8 Steps to Turn Your Blog Posts Into a Book

Have you been blogging for a long time and have established a group of loyal followers? Or, have your posts started piling up and not getting enough exposure?

There is a simple way to fix this problem: turning your blog posts into a book.

Yes! It’s true. You won’t have to write your book from scratch, and you won’t have to come up with new ideas.

Moreover, it will give you exposure to hundreds of new readers and your authority will skyrocket.

In this post, I will share how you can turn your blog posts into a book in a few simple steps.

1. Finding a Common Topic:

If your blog is niche specific then you know what to write. However, for a multi-niche blog you have to find a specific topic. Writing a book on a diverse topic is not a good idea.

You can read your posts several times and decide on a topic which you will be most comfortable with. The best way of doing this is using Google Sheets. Make a list of your articles in a spreadsheet and list topics along with it.

List out your article topics in a spreadsheet to see what the common theme is. For example, if you notice that most of your blogs talk about personal transformation, overcoming obstacles, and psychological or emotional development, you could even write your own epic Hero’s Journey tale. Once you’ve compiled all your blog posts, you might be wondering how to write a Hero’s Journey tale. At the beginning, it might seem a little overwhelming, but with the help of Scribophile, you’ll be able to break it down in a simple way by following their Hero’s Journey guide.

Doing a survey from your readers could be another good idea. In this case, you will have a better idea of what your readers want to read from you.

2. Accumulating Posts:

Now that you have already chosen your topic, accumulate your posts in a word processor. You can use Google Docs, Microsoft Word or any other word processor.

Open your Google Docs, and copy and paste all of your blog posts that you have decided to include in your book. This will ensure that all the documents you needed are in a single place.

3. Finding the Gap:

Who does want to read a book with scattered ideas and missing blocks? Read your blog posts one-by-one and try to figure out whether there is any gap in ideas?

For example, suppose you write about good writing practices in your blog. So, if you miss a section about proofreading, your book will be incomplete.

To find out any gap, you have to check what you already have and what additional points need to be included. Doing a brainstorming or checking other books on similar topics can give some ideas.

4. Filling the Gap:

Now as you have found gaps in your writings, it is time for filling those gaps.

Go through your articles and mark places where you need filler contents. You can do this right from your Google Docs. Use highlighting option for marking positions.

Since you are writing a book based on articles from different posts it may read discontinuous. Things may not flow as expected. Transition from one article to another may not be very continuous. You have to work on these places to make it coherent.

5. Writing an Introduction:

Once you are done with filling up gaps, you have to write a general introduction. Again you will get ideas from different articles that you have already written.

Get the overall idea of your posts and write an introduction.

6. Writing Conclusion:

Wrapping up your book with a conclusion is a must. What is the message you want to give? Bring all the points that you have discussed in one place. Make a gist. This should be the final text in your book.

7. Proofreading:

Once you have finished your writing, it is the time to forget everything.

What?

Yes! That is true.

Keep your book aside for a few days, or a few weeks if possible. Try to forget everything that you have written. And after a few days start the proofreading.

The gap of few days will rewire your brain and when you start the proofreading your article will be fresh to your eyes. Now, read and revise your book again. If possible use a grammar checking tool like Grammarly, or ProWritingAid.

I like ProWritingAid for my book writing projects. It is cheaper than Grammarly and the style improvement suggestions are very helpful for any long-writing project like this.

8. Publishing Your Book:

Congratulations! You just have completed a mammoth task. Now, use any self-publishing website to get your book into a digital or printed format.

It is time to share your joy with the world. Upload your book on your website, share it on your social media, give it to your friends. Promote it as much as possible.

Writing a book is not easy. However, starting from articles that you already have in your website is an excellent idea. It will make the whole procedure easier and faster.

Saikat

Saikat is a physicist from heart and teaches at a graduate-level college. Apart from maintaining his academic profile, he educates people writing properly on letterjunction.com.