Tag Archives: Publishing

5 Practical Tips for Blogging Your Way to Writing a Book

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Last week I published a blog post, Blogging Tips: How to Blog Your Way to Writing a Book. I wrote about the process that I used to write the content of my upcoming book from a series of blog posts.  I received a comment from a reader named, Tamara who said,

“Congrats on finishing your manuscript! I love the concept of blogging your way to publishing a book. I am a dessert blogger, so my question is do you think this can work for me too? I already have a few concepts in mind for cookbooks, but I think recipe development is key for me as opposed to writing lengthy blog posts. What are your thoughts?”

Tamara also left a similar comment on my Facebook business page, so I answered it there. As I was thinking of a response I got the idea for a blog post because there may be others of you out there who are thinking about using your blog to help you come up with the content for a book.

Here is our exchange on Facebook:

Now here are five practical tips for blogging your way to writing a book:

1. Announce your intention to write a book on your blog

Announcing your intention of writing a book publicly on your blog serves several purposes at once. It creates a sense of accountability. Now that you’ve announced it publicly, you better believe that your readers are going to ask you about how it’s going, and it makes the project more real to you and that might motivate you to stick with it until it is finished.

2. Blog about the theme of your book

If you are working with a publisher, then you’ve already done the work of creating a book proposal for your project. Now you will tailor your blog posts to fit in with the outline of the book. You will not be writing the entire book—word for word—on your blog. You will still have additional sections to write outside of the blog, but if you are having trouble finding time to fit writing a book into your crazy schedule, and you already have an established blog, your writing gets to do double duty for you.

3. Set a deadline for completing your book

Working towards a deadline can be a great motivator. Let your readers know what your deadline is for finishing the manuscript. You might even put one of those countdown clocks on your blog that displays how many days you have left to finish. This will create a sense of urgency and drama and help pull your readers in. It will also spur you on to stick to your writing schedule to avoid public humiliation if you don’t finish on time.

4. Get your readers involved

In the case of Tamara, who wants to write a dessert cookbook, she will not necessarily write most of the cookbook on the blog. As I mentioned in the Facebook comment, she can use her blog to share photos as she goes through the recipe development process, she can write about the ingredients she is using, where and how she sources them, her inspiration for the dessert items, where she gets her ideas from, and how she narrows down which recipes get included in the book and which ones get cut. She can involve her readers in all of these kinds of posts by asking them questions and soliciting their feedback.

5. Set a daily or weekly writing goal and stick with it consistently

Setting and keeping a daily or weekly writing schedule is the only way you will get you book finished. I set a time limit of 30 days, and the goal to write a blog post every single day for 30 days straight. You will have to figure out how many pages your book will have, and then estimate from there how many of those pages you want to write on your blog, and then set your deadline date.

An additional bonus to using your blog to help you write your book is with every blog post you are building your writer’s platform. You are establishing the audience for your book well in advance of publication.

I hope you found those tips to be helpful. I think that with just a little bit of creativity you can find a way to write many different kinds of books on your blog. If you have blogged your way to writing a book, please include a link to it in the comments so we can go take a look.

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Blogging Tips: How to Blog Your Way to Writing a Book

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I’ve been blogging for many years, and looking over my blog archives I’ve often figured that there was enough content there for a book. I’m a freelance writer, so much of my writing time and energy is devoted to writing for my clients. I’m also a single mom with three kids and I run a business from my home, so I had lots of excuses for not finding time to write a book.

There are countless benefits of being a published author. Whenever I introduce myself as a writer, people almost always ask if I’ve published a book. I have grown weary of making excuses for why I haven’t published a book, so last year I decided to use my blog to help me come up with the content for a book. I gave myself a focused challenge and I write a post every day for a month. I then took those thirty blog posts and expanded them and added additional content. Now I have got an almost completed manuscript for a book based on the content of my blogging challenge.

This morning I came across this article, 7 Things You Must Do Before Writing Your Book, which is full of great tips for those who are thinking about writing a book. The author, Ofili, writes about the power of blogging to help you get your book written, ” I put myself on a strict and disciplined regimen of writing at least one 1500 article every month. I did this unfailingly starting January of 2011 and at the end of the year, I had 20+ quality articles chapters and over 25,000+ words in my book.” The secret is to commit to a focused writing schedule and be consistent.

