Don’t Just Blog a Book–Publish a Blogged Book in November

Lot’s of books get written in November–at least the first drafts. That’s why I declared November National Writing Month in 2009. Fiction writers produce novels during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and nonfiction writers produce a variety of books during National Nonfiction Writing Month (NaNonFiWriMo) as they take the Write Nonfiction in November challenge. It’s true that April is National Book Blogging Month (NaBoBloMo), but you also can blog your book  during November along with everyone else. I suggest you do something a little different. Blog a book and publish it in 30 days.

That’s right. I’m challenging you book bloggers to go the extra mile. Complete a blogged book manuscript and then published it by Dec. 1.

Okay…so maybe you won’t actually blog your full-length book in 30 days. But you can blog a short book fast and publish it in a month. I know this, because I’ve done it and my client’s have done it.

Here’s what I’m suggesting: Pick a topic related to your current topic–maybe one that will help you:

• promote your current book
• build your brand
• increase your expert status
• get people to sign up for your email list (if you give it away for free)
• make you a bit of extra money
• feature a particular program
• highlight one area of knowledge
• answer an often-asked question
• solve a particular problem

Write  10-20 blog posts, each 300-500 words in length, over the course of the next 30 days. You will produce a 5,000-10,000 manuscript in the process. That’s about a 20-40 page ebook. Depending upon layout, it could be a 30-75 page printed book.

You could also book a series of blog posts you already wrote and published. That’s a faster process. But…it doesn’t involve writing new content…so it’s really cheating.

Let me give you a quick outline of the steps so you can start today and meet the deadline.

1. Create a content plan for a series of blog posts on one topic.
2. Write the posts daily or compose more than one per day (if you plan on finishing more than 10 posts) and schedule them.
3. Write the other parts of the book–dedication, copyright page, etc.
4. Compete the manuscript by Nov. 11.
5. Send the manuscript to a professional editor by Nov. 12.
6. Have a cover designed (both for ebook–just front cover–and printed book –front and back with spine); have it finished by Nov. 20–this is just before Thanksgiving in the U.S, so remember there won’t be much work done at the end of that week.
7. Once back from the editor, have your manuscript formatted for Kindle, or us a program that formats it for you (or see next step).
8. Get the interior design done for your book by a professional designer; or you can use Fastpencil for the interior design and to convert your book to an ebook (but they can take about two weeks to deliver books, etc.).
9. Upload your designs to Kindle no later than Nov. 26 (better to do this by the 23rd, or earlier–it has to go through an approval process).
10. Upload to 48hourbooks.com by Nov. 26 (or earlier) ; have pbooks in 5 days; or upload to CreateSpace. (When books are available is dependent  upon the approval process.) If your book is small, take it to Kinko’s or a booklet printer.

Line up all your providers–editors, designers, programs, etc.–immediately since you are starting at the last minute–you have 29 days to go if you are reading this late in the day. Google is your friend. Start researching to find the resources you need, or ask professionals for help.

Now go blog a short book fast–and publish it before the month is over. And don’t forget to stop by my other blog, Write Nonfiction NOW! , which will link you to its sister blog,  Write Nonfiction in November, to keep up with all the information on how to write, publish and promote nonfiction being published by expert guest bloggers during NaNonFiWriMo.

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