If you’re managing a carnival then you know how important your hosts are.  They can make managing the carnival a piece of cake.  And if they volunteer to host, they likely know what it entails and will put together a good carnival for you, the carnival readers, and for the submitters.

Once in a while, though, life gets in the way, someone forgets, someone gets kicked down by a really bad cold, someone dies, etc.  The carnival may (rightfully) take a back seat for the moment while things get sorted out.  A week ago the host for the Carnival of Debt Reduction got really ill and didn’t post.  I finally saw her online and asked where the carnival was.  She told me that she was sick, and I stepped in and did the carnival for her.

Now, I was pretty sure something was wrong because this particular host was on top of things in previous editions of the carnival.  Even though I had to approach her as to why the carnival wasn’t posted, the day of the carnival was the first time that I actually tried to remind her.  This was a mistake.  I should have checked before then.  Here are a few tips to keep on top of your carnival hosts (in an unobtrusive way):

• A few days before the carnival, check the e-mail account where the submissions go.  If it’s a Gmail account, then if the host has read them, they’ll be marked read unless the host (a) hasn’t read them yet or (b) deliberately marked them unread again.  It’s a positive indicator if they’re marked read, but inconclusive if they’re not marked read.
• Email the host to remind them of the carnival and ask for a response.  It’s important to ask them for a response to make sure it’s still in the cards for them to host.  I’ve found most hosts will respond if you ask them to.
• If the carnival isn’t posted on time, politely look for an answer.  It’s common sense to me not to dump on your hosts, but it’s always better to assume something’s wrong than to accuse.
• Pinch hit if necessary.  It may be that you end up dressing up an InstaCarnival just to get the carnival edition out the door.  If this is the case, then definitely be sure to e-mail all of the participants so that they know where the carnival is, because they’ll be expecting it somewhere else.  I found it was helpful to explain why the carnival moved at the last minute, and folks had sympathy for the sick host.

It’s definitely better to communicate more with your hosts.

• How tightly does one need to control a carnival? As blog carnivals get big and well-established, the traffic gets pretty substantial.  This attracts more posts, both good and bad.  The good posts, because it's a good, long-standing carnival that bloggers want to submit to.  The bad posts, because it's an easy, high-traffic link for not that much work.Initially, when......
• Do due diligence with hosts Getting hosts for your carnival can be tough.  It takes organization to keep things moving, and sometimes the hosting schedule gets tight.It's tempting to jump at the first person who offers.  That's fine but be sure to do some due diligence.Meaning check out their blog.  Is it a place that......
• A quick roll-your-own carnival submission form BlogCarnival.com has become an integral part of many blog carnivals.  They were down for about a week with database maintenance.  I know that this was probably quite hectic for them as well as for all of the carnival managers that depend on the features it brings to the table. A......
• An unfortunate reality of hosting a blog carnival The larger benefit goes to the people who submit to the carnivals rather than to the people who put forth all of the effort to host them. A number of bloggers I respect have figured this out already, and they're fairly reluctant to host a carnival anymore. They understand the......

• Credit Card Debt – Make a Plan to Get out of It Credit card debt is at the heart of many families’ financial problems. Having to make credit card payments every month can easily strangle a family’s budget. First, you have to send a huge part of your paycheck to your credit card companies in order to make your minimum payments. Then,......
• In the next few days ENERGY SPRINT will be introduced ENERGY SPRINT is produced highly innovative, thanks to its technology ENERGY SPRINT assures you force, physical energy and lies them every time that you want. ENERGY SPRINT is a Card, that you just need to carry it with you, when you want to be in full form and of energy,......
• Cash Back Credit Cards: Cards That Pay You to Shop Cash back credit cards are cards that reward you when you use the card. Although credit card debt is a horrible thing to have in your life, I don’t necessarily think that having a credit card is always bad. There are many times when using a credit card is more......
• Father’s Day Gift Ideas on a Budget The last few days I’ve found my mind preoccupied with thoughts of Father’s Day gift ideas. Do you realize that Father’s Day is just around the corner? You’d think that Mother’s Day would tip me off and that I’d start thinking of gift ideas then, but I’m afraid that procrastination......