You guys know that blogging over at HR Bartender was the spark that started this blog. We enjoy blogging very much and want to share what we know so that, if others are so inclined, they can start their own blog.
The first step in successful blogging is writing content that’s consumable. Please note: I didn’t say writing unique content. It’s true you want to write in your voice and you want to be authentic and share your point of view. But every blog post doesn’t have to be unique. It’s perfectly okay to repurpose content.
Repurposing content is the practice of modifying a previously written piece for another use. Here’s an example: I used to work for a manager who published the same memo every year about tacit approval. I liked the memo so much that I still have a copy some ten plus years later. And every year on HR Bartender, I write a post about tacit approval.
Not only can you repurpose blog content but, you might want to repurpose content to write a book. My friend Cathy Fyock has written a book on how to turn your existing blog content into a book. It’s called “Blog2Book: Repurposing Content to Discover the Book You’ve Already Written”.
Writing a blog takes a lot of time. It makes no sense to write a unique post and say to yourself, “Okay, I can never write about that topic again.” Or “I can never tell that story again.” We repeat ourselves all the time in our communications. Sometimes it can be valuable to repeat core messages. In Cathy’s book, she outlines how bloggers can reuse their blog content to flesh out potential book topics and tell a long story over the course of several shorter posts.
What I enjoyed about the book is that Cathy didn’t stop after convincing a reader to consider repurposing content. She went on to give readers some things to consider when developing a book project. I’ve written two books (and am working on number three as we speak). I can tell you from experience that each book is its own unique project. How you research it, write it, and later publish and market it. Having some understanding of the book publishing process can be very helpful as you’re blogging and building community.
If you’re looking to start a blog and wondering where you’re going to get all that content from, this book is for you. If you want to write a book, and think blogging might be a good first step, this book is for you. Starting a blog and writing a book are not out of reach. It does take a bit of planning. Blog2Book can help guide your writing journey.
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