freelance writing journey. If in six weeks or six months it's not settling well with me, you'll find the whole thing tossed out ... with the cottage cheese.