As a blogger, you already have the ingredients to a successful book launch. You have an audience, a marketing stream, and pre-existing written content. You’re ready.
If you’re not a blogger, don’t despair! It is not necessary to have a blog in order to publish a successful book. You don’t have to run out and create a blog today just to write your book tomorrow; your book can be successful on its own.
Bloggers, read on. Your blog gives you two big advantages when the time comes to write your book.
Advantage #1: Your Audience
Your audience is a huge asset to you as you write your book. They already read what you write, provide valuable feedback, and help spread the word to their friends and family.
Advantage #2: Your Content
Since you blog, you’re already an expert in content creation. While you’ll need to create new, different content for your book, your blog’s content can steer your writing.
So you have all of these advantages…now what do you do with them? How will you turn your blog into a successful book?
Nail Down Your WHY
A book is different from a blog in that it needs to present a cohesive idea in long-form. If you’ve been blogging for a while, you probably have more than enough words for a book, but if you simply copied and pasted your entries into a new format, your book would be an unreadable mess.
Your blog posts capture moments in time. They stand alone as opinions, analysis, and observations of a moment. Your book, on the other hand, captures your growth and expertise as a whole – something your readers can’t get for free by reading your existing blog. While it’s fine to include some content from your blog in your book, your book must also include content your readers can’t access elsewhere.
In order to determine your book’s direction, ask yourself why. Why are you writing this book, and what will you get from writing it? To approach the question another way, what will your book help you accomplish (aside from marketing your blog to more readers)?
Focus On Your WHO
This step incorporates that first huge advantage you have as a blogger: your audience. To some extent, you already know who your book is for, but how will you position your book to make it invaluable information for your readers?
As a successful blogger, you know how to give readers something they want. Just like your blog, your book has to be for them. Remember: they don’t want a repackaged copy of your blog. They’re looking for something more.
Your book’s audience is probably similar to your blog’s audience, but I’ll challenge you to take it even further: narrow it down. Narrow down your blog’s audience to target a specific subset of your readers. Then write your book for them. The clearer your target audience, the clearer your positioning will be.
If you need help narrowing your target audience, circle back to your why. Why will readers pick up your book, and what will they get from reading it?
Start With an Outline
Now that your position and your audience are clear, it’s time to get to work on the book itself. Outline your book section by section and chapter by chapter, laying out what you hope to accomplish with each. Your outline gives your book necessary structure and ensures it stays aligned with its purpose.
Find the Blog Posts that Fit
Once you have outlined your book, then you can go back to your blog to see what preexisting content might fit into the book. You might have many posts that naturally fit, or you might have very few. Do not try to bend and stretch posts to fit into your book if they don’t really belong there. Don’t be afraid to create new content!
Expand Those Posts
Once you’ve found the blog posts (if any) that fit into your book’s outline, go back to them. Rewrite sections that no longer apply. Expand them with new knowledge and expertise you’ve gained since first posting, and add new insight. After expanding and rewriting the blog posts that belong in your outline, you’ll be able to return to your outline to see the empty spaces where new content needs to go. Then you’ll be able to focus in on creating the new content that needs to be created, the content that’s for your most dedicated audience who’ve already read every post on your blog. Make it valuable!
Your blog gives you valuable material and knowledge of your audience before you ever start writing your book. Use it to your advantage!