Posts Comments

15 Unique Ways to Blog a Book

September 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I recently received an email from one of my blog readers, Peter G. James Sinclair, who told me about his blogged book. Actually, he’s not just blogging any old fiction or nonfiction book. He’s blogging a parable called The Creator. In the process, he says he is gaining readers and encouragement to continue writing his book.

You can get creative and blog something other than just a plain and simple fiction or nonfiction book. I can think of at least 15 unique ways to blog a book. You could blog:

  1. a fable
  2. an epic poem
  3. a cartoon book
  4. a comic book
  5. a verse novel
  6. a lyric sequence
  7. a lyric series
  8. a collage/montage
  9. a graphic novel
  10. a children’s story
  11. an essay collection
  12. an anthology
  13. a cookbook
  14. a tip book
  15. a totally new type of book

As Peter released his motivational parable chapter by chapter on his blog over the last few weeks he told me he realized the “the power of blogging” and of blogging a book. Why? Because his readership is growing consistently and he has started getting comments like these from his visitors:

“I would like to encourage you – I enjoyed reading it and I have to say God has given you a special gift!”

“I’m on edge already! Looking forward to when the story unveils completely!”

“Keep inspiring, Peter.”

Plus, he received some phenomenal testimonials he’ll be able to use on his book’s cover or inside the book on a page or two filled with similar comments as they keep flowing in.

Wouldn’t you like to get that kind of feedback and encouragement from readers of your work? You can if you start blogging your book.

Share your success stories with me and I just might turn around and share them right here on the How to Blog a Book blog. (That might garner you a few more readers…) Send me an email with complete details. Also, please share your success in the comment section of any blog post. In that way you are almost certain to have your success shared with all the readers of this blog, they might click through to check out your blog, and, if they like it, they might just keep reading.

Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss a post — or information on the upcoming printed version (packed with double the info on how to blog a book). Just fill out the form on the right or click on the RSS button.

 

Filed Under: What Subjects to Blog About Tagged With: , , ,

Why You Need Passion to Succeed at Blogging Your Book

January 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

Most bloggers find themselves concerned with search engine optimization (SEO). Anyone writing for or on the Internet knows they want their writing easily found by search engines—and, therefore, by Internet users looking for the information in their blogs.

However, Duane Forrester of Microsoft says most bloggers can use basic SEO skills and find some success if they work at their blog long and hard. Notice the last two words: long and hard.

Forrester, senior manager of SEO/social, adds that many bloggers fail because they lack one critical component: passion. Without passion, he says, they may quit blogging or “run out of steam” before their blog gains a large number of readers. In other words, the passion keeps them going until they succeed and beyond that point.

Thus, as I’ve written about before, it’s imperative to choose a blog topic or a topic about which to blog a book that you feel passionate about. Better yet, pick a topic you feel passionate about because you also feel it’s your purpose to write about this topic. Purpose plus passion equates to inspiration. When you feel inspired, you easily will find yourself able to sustain the energy to write about your topic for a long time.

The mistake, Forrester says, comes when writers choose to blog on a topic merely because they think it will become lucrative. In other words, don’t just blog for money.

And remember, blogging success doesn’t happen over night. It takes hard work and time to see results. So, you better be passionate about what you do.

Filed Under: How to Begin Blogging a Book, How to Decide if You Should Blog a Book, What Subjects to Blog About Tagged With: , , ,

Content is King and Key

December 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’ve heard it said that content is king. I’ve also heard it said that content is key. The two sentences mean the same thing. If you want to produce a blog people will read–one that will generate traffic and get the attention of a publisher sometime down the road (or simply gain you readers when you self-publish your book), you must produce good content and lots of it. No other way exists.

Sure you need to promote that blog. Sure you need to write about a topic people want to read about. Sure you need to have a unique angle on your topic, especially if your blog has a lot of competition.

When it’s all said and done, though, great content draws readers. Period.

