6 Necessities for Your Blogged Book

Blogging a book is a bit like going on a trip and inviting some friends along. You begin at point A–your book idea–and end up at point B–a finished book. As you travel you stop at a lot of great places (your blog posts) and you make a lot of friends (your readers or fans), but when you to arrive back home with your original friends and the ones you made along the way (finish the book), you need to be prepared. You need all the necessities.

Here are six things (besides a blog), you need  if you want a successful blogged book:

1. A Map: When you blog a book, you can’t just blog. You have to know where you are going. You need a destination. You have to actually map out your content. How will you get from the beginning of your book to the end?
2. An itinerary: What stops will you make along the way? In other words, what information will you include and in what exact order? Create a content plan, chapter by chapter and post by post.
3. Navigation tools:  While blogs have a filing system–categories, a blogged book needs more than this to help you and your readers find navigate through the book. You need a page with a table of contents (and links to the start chapters and to posts that make up the chapters.) You need links from post to post, so the book can be read in chronological order, from start to finish.
4. A trip brochure: A page that lets anyone who shows up on your blog know they can join you on your trip. This is an “about” page that explains you are actually blogging a book and directs them to the beginning of the book.
5. Ticket purchase information: When you go on a trip, you need to buy a ticket. At some point, your readers will want to purchase a ticket on your trip…buy your book, sign up to be on your mailing list or subscribe to your blog (at the least).  Provide a page with book purchase information and a “buy” button or links to online stores, an RSS feed icon so they can subscribe, or an email sign-up form–or, better yet, all three.
6. Re-entry plan. It can be hard to get back to real life after a super vacation or trip. But life goes on–and so does your blog. You need a content plan for after your book has been blogged so you don’t lose all those new fans and followers–and you keep gaining new book buyers. What new trips are you going to take them on?

Now you are ready to go on your trip–blog your book–and take some friends along with you. Plus, you’ll be ready to make new friends and go on more trips in the future.

Photo courtesy of by nuttakit.