A few years ago we started blogging about publishing because it was fun. We became obsessed with it and then shortly thereafter abandoned the blog and let interns at work take it over. But for years we kept it up quite well. Not bragging, but we had good content going for awhile.
When I (Dara) made up my mind to write a book about indie publishing, I remembered that blog, which turned out to be a goldmine and made my book writing process considerably less stressful.
But, if you have a blog that you’ve been working on for some time and you’d like to turn it into a book, here’s what you must know going in:
1. Going blog to book is more than copying and pasting your blog into Microsoft Word
and
2. Blogs typically break more writing rules, so your manuscript will still need extensive editing
Now that we have that out of the way, here’s how I personally transformed my blog into a book.
1. Scanned blog topics for potential chapters and subheads and outlined the book before plugging blog content into the manuscript
2. Once blog content was added, I shaped and edited that content into complete chapters, recognizing I’d need to go back and fill-in missing or incomplete content
3. I added more content around the outline, chapters, and subsections, until I had a complete first draft
Now that the book is done, I know that starting from a blog was right for me. Knowing that I had content to launch from, was motivating. I didn’t have to start from scratch. But my final book is vastly different from the first draft and completely transformed from the initial blog posts. Once I had the first draft completed, I had an editor go through and identify the sections and parts that needed more writing, research, and pruning. I then rounded out the second draft with interviews, stories, charts, and graphs. After the second draft, my manuscript was ready for book production!
So tell us, have you thought about using your blog to jumpstart your manuscript? Have you already done it? How was your experience.
I’m thinking of making a short story or graphic novel from my Lilith’s Escape weekly episode that I post each week. I know that I’ll need to do major editing, but does this sound like the right route to take?
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