Bookcraft 2.0 – The Series
Now that more of my blogger friends have several years of experience, they’re getting serious about the idea of turning the body of work they’ve focused into a book.
Though writing a book can seem a great way to establish proof of expertise, it’s easy to overlook the work we’re taking on while we consider the positive recognition we’re sure it will bring. A solid business person needs to be aware of the process of thinking through a great book and finding a publisher or deciding to self-publish it.
Even repurposing the content on an existing blog to share as an eBook takes more work than we might think.
Then there’s the year of marketing the book that comes after …
What follows are some articles on the subject that you may missed (if you recently tuned in to my blog.) Bookcraft 2.0 was a project that Phil Gerbyshak and I shared in 2006 — a look at how to make a book from an existing blog.
Depending on your plan of action, the quality and kind of content you start with, and your final goal, some posts will be of more interest than others. I include those that have the most relevant information to the process of repurposing content to prepare for a publisher.
Be sure to read the Post 1 and Post 12.
- Write a Book? Assemble the One in Your Archives!
- How to Make Sure Real People Will Want to Read Your Book
- Archive Mining: How to Get From Working Book Title to Rough Cut Content
- How to Make Sure Real People Will Want to Read Your Book
- How Many Words Does It Take to Make a Book?
- Why No Bound Book Has 666 Pages and Get Your Free Blank Bookmap
- The 90% Rule of Repurposing Content
- Book Research at Amazon, the Data Giant
- Even the Best Shoes Donât Belong in a Bookstore
- Why Consistency Makes Authors Look More Intelligent
- Writer, Book Editor, Copyeditor â What Do They Do?
- 12 Cold Truths about Publishing and The 2 Proofs Every Publisher Wants
Have you looked at your archives lately? If youâve got a blog with 200+ posts, Iâm betting you have at least one bookâs worth of content. Go look. Here are the basic of what to look for and what to do.
Iâll bet youâve looked at a book and wondered why someone wrote that. Maybe the book is a hit with readers â just not for you â or maybe it had an audience of one. Now you face the same challenge.
With the working title in my head, I wrote a subtitle â the 25 words or less definition/premise of what the book would be about. That definition would be my tool for deciding what content to keep. Some folks call that statement the âelevator pitch.â
Iâll bet youâve looked at a book and wondered why someone wrote that. Maybe the book is a hit with readers â just not for you â or maybe it had an audience of one. Now you face the same challenge.
Editors and agents often quote a word count to writers in order to establish basic parameters. âCasting offâ pages also once was a common practice in which the word count was used to determine how much paper a book would require.
Books are made from large rolls or large sheets of paper that get folded in a certain way. When they are folded, they are called âsignatures.â
Most books are made of 16-page or 32-page signatures. This picture of how a 16-page signature looks unfolded.
When my job was finding product to repurpose for the U.S. market, what I realized was that people could repurpose anything. I had to curb my enthusiasm for finding the cool product inside everything that came my way. So I made the 90% rule.
Amazon is not just a place to buy things. Itâs an incredible source of information about what is selling in the book world right now â updated every hour. So letâs explore some of the informationa that Amazon can offer to help with Philâs upcoming book.
To me, that advice seem counter-intuitive. Why would a publisher want another book about writing if they already had a list full of them? Shouldnât I go to where a publisher didnât have any?
Consistency is a value, a benchmark of quality, and a support for readers. It also makes authors look smart.
You have to build the book, before you can see the commas.
This diagram shows the part of the writing process that Phil and I are currently working on.
Well, we think the relationship is with the book, but really itâs with the content. Thatâs where the misconceptions start. Here are some cold truths publishers wish every author realized.
The traditional book making process hasn’t changed much, but the options for self-publishing have.
What do you find the best way to promote your business?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.
