O.C. Writers

By Andrea Lewis // 

When Larry J. Dunlap, member of the Lake Forest Writers’ Roundtable and author of Things We Lost In The Night brought up blogging a book, or writing a book while posting parts of it on a blog for various benefits, sounded intriguing. Search brought me in front of a controversy. While there are many good reasons for turning a blog into a book, there are also arguments on why this idea wouldn’t always work.

I. To book a blog vs. to blog a book

According to Beth Bauer, guest blogger on Nina Amir’s How to Blog a Book, there are two aspects of the phrase “turning your blog into a book.” “To book a blog you must have an established blog where you publish posts that later you may turn into a book. The opposite approach is called blogging a book. When you blog a book, you pre-plan the content of your book and then write and publish it post by post on your blog.  Blogging a book is an intentional blogging and book manuscript creation process, not an afterthought of blogging,” according to Bauer.

Bauer identifies the pros and cons of turning a blog into a book. Since “turning random posts into a cohesive manuscript and, ultimately, into a published book” takes time and effort, the author urges writers to weigh every aspect for an informed decision.

Pros:

1. You do not start from scratch. There is already material on your blog that may need some additions and adjustments to fit the print form. At least part of the work is completed.
2. Widens your audience. As long as the content is on the blog only, readership is among the blog readers. Once in a book, the reach goes beyond to book readers. If the book fills a need in the market, the readers will buy the related book.
3. Earn passive income. It takes time to get the word out and get people to purchase your book, especially if you self-publish. If the book links to other products as membership programs, courses, these can provide additional income.

Cons:

1. Booking a blog takes time. The process involves finding the posts relevant to the topic, edit and organize them, add content. Editing and re-editing is key, and it is advisable that a professional editor be hired for editing.
2. It may be difficult to land a traditional book deal. If the blog has not attracted a large audience, agents or publishers will be reserved on taking on publication.
3. Book sales depend on you. Regardless of the publication way, the author markets it. Your platform will help sell your books.

It makes it easier to collect your blog posts into a book if your blog is organized on topics from the beginning, with content grouped around each topic.

In the end, Bauer’s take is that “your book can turn into the best business card” as it will grant you “expert status, increased business or income, and opportunities only offered to authors.”

II. “Please don’t blog your book”

From a different perspective, Jane Friedman asks her readers to think twice before posting their books in blogs and offers four reasons to support her statement. After working as full-time acquisitions editor, she oversaw the publication of many “bloggers-turned-book-authors,” but the process did not always result into sales.

Cons:

1. Blog writing is not synonym to book writing. Optimized for online reading, blog posts contain keywords, links, and multimedia elements, and are SEO aware. Also, as content, blog posts tend to revolve around popular online topics. “Blogs have their own purpose and do not aspire to become books if they are truly written as blogs.”
2. Blogs can make for very bad books if the content is simply copy-pasted from the blog into book format. They need editing and adjustments to become eligible for print. This is different than creating e-books from blogs, thus repurposing the blog content in a creative way.
3. Narrative works have a difficult time to be picked up as book deals. The blogs most likely to score book deals are in the information-driven categories, the how-to Friedman emphasizes that there are very few notable exceptions: Julie and Julia, and Waiter Rant.
4. Books delve deeply into a topic. Blogs cannot afford that, as they must keep their content short and light, accessible to a wide audience. Books are the proper medium for going deeper into a topic or concept.

Blog-to-book might be your route if:

1. The blog focuses on non-fiction, how-to or solves a problem for people.
2. The blog exists out of the author’s joy of blogging. It takes time to develop a following.
3. The author agrees that the book deal isn’t the end of the road, but a way to expand the audience for the blog.

III. Works best for non-fiction

Leaning towards the “Pro” trend, Thomas Umstattd Jr. states that blogging a book allows authors to test their ideas, build their audience and make the book better. However, he makes it clear that his analysis refers to non-fiction.

