Writers with specialized knowledge, genuine interest, or even just a desire to know more about a topic turn more and more to blogging. But once an author has amassed a volume of work, turning those articles or pieces into a book is often considered. So is it possible to turn blogs into books? Yes!
Authors who want to compile and publish their blog writing can easily create a compelling and organized book with a few steps. Let’s take a look at what makes a book different from a blog, why swapping a blog into book form can be a good thing, and then walk through exactly what you need to do to turn blogs into books.
The Differences between Blogging and Book Writing
Books are written about every imaginable content area. But books that provide opinions or facts through the voice of the author themselves might be travelogues, memoirs, self-help books, humorous or personal essays, guides or how-to books, or other works of non-fiction.
Blogs are very similar in content to these types of books, but the real difference between a blog and a book outside of the content is in the delivery and creation of the content.
Blogs
- Are short format with the average length of a blog being 1,151 words
- Can update daily, weekly, monthly or at any other time
- May cover one topic or a variety of topics
- Are usually written in an informal voice utilizing the author’s opinions and thoughts
Books
- Written in any length, with fiction typically containing 80,000-100,000 words and memoirs ranging from 80,000 – 90,000
- Are organized into chapters, sections, or parts
- Are usually written and published in a singular time span
Why Turn Blogs into Books?
Blogs can be profitable for some writers and income is a motivation for keeping a blog for some writers. For others, however, writing a blog is a labor of love. Many times, the content a blog writer creates comes from an earnest interest in presenting a deeper dive or a more complete or new take on the content. For authors that desire to get their writing into the hands of more readers, turning blogs into books is a great way to do that. There are a few compelling reasons why a blogger may want to transform their previously created blogs into books.
Books Build Author Credibility
While many blogs are indeed written by experts and contain valuable information or persuasive or captivating perspectives on topics, books project an aura of authority. Book authors are perceived as experts in their field and the credibility writing a book brings to an author is greater than blogging can typically provide.
Books Create Income
While some bloggers do generate income with their writing, all book authors have the opportunity to sell their publications. Self-publishing a book provides the greatest opportunity to profit off of a book because the sales are not split with a publishing house.
Books can also be reprinted, picked up by a large publishing house, or even have the rights sought out by filmmakers. While no sale is guaranteed, an author who writes books has the potential to generate a greater and longer-lasting income stream from their work than a blogger typically does.
Books Reach Different Audiences
Blogs are accessible only through technology, while books are available to just about everyone, giving them potentially a wider audience than blogs. And authors who publish a book are also able to reach those readers who do not follow blogs or simply like to read in a traditional book format.
Steps to Turn Blogs into Books
Authors with content already created in a blog format are already one step ahead of other writers who are armed with a concept but no written words. But turning blogs into books is not as simple as it sounds. We think that following these four key steps will help you transform blogs into books that you will be proud of and your audience will love to read.
1. Collect Content to (Potentially) Use
The first step is to gather all of your blog content into one place. For many writers, this not only includes all of the content you published, but also other pieces of writing that may not have been published, are still in process, or are conceptualized or roughly drafted but not finalized.
While authors may initially think that only specific blog content will be used for their book, having every piece of writing out for consideration can open the door to creating a unique book, preparing for multiple publications, or even seeing how seemingly unconnected blog entries may weave together into a single book theme.
2. Choose the Best Content to Turn Blogs into Books
The hardest part about turning blogs into books is likely the process of cutting out writing. As an author, you have a vested interest in everything you have written, and you may also have an emotional tie to the work as well.
But authors who want to turn blogs into books have to choose the right blog entries that will flow with the overall perspective of the book they are creating, contribute to the theme or focus, and that will work well with the other entries that are also included.
Writers must objectively omit blog writing that, while a top-notch example of their writing ability or an interesting piece of writing by itself, may not contribute to the overall feel or focus of the book.
3. Add Required Content for Blogs into Books Transition
Compiling and selectively choosing the best blog entries is only a part of writing your book. Once the body of the book is ready, authors now need to create a few other portions of the book’s content to make sure the book flows smoothly from the first page to the last, and readers are engaged throughout the rest of the book.
Introduction. Readers will want to hear directly from the author at the beginning of the book. This introduction may be attached to the first section or chapter of the book or it may stand alone as an explanation of what’s to come or an overview of the focus or purpose behind the book. Whichever way you decide to write the intro, remember to provide a starting point for the readers to shape their expectations for the rest of the book.
Chapters or Sections. Organizing the blog content into understandable chunks like chapters or sections is key to helping the book flow. Some of these may need an introduction or explanation to help with the continuity or for the reader to understand how they work together. Add the chapter or section opening information consistently throughout the book so readers will know what to expect and anticipate engaging content.
Transitions. Make sure that each blog post not only stands alone but also contains transitions to move the reader from one to the next. Look at the content from the reader’s perspective to ensure that each piece flows well into the next entry, chapter, or section, and fill in transition thoughts when needed.
Conclusion. The final section of your book will likely need to be created as well so readers will feel like the book’s contents, focus, and meaning are wrapped up neatly. Many writers also use this area to leave the door open for future books as well.
4. Publishing Your Blogs into Books Content
Once your book’s content is in great shape, it’s time to think about finalizing the way it looks and sending it off for printing.
1 Format the book correctly. Use a free book template to help you finalize your book’s presentation, margins, fonts, and overall style.
2 Craft a winning cover. Potential readers can be captured with interesting cover art, so secure expert design assistance to make sure that your book’s cover attracts readers with its compelling, genre-appropriate look.
3 Choose a reliable publishing company to print your blogs into books content. Working with a trusted company like Dazzle Printing will ensure that your hard work will look good and your efforts to turn blog into book will be successful.
Blogger to Book Writer
Bloggers can easily make the shift from online writer to published author. By utilizing quality writing already completed in a blog and augmenting the content with book-specific details and a little supplementary content, you can turn blogs into books that will grace a reader’s bookshelves forever. Taking the time to convert blog posts into a well-organized book is a great way for online writers to make the switch to published authors.
