In Which I Decline a Prospective Content Partnership

The Popehat folks are far better at this sort of thing, but let me give it a try. I got this email with the subject “Content Partnership”:

Hey there Mark,

My name is Sladen West and I wanted to discuss the possibility of some sort of content partnership with you and windypundit.com. I do a lot of writing in the automotive space and thought my articles could be a great fit for your readers. I don’t expect any kind of payment for articles. I just want to get my name out there. Anything I write for windypundit.com will be original of course.

If you’d like, you can take a look at some articles I have just recently published here:

Why Women Are Probably Better Drivers
Gas Saving Myths Debunked
7 Tips To Ignore If You Want To Be A Better Driver

If you’re interested, I would love to contribute something like an article a month on topics such as driving safety, car maintenance, and various drivers tips and advice. Thanks so much for your time, Mark!

– Sladen West

My response:

Hi Sladen,

First of all, the second link is broken, or rather, it goes to the same place as the first. Actually, it looks like the two lines are combined into a single link.

Second, do you really think your articles would be a great fit for my readers? Because I don’t think you’ve actually read my blog.

I don’t really write much about cars. I mostly do rants about civil liberties and criminal law, usually from a libertarian perspective, which means that I want to legalize not only marijuana and gay marriage, but also prostitution and heroin. I also swear a lot, and I once wrote that Sheriff Joe Arpaio is like Hitler.

As for my readers, at least one of them is a former prostitute and madam, and several of them earn their living by defending accused murderers and child molesters. (And God only knows what drugs my readers use.) It’s not that they’d be against defensive driving…but that’s not really why they’re here.

Yours is one of the nicest and least slimy can-I-write-for-your-blog emails I have received, but I don’t think your topics are really a good fit here, and I don’t think you really want to be associated with the likes of us either.

It would probably be best for both of us if I just said “No, thank you.”

— Mark Draughn

For some reason, I just didn’t feel like ignoring this one. I hope that is sufficient explanation.