Practitioner to Educator: Writing the Book on CSR

One of the most social attributes of social media is the ease of sharing content and collaborating with others who want to share your content with their audience.

For writers disciplined enough to post quality content on a regular basis, it’s not unusual to receive offers to become a guest blogger or contributor to a site featuring stories on your area of expertise.

Whether you take advantage of the solicitations depends largely on whether you need the SEO value of links back to your site and – this is probably the bigger factor for many of us – if you have time to cram any more writing into your schedule.

But there’s little doubt that sharing your prose on multiple authoritative sites can build your personal brand.

Another tactic to tell the world you are a subject matter expert is through traditional book publishing. 

Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It transformed him from the son of a New Jersey wine store owner to one of the most sought after speakers about the power of social media, and a successful investor and entrepreneur. 

The book Digital Marketing Analytics catapulted co-author Chuck Hemann to data strategy roles at top agencies before he jumped into his current analytics management spot at Intel.

In the world of corporate social responsibility, demand for communications best practices is high. 3BL Media webinars on topics like cause marketing, storytelling through video and sustainability reporting have been attracting hundreds of practitioners over the past six months. 

So when I spotted the trusted trade publication PR News asking for help with its upcoming Corporate Social Responsibility & Green PR Guidebook it made sense to share the call for experts with our community.

PR News was founded by the late Denny Griswold in the 1940s, when the profession was just getting started.  Now owned by Access Intelligence, the company produces a respected “how-to” newsletter, professional development conferences and awards programs, including the CSR & Nonprofit Awards.

Both PR and CSR pros are being asked to contribute chapters on a full range of social impact topics, ranging from philanthropy and human rights communications to sustainability and diversity initiatives. 

“This guidebook offers an excellent branding and exposure opportunity for the author and his or her organization,” wrote PR News in its pitch for 50-word abstracts.  Due date is Friday for submissions, which should be emailed to prnewspress@accessintel.com with the subject line “CSR & Green PR Guidebook Abstract.”

There’s no guarantee you’ll get published, let alone score a keynoter spot at the Sustainable Brands conference.  But you’ll never have a shot at stardom unless you take a few minutes to jot down your pitch.  Good luck.

​Photo caption: Author Chuck Hemann with his new book