Today I’m delighted to welcome guest blogger Nina Amir, author of How To Blog a Book. Interested in winning a copy of her new book? Enter by noon on Monday, June 25. The winner will be announced on the blog on Tuesday, June 26. Each of these steps will gain you a separate entry into the drawing:
*Comment on this post.
*Tweet this post (use @writenowcoach in the tweet)
*Become a follower of the blog. (If you’re already a follower, mention it in the comments–and I’ll give you an extra entry!)
How to Blog a Book Fast
By Nina Amir
So many people continue calling themselves aspiring writers rather than published writers because they think writing a book must be a long, drawn out process. Or they feel overwhelmed by the idea of writing a book. Indeed, completing a manuscript can seem like a big goal to accomplish.
In fact, you can write a book in a month—or less. I wrote one in ten days. You definitely can write one in six months or a year—or less. I wrote one in five months. And you can do so by writing for as little as 30-60 minutes a day.
Not only that, you can do so while getting your writing read—possibly by more readers in a day or in a month than the average book sells in a year.
How is that possible? By blogging a book. While the average book today sells a measly 250-300 copies per year or 3,000 copies in its lifetime, a blog that is reasonably successful can have 300-3,000 readers per day.
Plus, the majority of bloggers write a post a day or more. By writing and publishing your book one post at a time on the Internet, you can not only get it written in record time, but you can get it read as well.
If, for example, you write 250 words per day just four days per week, you will produce 1,000 words per week. That’s four thousand words per month. In 12 months, you’ll have written a 42,000-word book. That’s not a long book, but it’s a decent length for the first draft of your book.
If you write more often, you will produce more words in less time; the same is true if you increase you word count just a bit. Let’s say you average 350 words per blog post and write five days per week. That’s a 45,500 word book in 6 months. You can determine how fast you complete your blogged book, but it doesn’t take a large time commitment time per day.
My first draft of How to Blog a Book was only 26,300 words. I completed it in five months writing 3-4 days per week and averaging about 350 words per post. By the time you edit and revise, your book may grow. Mine more than doubled in word count.
If a long book puts you off, write a short one. You can write a series of posts and turn that into an ebook or a booklet, for example. My book, 10 Days and 10 Ways to Return to Your Best Self, is based on 10 blog posts I wrote during the Jewish High Holy Days. Consider writing a 15-30 post blogged book if that feels easier to start out. Problogger author and blogger Darren Rowse’s bestselling product, an ebook called 30 Days to a Better Blog, is based on 30 posts he wrote consecutively—a series.
How long will writing a post take you? That depends upon how quickly you write. For most people, a 250-word post takes about 30-45 minutes to compose. If you spend a fair amount of time editing, maybe it will take you an hour. You might want to add in a photo, too; this can be a bit time consuming. And you must take time to actually publish your post. However, I’d say if you really try to stick to under 500 words and don’t be a perfectionist, you can do this in an hour or less. Keep in mind your blogged book is the first draft of your book, not the finished product. This will help you write and post quickly. The point is to get an “installment” written and published on line regularly.
Here’s the basic process:
1. Determine if your book is viable, meaning marketable.
2. Map out your book’s content.
3. Come up with a content plan or table of contents.
4. Break the contents down into posts-sized pieces (250-500 words).
5. Write in post-sized bits on a manageable schedule; create a manuscript at the same time as posting on line.
6. Each time you write, publish your posts.
In this way you will quickly and easily get your book written. You’ll turn into a published author before you know it. If your book is of interest to many people, your blog will attract readers easily. It might also attract an agent or publisher if you garner enough readers, which means you could end up with a blog-to-book deal in the process of blogging your book as well.
About the Author: Nina Amir, Inspiration-to-Creation Coach, inspires people to combine their purpose and passion so they Achieve More Inspired Results. She motivates both writers and non-writers to create publishable and published products, careers as authors and to achieve their goals and fulfill their purpose. She blogged her book, How to Blog a Book, Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books), in five months. Find out more about her and her blogs at www.ninaamir.com www.copywrightcommunications.com, or www.purspiritcreations.com.
