From Blog To Book Format:
How It Can Be Done
If you would like to convert your blog to book format...here is how to do it.To illustrate the process of converting your blog into a book, I will use a recent book project as example.
With the manuscript now finished and awaiting final revisions, this book has not yet been published...so I cannot use either the author's name or the title of the book.
I can however use this project as a case study to illustrate how many blog entries can be transformed into a book.
I will simply refer the the author as The Author...and call his book The New Book.
Preliminary Considerations
As a preliminary matter, I had to satisfy myself that The Author could produce enough good content...as well as maintain his commitment...to finishing the book.Once I was satisfied, The Author and I agreed to terms and we started on converting his blog to book format.
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Preparing The Manuscript
We agreed to use The Author's blog as the basic
foundation for his
book. I then reviewed all of his posts and gathered them into groups according to common themes.
Sometimes an entire blog post was a separate theme...other times the post was subdivided into divided into separate themes.
Still other times, several blog entries were combined into a common theme.
This process led to a preliminary table of contents.
Once the blog material was organized into various themes, I reviewed it again, looking for duplications, gaps, inconsistencies and similar glitches or slip-ups.
Every couple of weeks or so, The Author and I would meet to clarify the issues that I had identified during my ongoing review.
Our conversations were recorded and then written transcripts were prepared from these recordings.
I took excepts from the transcripts and wove them into what was evolving into first draft of the manuscript.
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By recording the question and answer sessions and producing written transcripts of the conversations in the above example, we were able to achieve 2 things:
- produce the manuscript in a very short period of time
- minimize the amount of time The Author was required to devote to the project.
Next time I will clarify questions and issues in writing and use email.
This will enable us to generate supplemental content more effectively and efficiently.
When the first draft of the manuscript...based on converting much of his blog to book format was finished...I gave it to The Author for his review.
As I recall, it took about 5 months to reach this stage from the time we started to convert his blog to book.
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From Manuscript To Production
At this point, it becomes irrelevant that the manuscript was developed by converting The Author's blog to book format.Like all books, whether fiction or non-fiction, e-book or hard copy, the manuscript is continuously edited and revised.
This editing and revising continues until the manuscript passes a simple single test:
Would a reasonably intelligent
person with little
or no knowledge of the subject matter be able to read and understand
this book?
Ensuring that your book passes this test is the primary
responsibility of an editor. Among other roles, I was acting as The
Author's editor.
Once the author and the editor are satisfied with the organization and flow of the content, the content will be copy edited to eliminate eliminate typos, glitches and gremlins.
This stage takes about another month.
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After the of copy editing, and revisions if any, the book will be formatted.
Traditionally books have been designed and formatted for printing either as paperback or hardcover versions.
Although a viable option for self-published book, this is a very costly and time-consuming approach.
A better approach is to publish a book in e-book format.
E-books are less costly to produce and distribute.
It's always possible to produce a hard copy of your version after the online distribution is well under control....and you are earning money from sales of your e-book.
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Distributing Your E-Book
E-book format is the least costly and most versatile approach to book distribution.E-books can be:
- downloaded free from your website
- sent by email to prospects, clients and contacts
- hard copies can be used as:
- promotional tools
- through your website
- by online distributors
- by affiliates
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Distributing Your Hard Copy Book
Hard copy books are costly to produce and distribute. They are also
cumbersome to store and distribute.
Having said that, they make ideal thank you gifts for clients and referring clients.
People who receive books signed by the author and personalized just for them, tend to hang on to the books indefinitely...like a permanent keep sake or reminder of you.
Although usually a major hassle, hard copies of your book can also be sold:
- through your website
- by online distributors
- by retailers
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To Learn More
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Good Blogs Can Become Better Books
In my mind, there is no doubt whatsoever that many good blogs can be converted into very good...or even better books.And whats' better, converting a book to book format is a relatively easy process.
Over the past few years, I have helped many people publish books.
If you are interested in converting your blog to book format, you really can publish a book...and I'd like to help you.
Simply complete the form below...and together we can figure out what you need and how I might be able to help you.
However, if you would like more information about self publishing, check out the benefits of publishing your book.
If you want to learn more about self publishing a book, complete the form below and send it to me. I will then send you a list of questions that will help you clarfy what needs to be done to self publish your book.
Whenever you are ready to convert your blog to book format, I can probably help you with the process.
Let me know and let's see where it goes. You can also use the form to let me know that you would like more information about how I can help you with your book.
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