There are a few benefits of blogging your book. One of those benefits, as Ofili mentions in his post, is the opportunity for instant feedback from your readers. Another benefit is that you are establishing a platform, building an audience for the book and getting your name and writing out there in the world. The best benefit, I believe, is the responsibility to your readers to blog consistently. Once you hook your readers in with what you are writing, they are going to want to stay in the loop and find out what happens.

Bloggers who want to become authors should go ahead and give it a whirl. Choose the topic of your book and focus your blog posts around that theme. Tell your readers what you are doing and get their support and encouragement. The positive comments I received when I did my blogging challenge really motivated me to stick with it no matter what.

Now that my manuscript is almost finished I am researching publishing options. It will launch first as an ebook, so you will be the first to hear about it when it drops. Keep on writing.

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How to Write a Book: Are You a Transformational Author?

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Are you one of the reported 80% of Americans who want to write a book? Do you feel like you’ve got an amazing idea for a book that will absolutely transform the lives of your readers? If so, you might call yourself a transformational author. The other day I was listening to an interview with Christine Kloser, creator of the Transformational Author Experience. Even if your aspirations for your book are not quite that lofty, you might still want to learn more about what Christine has to offer.

Christine offers a self-directed class that will help you, as the title says, “Discover How to Successfully Write, Publish and Market Your Transformational Book.” She offers free access to four of the classes in her program so that you can get a feel for the process. After listening to her interview where she shared a ton of useful content with the listeners, I signed up to get her introductory classes, and I am seriously considering taking her course. I already own a book that she and Lynne Klippel compiled called, Align, Expand and Succeed, so I was familiar with her, but now that I have heard that in-depth interview I was even more impressed.

As I make progress on my book project I will be sharing more resources related to writing books, indie publishing, ebook publishing and publishing on demand. I just received a fabulous Nook Color ebook reader for Christmas, so one of my new projects is learning all about the Barnes and Noble ebook publishing platform.

If you’re a writer, please keep writing and sharing your stories and insights with the world. If you love books, then buy books and help support the authors who write the stories you love to read, and share those life-changing lessons that inspire us to live better.

 

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Blogging for Writers and Authors: How Blogging Can Transform Your Writing Career

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Blogging provides an effective platform for writers and authors who want to get the word out about their newest book, their latest insight, or commentary on events going on in the world around us.

Writers share an abiding affection for the written word. They seek to give expression to their deepest fears, desires, and passions using their writing to make sense of the world. Most writers realize that most of what they write will never be published in book form, but having your own blog gives you an instant publishing platform where you can share your uncensored ideas with the world without the hassle of trying to get a book deal.

In this post, I’m going to share some links to other blogs on the topic of blogging for authors. This speed linking mashup will bring together several resources on the effectiveness of blogging for authors, and you’ll see in some of these articles the possible negative impact blogging can have.

  • Create a platform for current and future authors

As yet unpublished writers can seize the opportunity to start building an audience of readers who like their work.  As your blog readership grows it can become a valuable asset when you are looking to get a book deal. These articles speak to the utility of blogs to help establish authors and develop a platform.

Using Your Blog to Build a Platform

http://www.bloggingauthors.com/blogging_authors/2010/8/3/using-your-blog-to-build-a-platform.html

The Author’s Dilemma: To Blog or Not to Blog,  By Claire E. White

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/nov05/cew4.htm

9 Good Reasons to Start a Blog, by Diane Eble

http://www.publishingcoachweekly.com/Start-a-Blog-9-Good-Reasons.html

  • Could eventually be turned into a book

The blog itself could morph into a book. This has happened many times recently, and Brenna Ehrlich chronicles six such cases in her article.

From Blog to Book Deal: How 6 Authors Did It, by Brenna Ehrlich

http://mashable.com/2009/12/17/blog-to-book/

  • Develop and expand your personal brand

There’s been a lot of buzz for the past few years about this concept of the ‘personal brand.’ Personal branding speaks to how you show up in the world, and purposefully crafting an image, a message and establishing you as a brand.

