How to Blog a Book

Inspiring You to Build Visibility, Boost Authority and Become an Author Post by Post

Inspiring You to Build Visibility, Boost Authority and Become an Author Post by Post

  • Home
  • About
    • Vote This Blog One of Writer’s Digest’s Annual 101 Best Internet Sites for Writers
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • The BOOK!
    • Table of Contents
    • Page One
    • NEW! Revised and Expanded–2nd Edition–of How to Blog a Book
    • How to Blog a Book (Revised and Expanded Edition) BLOG TOUR
    • Previous Virtual BookTours
  • The Challenge
    • National Book Blogging Month
  • Services
    • Schedule a Strategy Session
    • Blog Editing, Proofreading and Ghostblogging
    • Query Letter and Book Proposal Editing and Consulting Services
    • The Ultimate Career Plan for Authors, Bloggers and Experts
    • Coaching
      • Blog and Blog-to-Book Coaching
      • Hire an Author Coach
      • Writing and Book Coaching
  • Education
    • The Productive Writer Course
    • High-Performance Writer Group Coaching Program
    • Turn Your Blog Into a Book Production Machine
    • Build a Business Around Your Blog
    • How to Blog a Book Audio Course
    • How to Blog a Book E-course
    • How to Blog a Book Audio Recording
    • Author Training 101
  • Contact
  • List Your Book
  • Login

October 30, 2012 by Nina Amir 3 Comments

Blogger Writes and Self-Publishes Book Based on Blog

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket

While the majority of blog to book deals are booked blogs, not blogged books, some successful bloggers actually choose not to repurpose their content into a book when they decide to write a book. For instance, Jenny Lawson, The Blogess, didn’t use material from her blog when she wrote Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir). She wrote fresh content. The same is true from some bloggers, like Barbara Wilson Arboleda, who have decided to self-publish. She wrote her book, The Average Buddhist Explores the Dharma, from scratch but in chapters each about the length of a blog post. It is based on her blog by the same name.

Barbara says, “The theme of the sections in my book (I Don’t Get It, I think I Get It and I Still Don’t Get It) were inspired by a dharma talk I heard in which the speaker was saying, (I paraphrase) ‘In the beginning a pencil is a pencil. As you practice Zen more, a pencil is a tree, a pencil is a mountain, etc. Then when you’ve practiced a really long time a pencil is a pencil.’ It’s a great commentary on the way in which we all struggle to make sense of our world.”

I suppose we could apply that to blogging our books–or simply writing them as well: We don’t know what we’re writing, we know what we’re writing, we don’t know what we’re writing (or what we wrote)–but we end up with a book.

Barbara offered some insight into her blogging and writing process during the following interview:

1. What percentage of your book ended up repurposed posts as opposed to new

content?

I chose to write all new posts for the book.

I had the basic topics, but at first they were disorganized. Once I had some content in each, I started to see a flow developing. As I organized the chapters, I tried to stay mindful of what concepts would make sense being presented in a particular order or which concepts flowed best from one another.

2. Did you run into any problems particular to going from blog to book even though you wrote all new content?

My biggest challenge was in discovering how to be concise without oversimplifying what I wanted to communicate. There are so many “pseudo-Buddhist” products around nowadays that I wanted to make sure I was presenting something authentic though from an American perspective. Writing the blog helped me practice my chops and become a more efficient communicator of abstract ideas.

3. Did you take your readers input (comments) into account before the manuscript went to press. How did comments affect the final version of the book?

I didn’t poll my readers per se, but I observed over time what people responded to both in terms of my blog posts and in the Facebook community as well. I tried to write to what they either wondered about or what seemed to speak to them.

4. How did blogging make you a better writer or better equip you to write a book?

Simply blogging itself has made me a better writer, particularly in terms of being able to sit down and write from a concept whether or not I feel “inspired” at the moment. Needing to have hours at a time to write a word or feeling like I needed to be in a particular mood to write held me back for a long time. Blogging helped me overcome that block to my creativity.

5. Did writing your book make you a better blogger (and how)?

I read a lot of fiction. So, I am used to having a through story line. Working with a book format threw me a little more into storytelling mode, which I think was a departure from my initial thoughts of the blog as a descriptive or educational tool. What people respond to the most and what I enjoy sharing the most is more personal and story based. Writing the book helped me to get in touch with that part of it.

6. What advice would you offer to aspiring writers who might want to turn their blogs into books, blog a book or write a book based on their blogs?

Have a message. For me, writing is about communication. If you have nothing in particular to communicate, then people have no way to really relate to what you’re writing.

7. Do you have any tips (3-5) you can offer on blogging, blogging books, booking blogs or writing books based on blogs?

  1. Blog about something you love. Since blogging is not a revenue source for most people, you need to feel passionate enough about what you’re saying to spend the time on it;
  2. Find a way to engage readers in conversation, even if it is about content that you don’t generate. This is one reason I love running the Facebook community. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to see how people are relating to posts and to have a forum to relate back to them;
  3. Don’t worry too much if there are other people out there blogging about similar topics. Just choose your own unique angle on it. Other bloggers can be the best way to be found and can be interesting to get to know as well.

