How to Use Your Blog to Write Your Book

My first book (now in its second edition) – How to Makeover Your Business in 6 Weeks.

Why haven’t you written your book?  Writing a book is one of the easiest ways to establish your credibility as a speaker and a coach.  It is also a great way to create a lot of terrific content for your business.

Now, when I start talking about writing a book – people start to get a funny look on their face… I don’t know whether it is because they’ve always wanted to write a book and have been afraid or if the thought just occurred to them and it is scary.  As the author of two books (both are now in their second editions), I can tell you that writing a book is very worthwhile — and not all that scary.

Here’s why I think you haven’t written your book yet…

I think the biggest fear of would-be authors is sitting down with a blank Word document and a goal of writing 100 pages or more.  I am here to dispel that myth for you.  First, there is no rule that your book needs to be long.  Some very effective books are less than 60 pages.

Second, there is a trick to writing a book — you do it the same way that you eat an elephant – one bite at a time.   One of the easiest ways I know to write a book, is to create a series of blog posts on your book topic.  That way, you are creating content for your audience (and potential book buyers), getting their feedback as you go along and building the platform to support your book efforts.

7 Tips for Writing Your Book Using Your Blog

What are you waiting for?  Now is the perfect time to start – especially if you are taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge (it is still not too late to sign up).  Here are 7 tips for writing your book on your blog.

1. Find out what your audience wants to know: Before you dive in to writing, spend some time reading.  Read other popular bloggers that cover your niche, search for your topic on Twitter and Facebook.  What keeps your audience up at night?

2. Refine your topic based on your USP  Yes, choosing a popular topic will help you — but you need to add your own “secret sauce” – what angle can you take that will make your book unique?

3. Map out your book’s content.  Spend an hour or two mindmapping your book.  What are the major topics you will cover on your blog — what will you cover in the book and not on the blog (save something as an incentive for people to buy your book).  This mindmap can also serve as a mini blog editorial calendar.

4. Make your topics short and tasty… Blog posts are short – generally between 200-800 words.  Break your mindmap down into bite sized topic ideas.

5.   Be consistent and persistent … (you knew I had to get that in here somewhere…) Commit to blogging twice a week minimum.  Choose the days of the week you’ll be publishing and then commit.

6.  Publicize your posts. Share your work on your social networks. Also, make it easy for other people to share your postsl

7.     Edit, Edit, Edit… Whew! you’ve blogged your book!  But, you aren’t done yet.  You’ll still need to edit the book and knit everything together.  Hiring an editor is also usually worth it for a long manuscript.

This month, I’ll be covering some of these steps more in depth.

In the meanwhile, do you need help getting your blog started?  Check out my blog mastery course for step by step instructions on how to set up your blog as your client attraction hub.