Personal Branding

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/

5 Personal Branding Tips to Help You Gate Jump

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/183073

Seven Branding Gurus on How to Build a Personal Brand

http://www.bnet.com/blog/career-advice/seven-branding-gurus-on-how-to-build-a-personal-brand/101

If writing is your passion and you want to get your ideas out there and interact with your audience, blogging is an effective way to get you started. It will give you the opportunity to hone your craft, get into the habit of writing daily, and as your blog grows you will develop a relationship with your readers that can be very rewarding to writers whose work tends to be a solitary endeavor.  If done properly, a blog truly can transform your writing career.

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Blogging Tips: 7 Strategies for Keeping Up with Posting Consistently

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Blogging is a personal publishing format that allows you to be able to have your own platform for sharing your ideas with the world. Reading feedback from visitors is quite rewarding and makes it worth all of the work and effort that goes into producing a quality blog.

But sometimes there are those days that your Mamma warned you about. There are days when life gets to be overwhelming, you’re exhausted and beaten down and the baby needs a new pair of shoes.  Sometimes you wonder what the heck you were thinking when you started that blog. What made you think you’d have time to post every day or least every week?

Well, gentle reader, I’ve got some fabulous news for you. I find myself in the same boat as you. I’m a blogger, a mom, and I’m running a business from home. My days are full to the brim, so if I am not strategic with my time, my blogs can slip off the radar and languish for days while I’m scrambling around after my girls, or knee-deep in a client project.

Since we all face the challenge of how to fit our blogging tasks into an already gloriously full day, I’ve come up with some tricks and strategies that you can use to develop productive habits, which will allow you to make the most of those little snippets of time in your day to get your blogging done.

I’ve heard it said that we teach what we most need to learn, and that is indeed the case with me because one of my biggest challenges has been keeping fresh posts on my blog. So, here are some tips and for writing and blog posting that I try to follow:

1. Keep a notebook handy

Here’s a perfect example of this tip. As I write this, I am sitting in the laundry room doing laundry. Because right now I live in an apartment that does not have a washer and dryer, I have to schlep my clothes to the local laundry. But, while I sit here waiting for the wash cycle to finish, I’m getting this blog post written because I brought my little mini-Netbook with me.

Get a small notebook, use the notes feature on your phone, or like me, keep your mini-laptop handy and jot down ideas as they come to you.

2. Stay in ‘Idea seeking’ mode

Keep your eyes and ears open for what is going on around you. How can you incorporate the events of your life into your blog posts? Just this week I got my first complaint on my email subscriber list. It threw me for a minute, but I got back on track quickly and turned it into a blog post.

Are you facing a challenge in your life? Find a way to share what you are learning without sharing too many of the personal, gory details. When there are big stories in the news either in your local area or nationally find a way to weave larger story into your blog posts if it’s appropriate.

Use your notebook and capture those ideas. You may not use all of them right away, but at some point you’ll be stumped for something to write about, and you can consult your notebook for some new ideas to write about.

3. Schedule specific blogging tasks

As a blogger you’ve got to do the following tasks over the course of a week:

  • Write blog posts
  • Share blog posts

-social media marketing

-blog directories/communities

  • Research
  • Blog maintenance

- install, update plugins

-stats reports

-comment moderation

-database backups

  • Network/build community with other bloggers

I’m certain that there are more tasks, but this is all that came to my mind. All of these things need to be done in order for your blog to run smoothly, so plug each of the tasks into your calendar and designate how many minutes you will set aside to complete it.

4. Write titles and outline posts in batches

In your research time, come up with some working titles of blog posts that you plan to write over the course of the coming week. Now, when you sit down to write, you will not be facing the dreaded blank page or screen. If you don’t have a hot topic to write about at the moment, look at your batch of working titles and start from there.

5. Write posts in batches

Take your list of titles and post outlines and write up a few posts in advance. Set them aside and come back and edit, proofread and format them in batches and, if you are running WordPress, you can publish them all at once scheduling the exact days and times you want each one to go live.