8. What one thing did you do that increased your traffic or brought in more unique visitors?

Making sure to have good tags on the posts and considering including key words in the title and the content.

9. If you are self-published, why did you decide to go the indie route?

I knew that I wanted to maintain control over the project. Having worked in multimedia and some areas of entertainment previously, I knew that a publisher would likely want more control over the content than I was willing to turn over. A colleague of mine had worked with a good company that she recommended. So, that’s how I chose the company to work with.

10. What’s the most important thing a blogger can do to get noticed in the blogosphere and build an author platform or fan base?

I think content is key. Having something that people can relate to and that presents a unique voice. Some people underestimate the basic skills such as writing mechanics and spelling. I think this is a mistake because readability and credibility are both better when you are able to communicate clearly. Also bloggers shouldn’t forget about the look and feel of the blog (and book). We humans are very visual animals and you may have great things to say, but it won’t matter if your site is visually cluttered or unprofessional looking because people won’t take their time to stop and read it.

About the Author

Barbara Wilson Arboleda is a voice-specialized speech-language pathologist and singing teacher by profession. She has been an “Average Buddhist” since being introduced to the faith through

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. She practiced at the Cambridge Zen Center until moving away from the city. Then she had to find creative ways to reach out to like-minded dharma seekers. The Average Buddhist blog is dedicated to un

derstanding how Buddhism relates to the average lay-practitioner in America. www.averagebuddhist.com

 

 

 

Small Group Blog-to-Book Coaching
Nov.-Dec.
$187/month
Registration limited to 5
Register here.

I have one small group blog-to-book coaching session beginning in November and running through December. I am only accepting 5 people in this session. The price is considerably lower than individual consulting or one-on-one coaching–just $187 with a 2-month commitment. (That’s $112 off my normal blog-to-book or author coaching packages, for instance.) It includes four one hour coaching sessions per month (Q&A), blog reviews during the sessions, a private Facebook group where you can have your questions answered, and the opportunity to learn from the information given to each of the members in the group and the resources shared both in the group and on the FB page. All sessions will be recorded. You also receive $90 of resources, including a 20 minute private consult. If you want to sign up for this elite coaching group or get more information, please go to the sign-up page .

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket

Filed Under: Blogs Turned Into Books

Comments

  1. HP van Duuren says

    November 12, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    I was thinking about possibly re-purposing some of the content on one of my blogs into something like an eBook (or possibly a little book), and was wondering how I could approach something like that….,

    While I currently just want to put it into a map as – a writing project in developement –, your advice to write it with having a Message in a way that people can relate to it sounds interesting, and I do think that I now already have somewhat more of an idea about what possible direction I could go with it.

    Thanks,
    HP van Duuren recently posted..Your Blog As a – Platform – To Work From

  2. Nina says

    November 25, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    HP,
    Sorry…your comment ending up in spam. Just found it…Yes, you should have a purpose or message and a content plan. Make sure your booked blog is viable-necessary. Good luck!

Trackbacks

  1. 10 Posts That Rang Your Cowbell + 10 More That Rang Mine | Jenny Hansen's Blog says:
    February 5, 2013 at 3:02 am

    […] Nina Amir’s posts will set your inner blog-geek aquiver. She offers tons of great insight, such as Barbara Wilson Arboleta’s post on Writing and Self-Publishing a Book Based on a Blog. […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

About Nina Amir

Nina Amir, the Inspiration to Creation Coach, inspires writers to create published products and careers as authors as well as to achieve their goals and fulfill their purpose and potential.

Read More . . .

Follow Me!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on SkypeFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on E-mail

As Seen On:

social proof2

NEW RELEASE!

Purchase your copy now!

How to turn your blog into a book

Amazon.com
Barnesandnoble.com
IndieBound.com
WritersDigestShop.com

Create a Successful Author Website!

Book. Books and laptopPurchase a copy of my eBook!

250x250

Learn How to Blog a Book!

WD

Join my next Writer’s Digest University
How to Blog a Book 4-week Online Class.

Register here.

Writer's Digest: 2013 Best Writing Websites (2013)
This website has been awarded a Best Writing Website.
Sponsored by Writer's Digest, Writer's Market,
Writer's Digest University & Writer's Digest Shop.

TFOI Badge

Bestselling authors like Michael Hyatt and Joanna Penn use Scrivener and endorse this course! I tried Learn Scrivener Fast, too, and found it a quick, easy way to learn the Scrivener writing technology. Plus, you can use it to produce produce ebooks!
Click here to find out more!

EIA Official Member Logo

Popular Posts

  • Are You Blogging a Book? List it here!
  • Can You Publish Blogged Material As a Kindle Ebook?
  • Darren Rowse on Book Deals and Discovery in the Blogosphere
  • 3+ Reasons I’ve Started Using Scrivener as a Blogging Tool
  • How to Start Selling Products and Services From Your Blog

Search

Categories

Archives

Copyright © Nina Amir 2019 · Website by Websites For Authors

»
«
Powered by Conversion Insights: Boost your online revenue.  
Are you a productive, semi-productive or unproductive writer? Take My Quiz To Find Out!
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.