Here’s a story that speaks to this very fact. In fact, this guy, Tucker Max, a best-selling author and a blogger, says, “content is key.” Now, I have no interest in his subject matter, but other people do–and so did a publisher. Read the story here.

Filed Under: Blogs Turned Into Books, What Subjects to Blog About, Writing Posts/Chapters Tagged With: , , ,

Expertise and Life Experiences Make Good Book Fodder

August 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you are still sitting on the fence about whether or not blogging your way to a book deal is a good idea. Consider this. You don’t necessarily have to blog your whole book to get a book deal. (I still, say, “Why not if you are already going to the trouble of blogging every day or several times a week? Why not put that time to good use?”) You don’t even have to do any of the things I’ve suggested; many bloggers have gotten book deals without even trying. (But my methodology will surely help.)

Think about blogging about your expertise (with a book in the back of your mind—or not). For instance, www.Blogher.com Contributing Editor Susan Getgood’s book deal was the result of her social media expertise, which she blogged about for many years and quit often. She also built a platform speaking about this topic. She is the author of the forthcoming Professional Blogging for Dummies. Her book, Professional Blogging for Dummies was released by Wiley in July 2010.

Consider simply going back to blogging’s early roots and blogging in a unique way about your life or some aspect of it that interests other people. Less current maybe but worth a visit to the blog even now is Zoe McCarthy’s My Boyfriend is a Twat, which got a book deal back in 2007. She calls the book, with the same name as her blog, “[A] glorious celebration of living with a complete twat of a boyfriend. Sensibly categorized and filled with observations and recommendations, this is the ultimate field guide to that most irritating of the species, the Twat.”

McCarthy simply wrote about her annoying (actually rather average) boyfriend—after he dared her to do so—and her life raising children and working as an office manager. Her online diary, written from her home in Brussels, became cult reading for thousands of frustrated wives and girlfriends—and now book readers.

With millions of hits and several European Bloggies, her book deal was a natural progression from her blog. Billed as “an affectionate guide to spotting, dealing and living with a twat, aka the average English bloke,” My Boyfriend is a Twat was published by the Friday Project.

By the way, the boyfriend, Andy Carling, was happy about the blog and the book deal. McCarthy, the daughter of a diplomat, is twice divorced and has three children. She met Carling, a conservationist, in 2001.

Ready her blog. You might get inspired. Or read her list of donations (Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie)…or anything else on her site…like her bio…just for fun. Read it if you decide not to write your blog; it will give you something interesting to do. She’s a hoot.

There are more…I’ll write about them next time. In the meantime. Consider blogging your book—or at least start blogging and building a readership.

Filed Under: Blogs Turned Into Books, What Subjects to Blog About Tagged With: , ,

What Subjects Can I Blog About or Blog a Book About?

February 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In June 2008, Technorati.com, an Internet search engine for searching blogs had indexed 112.8 million blogs. When I visited the site in early February 2010, I counted over 65,400 blogs registered by category on the site itself.

With this in mind, it becomes obvious that you can blog on just about any subject. However, this fact raises another question: Can a blogger choose any subject for a blogged book?

The answer is clear: No.

Well, technically a blogger can, indeed, choose any topic. No blogging police will come around to pull the blog off the Internet if the subject the blogger chooses for the blogged book is stupid or boring, for example. No rules have been written down anywhere that say, “You can only blog books on these particular topics.”

However, some blog subjects simply don’t lend themselves to books. Some blog subjects have too small a market; in other words, they won’t generate enough readers to make blogging a book necessarily worthwhile. Some blog subjects are too personal, such as the blog my physical therapist started so he could share photos and news about his newborn baby.

So, my first answer still holds true. No, you can’t just blog a book on any topic. In fact, if you want to blog a book, you must choose your topic almost as carefully as if you were planning to write a  traditionally published or self-published book.

Just as they say “a rose is a rose is a rose,” the same holds true for books–blogged or otherwise. A book is a book is a book.

Filed Under: What Subjects to Blog About Tagged With: , , ,