Update: Announcing a DIY Blogathon cohosted by Freelance Success, and me

[UPDATE – Registration for the 2014 event is now CLOSED.]

It’s back, sort of. After I announced last week that I wasn’t going to hold a 2014 WordCount Blogathon because of too many other things going on in my professional and personal life, my freelance friends staged an intervention.

Many of these writers are WordCount Blogathon regulars who have used the event to start a blog, launch a redesign, write an e-book, teach themselves about Twitter or Pinterest, or recharge their blogging and social media efforts. So many reached out to say how sorry they were it wasn’t happening this year, they convinced Jennie Phipps to do something about it. Phipps is the proprietor of Freelance Success, also known by its members as FLX, a website for professional freelance journalists with a members-only forum and weekly market guide. It’s also my go-to spot for networking with other freelancers.

Jennie convinced me to work with her and jointly host a no-frills, do-it-yourself 2014 Freelance Success/WordCount Blogathon. So there you go, the community challenge to post every day in June is back on.

What the Blogathon will include

That’s the good news. The reality check is that the 2014 Blogathon cosponsored by Freelance Success and WordCount is going to be a stripped down affair, minus a lot of the bells and whistles from previous years. Here’s what we will have:

• A Blogathon registration form. Sign ups are open, register here. [UPDATE – Registration for the 2014 event is now CLOSED.]
• A Blogathon blog roll. People love this, so even though it’s a bear to compile, somebody’s going to do it. On June 1, you’ll see a 2014 FLX/WordCount Blogathon blog roll here as well as on…
• Freelance Success/WordCount Facebook page. We will use a new FB page to share links to June blog posts. Before you can do that, you need to “like” the page – so click over there right now and “like” it, and then come back here and finish reading. PLEASE NOTE: If you’re already a fan of the WordCount FB page and want to share links there, that’s fine with me, but the Freelance Success/WordCount page will be the official hangout.
• Blogathon calendar of events. We’re working on offering some theme days you can use as blogging prompts. To make it easier on ourselves, we might use the same theme days as last year — remember, this is a DIY affair! If you want to come up with your own theme days and calendar for a month’s worth of blog posts, go for it. If you do and do it soon, consider sharing it with your fellow blogathon bloggers by posting a link on the Blogathon FB page.
• Blogathon hashtag. If you use Twitter, add #blog2014 to any tweets about the blogathon so other blogathon bloggers can see them. I strongly recommend creating a Saved Search for #blog2014 so you can quickly pull up tweets about the event.

What the Blogathon won’t include

Since this year’s Blogathon is a DIY affair, there are some features from previous events we won’t have. They include:

• No badges. I’m sticking to my vow not to spending $$$ on this year’s event, so that means no badges.
• No 30 days of posts from me. I will definitely not be writing a post a day in June. My goal is two a week. I’ll cheer on everyone attempting 30 posts in 30 days from the sidelines.
• No tech support. DIY means no adminstrators or assistant to help you figure out how to add images or videos to blog posts, use Twitter, etc. If you’ve got questions, you can post them on the FB page or on Twitter with #blog2014 and other bloggers might be able to answer your questions. If it’s a question that came up in a previous blogathon and I wrote a post about it, I’ll try to share a link to the post.

We’re still determining whether we’ll have Twitter chats to start and end the month. Stay tuned.

Jennie is attempting to line up prizes for a raffle drawing for everyone who makes it all 30 days. But I’m not sure what the outcome will be. Want to donate something? Contact Jennie at editor@freelancesuccess.com.

Are you in? If you are, sign up here for the Freelance Success/WordCount Blogathon. [UPDATE – Registration for the 2014 event is now CLOSED.]

Once you sign up, be sure to “like” the Freelance Success/WordCount Facebook page to get all the latest updates, and so you can use the page to share links to your June posts.