6. Utilize guest bloggers

Do you ever need a break from blogging, say for a vacation? Wouldn’t it be cool if someone else would write a blog post for you every now and then? Well, in exchange for a link back to their blog, guest bloggers will write a unique blog post for your blog. Is there a particular fan of your blog who always writes thoughtful, cogent comments, and who has a blog on a related topic to yours? You might send them a quick email and see if they might be interested in a guest blogging gig.

There are also several forums where bloggers seeking guest bloggers, and bloggers seeking blogs to guest post with hang out and help each other out. Here are two that I use:

http://BloggerLinkUp.com/

http://myblogguest.com/

7. Find ways to make it fun

Do you remember why you started blogging in the first place? Try to stay in touch with that initial excitement and use that energy to make your blogging tasks something you get to do rather than so much drudgery. Challenge yourself to a solid week of daily posting. Join a 30 day blogging challenge or start your own. Set specific goals for how often you will publish posts, and then create little rewards for yourself when you meet those goals. You know what motivates you, so use that to your advantage.

I’m in the 31DBBB challenge right now, and one of our tasks for the challenge is to find a blogging buddy. Develop a collaborative relationship with another blogger and challenge, encourage and support each other to make your blogs the best that they can be.

I recommend being patient with yourself as you develop these new habits. See which ones work for you and go with those for awhile and see if your blogging productivity improves. Number seven is the most important here because if you view your blogging responsibilities as chores or another “must do” task it will feel like drudgery.

When you come to view blogging as something fun and exciting that you get to do, you will be more likely to put all of your positive energy and enthusiasm into the task. Your passion for your topic will be apparent to your visitors and attract more visitors to your blog.

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10 Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Being a Blogger

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Life Lessons

I’m participating in the #31DBBB Blogging Challenge, and this post part of the Day #2 assignment. I want to welcome all of my fellow SITS Bloggers and thanks for all of the linky love ;-)

The first post of this blog was published originally in January of 2007, but a catastrophic crash in October of 2008 (before I knew about the importance of backing up my database) caused me to lose all of those early posts.

Prior to this blog for my consulting business I had a personal blog that I began in the fall of 1998 (before they were actually even called ‘blogs’). So with 12 years of blogging experience under my belt, I thought I’d write a post about what being a blogger has taught me about life.

1. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your parents or your children to see.
In the early days, I didn’t tell my parents that I kept a blog. I felt far more free to write whatever I felt like writing when I was pretty sure that they weren’t reading it. Well, the day eventually came when my dad, bless his heart, discovered my blog one day when he googled me. Thank goodness he didn’t find anything embarrassing, but it might have been a more awkward conversation had I been writing about something that they would not have approved of, or would be embarrassing.

Aside from your parents and off-spring, be mindful that your employer or colleagues might also discover your blog, so be mindful of what you write and publish online.

2. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.
Your blog provides you with the opportunity to stand up for what you believe in, to take a stand for your beliefs and defend the ideals that you hold dear. There will be people who will agree and there will be people who will disagree with what you have to say, but don’t let that dissuade you from writing from your heart.

3. Be authentic.
One of my favorite quotes on this topic is by Dr. Suess, and he said, “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter won’t mind.” Authenticity totally shines through in everything you write. Don’t try too hard to sound witty, or take on a fake persona. Your individuality is the gift that you offer to the world. Let it shine through.

4. Always publish your best work.
Don’t fall into the trap of waiting until you “get discovered” before you start coming up with fabulous content because it’s the fabulous content that will get you discovered. Write your posts like everyone’s watching. Edit ruthlessly. Find a writing partner to edit and/or proofread for you. Ask for feedback from your readers, and strive to always improve your writing.

5. Having a platform is powerful.
As your blog readership grows you will discover that you are creating a platform for yourself. Your blog is your own media outlet. Don’t squander your chance to put forth your message. Take your blog seriously and others will do the same.

6. Avoid negative posts and bashing or flaming.
Avoid writing scathing posts and railing with negativity about a person or a group. If something has gotten you angry and upset, you might want to take some time and process it and choose the most intelligent course of action rather than firing off a vitriolic post that you may regret sooner than later.

7. It takes a village.
The blogoshpere is a community, so reach out to other bloggers and create relationships. Offer to guest post on your favorite blogs. Link to your blogging buddies from your blog. Be as supportive as you can of other bloggers  within your community.