Umstattd suggests that authors take into account the possible drawbacks, to work towards a successful blogging of their books:

1. The author’s reach with a blog is wide, while with a book, it is deep. Reading the same content in two different media can result in different experiences. Blogs are meant to be read in five minutes or less. Books allow for longer reading times.
2. Blogging a book makes for a better book. It opens the possibility of a two-way dialogue between the author and the readers who provide feedback.
3. The message needs to be adapted to the medium.
4. Might or might not land a traditional book deal. High rate of following helps publishers decide.
5. The book should include unique content that was not included in blogs.

Pros:

1. It is a great way to test ideas, find audience and the author’s resonance.
2. It is not for everyone and blogging the book first is not required for it to succeed.
3. Can make the author a better writer.
4. Helps sell more copies of the book.

IV. It may not work for fiction

As to why fiction should not be blogged, Rachelle Gardner explains her reasons in her article Should you blog Your Novel?

Her analysis focuses on those who seek traditional publishing, since self-publishers may choose to do anything they wish with their novel.

Pros:

1. Immediate feedback. It offers validation that people read the author’s work, and it tests the commercial appeal of the content.
2. Establishing a schedule of posting portions of a novel may help with setting and sticking to deadlines and word-count goals.
3. Building a readership. Blogging a novel and building a fan base can be advantageous when going the traditional path in publishing.
4. Just for fun. Nothing should stop an author from posting their novel in serial form.

Cons:

1. Immediate feedback. Sometimes, “people on the Internet are unhelpful or even cruel,” and may not offer the validation that the author is seeking. The question is also whether the feedback is trustworthy. Random opinions may derail the writer from the course of their work. “Crowdsourcing may not be the best approach to novel-writing.”
2. Build an online readership takes great effort and investment of time. Most people read blogs for information and entertainment, rather than novels.
3. Once blogged, it is “published.” A blogged novel is already published, which makes agents and publishers hesitant about choosing a novel that has gone through that route. Spectacular blog stats showing a growing audience may help, though.
4. Creating a novel is not a linear process. Editing and re-writing are a major part of the novel-writing process. If blogging in first draft, the posted work may not be the best version the readers will see.
5. From the reader’s point of view, it may get annoying. Those who start reading from the beginning may keep up, but those who join later, may find it difficult to search for each post if too many clicks are needed.

Gardner invites writers to ask themselves why they want to blog their book, unless they are paid for it (analogy with Mark Twain and Charles Dickens in the age of serialization) or for fun and not seeking publication.

V. If you choose to blog your novel/book

Kim Dinan, guest writer at Writers Digest offers some aspects to be considered by authors who choose to blog their novel/book, and who launch their blog with the book in mind.

1. Choose your domain name carefully. Use your own name as your domain name, so that readers can find you easily.
2. Do not use hyphens in your domain name. Hyphens complicate things. If someone already owns your domain name, insert your middle initial, or use the com format.
3. Collect email addresses from the beginning.
4. Your blog and your book should have similar themes. Use the blog to build a community of readers that will want to read your book.
5. Be a real human. Put your photo on the homepage, craft a compelling About Me section, make your contact info easy to locate on the site.
6. Learn to market yourself. Make yourself visible on social media, get speaking engagements.

Closing remarks

While this analysis may not include all aspects of turning a book into a blog, I hope it brings some light onto the type of books that can be blogged, or that can result from a collection of blog posts.

If you are blogging your book or have gone through the process, or have thoughts of going for it, let us know. Share your experience with us.

If you choose to blog your book, this list of resources below may be of help. Many sites quote Nina Amir, the promoter of the idea of turning your blog into a book.

https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published/5-ways-to-turn-your-blog-into-a-book-writing-machine

https://howtoblogabook.com/pros-cons-blog-book/

https://www.tckpublishing.com/blog-your-book-nina-amir/

https://howtoblogabook.com.

https://rachellegardner.com/should-you-blog-your-novel/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsphdcC5jJE&t=453s

 

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ANDREA LEWIS lives and writes in Huntington Beach. She was born in Romania and moved to the United States at the age of 34, after meeting and marrying her husband. She writes memoir and personal essays, with a recent attempt at freeform poetry. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times.