4 Reasons Speakers Should Blog Books in a Month

Speakers speak. They don’t write. That’s what many professional speakers think, but it’s not true. Speakers can—and should—become authors.

As a professional speaker, you know how to make a positive and meaningful impact with your words. You inspire, motivate, and educate those in your audiences, and, in the process, you change lives, organizations, communities, and the world.

Plus, you get paid to do so! So why do you need a book, especially when your forte is the spoken word not the written word?

4 Reasons Speakers Should Become Authors

The reasons are simple and relate to impact, monetization and legacy.

1. Impact: You can have much more impact as a speaker if you share your message in written form. Think of all the people that can’t attend your events or don’t know to find you on the internet and download your audio recordings; your book could end up in their hands. As an author, your message gets heard all around the world. And your readers might then show up to hear you speak in person. Even if they don’t, your words have impact beyond the room within which you speak.
2. Monetization: As a speakers who is authors, you can sell books at the back of the room during an event. That means you get paid for your time on stage and and those who attend your talk pay you again when they purchase your book. Additionally, that book could form the foundation of a coaching or training program. Sell that at the back of the room as well.
3. Legacy: In some cases, your speeches might be available as recordings for people to listen to long after you are gone or done with your speaking career, but a book adds to your legacy. Get all your best speeches into a book, or organize a book around your most important messages. Leave that book behind to teach, motivate and inspire for as long as it stays in print.
4. Authority: A book takes you from the role of speaker into the role of author. People all over the world respect authors and consider them experts. Therefore, a book lends to the authority you already possess as a speaker, which  can lead to higher-paid speaking gigs and more speaking requests.

The Role of Your Blog

As a speaker, you need a blog. This is where you offer snippets of your message. You can feature video and audio links so visitors can hear and see you speaking.

If you share your message in written form on your blog and on social networks, your website will rise up in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). That means you and your message become more easily discovered by anyone searching on line for your topic. The more often you publish posts on your main speaking subject, the higher up in the SERPS you rise. That means you become more discoverable by and relevant to searches. The ranking of your site on Google, for instance, will help your authority and, in turn, your bottom line.

How Speakers Become Bloggers and Authors

If you don’t believe you can write a book or a blog post, follow this process:

1. Plan out a post or book. (Think of a blog post as a mini speech and a book as a series of speeches on the same topic.)
2. Speak the post or book. Use  a transcription service like Dragon Naturally Speaking, or just record your self speaking the content and then have someone transcribe that for you.
3. Edit the transcript into a post or book. You can hire a writer or editor to assist you with this step.

No more excuses. Even a speaker can write using this process.

The Blogged Book Process

If you aren’t familiar with the blog-a-book process, let me show you how your blog posts can become a book manuscript.  I’ve written about the process here on the blog at length and in my Amazon bestselling book, How to Blog a Book (Revised and Expanded). If you are new to the concept, here is a condensed version of the process:

1. Map out your content; do a brain dump (or a mind map) of all the subjects you might cover in your book.
2. Organize the subjects into a content plan, table of contents or outline.
3. Decide on “extra” content you will add to the printed or ebook version and that you will not publish on your blog; this provides an incentive to your blog readers to purchase the final version of the book.
4. Break your content plan, or chapters, down into post-sized bits (300-500 words); create subheadings or titles for all the bits of content that constitute posts and will fill each chapter.
5. Create a publishing schedule—preferably a minimum of twice a week, but more is better. The best is seven days a week; aim for three to five days per week.
6. Compose your posts in a word processing program or Scrivener following your content plan sequentially so you create a manuscript. Do this on schedule (see step #3).
7. Copy and paste your posts into your blogging program on schedule and publish them (see step #3).
8. Share your posts on your social networks.

Blog a Short Book in a Month

You don’t need to write a full-length book to become an author. Write a short ebook during NaBoBloMo. If you write 30 posts this month, and if each one is 500 words long, you will produce a 15,000-word ebook. Write 30 posts each 750-word in length, and you’ll have 22,500 words by the end of June. Or write 1,000 words per post just three days per week and end up with about 12,000 words.

Then, turn that manuscript into a book! Get it edited, designed, and formatted so you produce an ebook or a print book.

If you follow the eight steps above, in a fairly short amount of time, you will complete the first draft of your book. You will transform yourself from speaker and blogger to author. Then watch your speaking career take off!

To learn more about how to blog your book, purchase a copy of How to Blog a Book. Need help? Hire a blog-to-book coach.

Tell your friends about National Book Blogging Month! Share this post or the image to the left. Let’s get more people blogging books!

Photo copyright: dragon_fang / 123RF Stock Photo