The Carnival of the Cats needs hosts for next year!

How to Host a Carnival of the Cats (CotC)

by Robyn aka Mom Robyn of HotMBC

Rocky and Fracas of Artsy Catsy Preparing for the Carnival
Photo is copyright 2008 Artsy Catsy, and used with permission.

It’s not hard to run a CotC. It just takes some effort and a spirit of fun.  Depending on how you do it, it can take about 2 hours and up.
Got questions? Check out the Carnival Hosting FAQ.

ANNOUNCE
During the week before the Sunday you host, announce on your blog (and anywhere else) that the Carnival is coming to your blog. Give the date, time (6pm Central Time) and where folks can submit (submissions (at) carnivalofthecats.com or  BlogCarnival submission form).  

PREPARE Creative Stuff
Start ahead of time in case of life biting you on the ankles.
Get stuff together that you want to use for the Carnival, such as cat related photos, graphics, videos, etc. Some ideas for Carnival graphics are: cat photos (yeah, your cats will do hehehe), pictures of carnivals or fairs with cats added, fun signs (like from ImageChef.com). You can be as creative as you like, or make it as simple as you like.

PUT IT TOGETHER
During the week before you’re hosting, start putting it all together in a draft post (or Word doc or something) to store your Carnival work. Then collect the entries and add any goodies like photos.

Collect Submitted Entries

• Log in to the CotC webmail at webmail.carnivalofthecats.com using the username and password you’re given. Go to "Inbox" on the left sidebar, which is where ALL the CotC entries are. Ones that have not been read are in bold text, and are the ones you need to handle. (Ignore emails that have already been read.)    If you haven’t received an email from us by the time you want to start, email carnival@catblogosphere.com to ask.
• Choose an unread email and read it. (If it’s spam or irrelevant stuff, just ignore it and leave it where it is. We’ll toss it later.)
• For each submission visit the permalink (the link to the post that was submitted) and check to make sure it’s a functional link and does have something to do with cats.  Write a descriptive sentence about what the post is about and link to the post in your CotC draft. (You can see previous carnivals for ideas about describing the entries.)
• Repeat for the next entry email until all are done. Leave any late submissions you don’t put on your Carnival marked as unread. If you looked at an email but didn’t include it, mark it unread again by checking the box next to it, and clicking "unread" over on the right near the top.
• Clean up the mail box when you’re done. As one Carnival Huckster wrote: "Would be nice if hosts would delete spam and move the submission from their carnival to PriorCotC box when they are done.  Make it nice for next host.  None of us like a dirty litter box, you know?"  If you have trouble figuring out how to do that, let us know by replying to the email about your edition and we’ll help you out.  We won’t know to help, though, if we don’t hear from you!
• Add your creative stuff and a link to the main Carnival Page www.carnivalofthecats.com and the next week’s host (see the main carnival page to get that link).

PUT IT UP

Publish your Carnival on your blog by 6pm Central Time on Sunday you’re hosting!
 World Time Converter Here if you need it.

LET US KNOW
Contact us when your Carnival is up so we can list your edition of the Carnival here at the Carnival of the Cats home page and on BlogCarnival so that everyone will know your Carnival is ready.

Voila! You have hosted a Carnival of the Cats!  Thanks

Got questions? Check out the Carnival Hosting FAQ.