2010 May | How to Blog a Book

Writing Your Blog Posts or Blogged Book Chapters

Once you’ve created your List of Chapters, or table of contents, and written a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, or Chapter Summaries, you are ready to break each chapter down into multiple blog posts. Blog posts tend to be short—about the length of one screen, which averages about 300 words.

I like to think about these blog posts in terms of subtitles. If were writing a full-length chapter, you likely would break it up with subheads. Take each one of your chapters and break it down into four or five subheads (at least). Then, rewrite them as full “headlines”—catchy titles that someone will want to read.

After the headlines, think about the content you would want to include in each of these small sections. One way to do this involves asking yourself three our four questions. You then provide the answer to these questions. You can either change the questions themselves into transition sentences that begin each paragraph, or you can write an introduction to the section itself and leave the rest as questions. (You’ll probably need an introductory paragraph for each section anyway.) I don’t prefer this approach, however, because I don’t find it interesting to read a book full of questions and answers.

Your second option entails writing “keyword sentences.” These function like transitions, but basically key the reader (and the writer—you) into the topic at hand. You’ll also be using keywords that search engines might find. (More on this later.) You begin by writing a sentence that lets you and the reader know what topic will be covered, and you then elaborate upon it. You can do this by asking yourself questions and answering them; just delete the question afterwards, and make sure all copy flows well. This makes for much more interesting writing than including the questions, as I mentioned before. If you look at this paragraph, for example, you can see that the first sentence functions as a keyword sentence. The rest of the paragraph elaborates upon it.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to write great on-line copy.

By the way, this blog post is 345 words long.

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Creating Your Blog: You Need Pages

Before you begin writing your blogged book, I suggest you take a little time to create some additional pages on your blog. This is especially important if you plan to use your blog as your website; in other words, if you don’t have your blog hosted on a website and it serves as your website, you will want to add pages.

Pages are easy to add. On the left side of your blog you’ll see a menu that says “Pages.” Underneath the menu has an option to “Add New.” Simply click on this. You will then be given a menu to add a new page.

Create an About the Author page. Since you are writing a book, you want people to know the author. In particular you want acquisition editors and literary agents who drop by to know who you are. Be sure you write your author’s bio in a professional manner. I tend to like these written in the third person, just like in a book proposal. However, if you are writing in a very informal tone, you might want to write your bio in the first person. Include a professionally done photo as well.

Next create an About This Blog page. Tell your readers why you began writing your blog. Include your mission statement. Let them know why you feel compelled to write your book and what they will gain by becoming a loyal reader.

You may also want to include a Media Kit page. On this page you will include a shorter bio with a link to a longer bio, a downloadable photo, topics upon which you can speak and links to questions the media can ask you on any topic. If you speak on your topic (and you should), you can list the names of your speeches. You may also want a page specifically dedicated to your speaking activities—such as a Hire Me To Speak page.

Include a Contact Me page with contact information as well. If you offer services of some sort or sell anything, you can add Products and Services pages.

You can add as many pages as you like. I believe the most important ones are those that pertain to you, the author, and your blogged book. However, if you want media attention or speaking gigs, be sure that information has been included (unless it’s on your website).

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