The Email That Got Me Published on Huffington Post

I’ve talked about the benefits of guest posting before on the blog (As a matter of fact, I put together a pretty sweet list of 55 blogs that accept guest posts if you are looking for some opportunities) because it is a GREAT way to get exposure for your work as well as collaborate & get to know other publishers, editors & bloggers.

Here's an example of a Huffington Post pitch letter that worked! Click To Tweet

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to be published on The Huffington Post and you can see that post right here. Today I thought I would share with you the exact email that I sent Arianna Huffington (yes! I emailed her directly) that got me a response within 24 hours (1 day!) and published on the Huffington Post Parents section+ I’ll also give you some bonus tips on how to get even more promotion on the site.

Here is the exact email I sent Arianna:

Hello!

I wrote this blog post about the 15 ways being in a sorority (oh so many years ago) prepared me for motherhood. I think it would be a great fit for Huff Post Parent readers

Thanks for your consideration.

Chrystie V.

I then included the entire blog post at the bottom of the email AND attached the post in a word doc.

Here was Arianna’s response:

Hello Chrystie, many thanks for thinking of us and for sending me your post. We would love to feature your voice on HuffPost about how your sorority prepared you for motherhood. I’m ccing our blog editor Madeline Wahl to send you a password so you can start blogging on the site. All the best, Arianna

Talk about fan-girling…I was giddy when I received this email!

Here’s why I think my email worked: It was short & sweet and included everything she needed. I introduced the post, added a bit of humor, and told her exactly which category I thought the post would be a good fit for. I also included the post within the body of the email which meant she didn’t need to download and open an attachment.

Here’s what happened after I received Arianna’s reponse:

Two days later I heard from Madeline and she gave me access to the Huffington Post blogging platform. I uploaded my blog post and it was published on the site within 24 hours. Woohoo! As you can imagine I was very excited HOWEVER, getting published on Huffington post is great, but it doesn’t guarantee that you will show up on the Huffington category page, for example Huff Post Parents is where I was aiming for.

Can I share a win? My post “15 Ways Being in a Sorority prepared me for motherhood” just went live on HuffPo! https://t.co/qddftx5imU

— Chrystie V. (@naptimenation) March 9, 2016

What the editors like to see is some traction on your post, so here are the exact steps I took to ensure that my post was getting traffic:

• I shared the post on my personal page, luckily several friends were kind enough to share it
• I stumbled the post on Stumble Upon & then joined several StumbleUpon sharing threads on Facebook groups to get even more Stumbles.
• I shared the post on my Living for Naptime Facebook & Twitter accounts

Because I was driving traffic to the post, the editors took notice and moved my post from the abyss of Huffington Post Blogger Community to the Huffington Post Parenting page (woohoo!). Then it did so well there, Huffington Post Parents even tweeted it out!

15 ways being in a sorority prepared me for motherhood: https://t.co/bwuUyHzqqa pic.twitter.com/sgHD65i6PG

— HuffPost Parents (@HuffPostParents) March 10, 2016

To recap, here are the exact steps I took to get published on the Huffington Post:

• Email Arianna AT huffingtonpost.com - Keep it short & sweet. Include quick personality filled introduction and include blog post in body of email
• Once you get access publish your post
• Publish & promote the post everywhere to drive traffic and get attention of category editors.

What if you don’t hear back from Huffington Post?

Now many of you have asked me what to do if you DON’T hear back from Arianna and here is my advice based on reading other people’s experiences: If you don’t hear back from Arianna within a week, send another pitch. Do NOT send the same pitch, if she/they had liked your pitch they would have emailed back. So my best advice is to wait a week and then try again with a different blog post idea!

Do you have any tips to add to this post? I’d love to hear them! Leave me a comment