How to host a blog carnival
There are two main styles of hosting: a more “straightforward” one, and a more “exuberant” one. The straightforward way of hosting a Carnival involves posting the link of every entry you have received (after having screened all entries for spam, or off-topic posts), as well as a quote from the entry, or a short summary of what the entry is all about. You can find an example of this hosting style here.
The other style is, how should I say it….more literary. You can go deep into parody, you can create dialogues, you can pretty much go crazy – but as usual, this post also needs to include links to all entry you have found to be acceptable for the Carnival. You can find an example here.
If you need more examples, scroll down this page for a few example links. If you are in doubt, I suggest you go with the more straightforward style – because with that, you really can’t go wrong.
For this Carnival, I suggest you screen out any posts that are:
- good old spam
- focused on religion
- focused on politics
- trying to sell us quack products
The rest is really up to your discretion.
Hosting instructions
If you are interested in hosting the MCB Carnival, there are only a few simple steps you need to take to be added to the hosting list. Here is what you will need to do.
- Check the carnival’s listing on blogcarnival.com, and see which days are available for hosting. The MCB Carnival will be generally hosted on the second Sunday of every month, and the submission deadlines will generally be on the previous Friday. For example, if a carnival is supposed to be up on April 13, the submission deadline will be on April 11.
- Write to me, writing “MCB Carnival Hosting” in the subject line. You can contact me, again, through the blogcarnival contact form. Make sure to mention when you would like to host the carnival.
- After I receive your e-mail, I will check your blog. Only active blogs (blogs that have been active in the past month) will be allowed to host the Carnival. Moreover, if you are the owner of a spam blog (a blog that simply re-posts what other have posted, and which does not have original content) you will also not be allowed to host.
- If I have approved you as a host, you will be added as a host on blogcarnival.com, and you will be receiving submissions to the e-mail you provided. I will also personally inform you of whether you have been approved as a host.
At this point, you are ready to go. How are you going to be hosting a successful Carnival? Here are a few more guidelines for prospective hosts:
- Two weeks before the Carnival is supposed to be up, publish a post on your blog indicating:
- the name and edition number of the Carnival
- the date when the Carnival will be posted
- the submission deadline – as I said, it will usually be the Friday before the Carnival, but if you want to give other bloggers more time to submit their posts, it can also be on Saturday
- a link to the blogcarnival form for submitting posts
- a link to this website’s submission guidelines
- a link to the next hosting blog (if known at the time)
- Post a similar reminder seven days before the Carnival is due to appear on your blog. At this point, if you think you have not received enough entries for your Carnival – you should have about 8-10 at least – you can solicit entries from bloggers whose post(s) you would like to see in the Carnival. These should be recent posts. Please try not to spam people, and do use the BCC field when sending the message – or, even better, send out individual messages. And…be kind!
It’s the day of the Carnival! Your Carnival is posted with “Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival” in the title, and..now what? There are still a few things left to do:
- First of all, make sure to post a link to this site and to the next host in line at the end of your Carnival post
- As soon as the Carnival is posted (ideally, around 9 AM-12 PM Eastern Time), send an e-mail to all past hosts of the MCB Carnival including the edition and the permalink to your post, so that the past hosts will be able to publicize the post.
- Also, send an e-mail (again, no spamming, and please be kind) to other bloggers you know who you want to promote the Carnival to. Are you now thinking of some high-ranking blogs? So am I. Sometimes they are kind to you, sometimes they are not, but it is worth a try.
And now what? Well, I guess you are done for now! I will be adding a link to your blog on the MCB Carnival Host Blogroll, as well as publicizing your post on my personal blog.
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