8. Encourage other bloggers.
Be sure to leave positive comments on other blogs. Find something encouraging to say that goes beyond, “great post.” Show that you read the post and write a comment that adds value and builds up the blogger.

9. It takes commitment.
Maintaining a blog is not easy. With all of the other responsibilities in your life, it can be a challenge to commit to writing three to five blog posts each week and managing all of the other tasks inherent with the job. Determine at the outset if you think you can be committed to maintaining the publishing schedule before you begin.

10. Persistence pays off.
In the end persistence definitely pays off. When you have a blog that is getting decent traffic, a steady flow of comments and good reviews you’ve really got something to be proud of. Don’t give up when things get challenging because the only way to fail is to give up.

If you’re a blogger, please feel free to leave a comment that shares a life lesson you’ve learned from blogging.

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The Purpose Driven Blog: Make it Plain

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People create blogs for various purposes ranging from simply writing about what’s happening in their daily lives, trying to bring attention to a particular cause, selling products, for corporate outreach, or gaining increased exposure for the author, every blog works better when it has a clearly defined purpose. By the time you have finished reading this blog post, you will have a clear idea of the advantages of having a purpose driven blog and some ideas for refining and communicating your blog’s purpose to the world.

The blog seems to embody the spirit of new media. The blog has emerged as a great equalizer in the world of publishing and media. It provided the average person who might otherwise never get a book publishing contract the ability to get their message out to the world.

Anyone can start a blog for free, or you can purchase a domain name and hosting for minimal cost and potentially reach millions of readers. But in order to maximize this opportunity to reach your audience, you’ve got to make your blog’s purpose plain when visitors arrive.

People make a decision within about three to five seconds as to whether or not they like or find useful what you have to offer on your blog.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you begin to refine your blog’s purpose:

  • What are you trying to accomplish with your blog?
  • Clearly a blog whose purpose is to sell products will have a different layout and style from one whose purpose is to generate interest in a particular topic or cause.
  • Can visitors tell what your blog is about in less than five seconds after landing on your page?
  • The mission and goal of your blog should be clearly communicated in the title, and the content should not veer too far from the main topic keywords.
  • Have you narrowed your focus sufficiently?

Some bloggers who are knowledgeable about and passionate about several topics try to cram all of them in to one blog. This can make it challenging to attract targeted traffic, and the search engines won’t be clear on how to rank your site with such a divergent array of keywords.

Are you creating value for your readers?

Regardless of your blog’s purpose, if you are not creating value for your readers they will not have much reason to stay long or return. You are competing with millions of other blogs for your reader’s attention. Do not squander the opportunity to shine by always presenting your best content.

LaShanda Henry, author of the Sistasense.com blog, among several others, says this about blogging:

“Blog like you’ve got an audience of millions reading your blog. Blog like everybody’s watching you”

Don’t wait and hold back your best content until you get ‘discovered’ because you will not get discovered unless you consistently provide excellent, valuable content that attracts readers, keeps them coming back and inspires them to share your posts with their friends and followers.

When you give valuable content away on your blog it communicates your depth of knowledge about your topic and it causes people to keep coming back because they are confident that you will always have something important to say that will benefit them in some way.

Do you love your topic?

When you love your blog topic, when you have a passion for what you are writing about, when an idea hits you and you can’t wait to get out your laptop and blog about it, that passion and enthusiasm is absolutely infectious and it comes across to your readers.

If you love your topic, chance are there are lots of other people out there who share your feelings and who will be thrilled to find a kindred spirit.

Clearly defining your purpose will make it easier for you to create excellent content because you will be delving deeply into a narrow topic rather than going all over the place on a variety of topics.

The purpose driven blog has a clear focus, it provides value for the reader, and it communicates the bloggers passion for the topic. If you are a blogger, take a moment and re-visit your blog’s vision and mission. Where can you make your purpose more clear? Try doing a quick poll for your readers to see if you can discover what kind of impression they are getting and what suggestions they might offer to make yours a more purpose driven blog.

Now it’s your turn. Go ahead and leave a comment about your blog along with the URL. Visitors who read this post will visit your blog and leave you a comment about their impressions of how effectively your are communicating your blog’s purpose.

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