How Blogs can Become Bestselling Books
Dozens, if not hundreds of successful blogs have become the tool writers use to get their work in front of editors at major publishing houses. It makes sense that editors and publishers will sit up and take notice if your blog is attracting huge attention from a devoted crowd - if they come back to read your blog everyday, it's not as big a risk for the publisher to take to publish your book.
The basis for many blogs just naturally lend themselves to becoming bestselling books. My website at www.happyslob.com helped me to land a book deal for my first book: "No Hassle Housecleaning", originally titled "The Happy Slob's Guide to Housecleaning." Was it a bestseller? Not yet! (self deprecating laughter inserted here...) But, seeing my book in bookstores was an incredible and surreal moment, and continues to be. (My second book from the same publisher - F+W Publications - is called Living Large on Less. I get no less giddy seeing it at online and offline bookstores.)
How to Do It
Simply put, you need to put your best writing foot forward when you blog. Don't makes excuses like: "It's just a blog after all, who cares if it's really my best writing?" Express yourself and create your very own writing style. When I started my blog and site, it was because agents and publishers hadn't been interested in my book and I wanted to prove them wrong by selling my book as an ebook. That ebook was later purchased by an editor at F+W, and the rest is history. (Let me just acknowledge right now -- when her email arrived asking if I was still looking to publish my book traditionally, I had tears running down my face.)
Get Blogging!
Get blogging right away! Of course, you need some sort of catchy idea that people will come to read more and more about...and you need to create quality work that people will want to come back to read. The more readers you have who love your content, the more proof you have that your blog concept is really worthy of becoming a book.
In Summary:
- Yes, blogs really do become the basis for books!
- Blog writing represents you as a writer - so make your blog posts inspirational, funny, charming - whatever it is you want to be identified with as a writer. Develop your writing style within your blog.
- Popular blogs prove to editors and publishers that your content is popular, thus making it less of a risk for them to invest in creating a book out of your concept.
Writers: What would you most like to blog about? Do you think you could sell it as a book idea in the future?
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