A Bluehost Guide on How To Turn a Blog Into a Book

Imagine how much influence you have as a blogger: how many lives you change every day.

Have you thought about turning your blog into a book? 

But you just don’t know how to approach it. Perhaps you don’t know where to go to get your work published. If that’s you, then this post is for you.

Read on to find out more about:

Blog To Book for Bloggers 101

How To Turn a Blog Into a Book

What Are the Best Blog To Book Services?

Final Thoughts: How To Turn a Blog Into a Book Quickly and Easily

Blog To Book for Bloggers 101

You enjoy some unique advantages if you already own a blog. Unlike a writer who’s never had a blog, you already have:

• An existing (and hopefully growing) audience
• A rich bank of blog content to work with
• A general angle to approach your book
• An existing marketing machine 

You can get started on book publishing much faster. But you have to move wisely to take advantage of this opportunity.

Here are some steps to follow when turning your blog into a book.

How To Turn a Blog Into a Book

1. Determine why you want to turn your blog into a book
2. Position your book
3. Create an outline for your book
4. Choose blog material to use or repurpose
5. Expand on chosen blog material
6. Edit your book for quality, flow and structure
7. Publish and market your book

1. Determine Why You Want To Turn Your Blog Into a Book

Do you know why you want to turn your blog posts into a book? 

Are you turning your how-to blog into a manual that helps people fix things around their homes? You won’t approach it the same way you would if you were a traveler writing a memoir about your journey through Asia.

As a blogger, you write differently from others, and blog readers visit your website for various reasons. 

No matter the reason, your book should add unique value to your readers’ lives. It shouldn’t be content they can find for free on your blog or elsewhere. Once you determine why you’re turning your blog into a book, you’ll know how to approach the task efficiently. 

2. Position Your Book

To position your book, you’ll need to answer two questions: 

• Who’s the book for?
• What will they get out of it?

These questions are just as simple as the first, but they’re critical to the success of your book.

You may be tempted to say, “my book is for everyone,” but think again. An average American reads only 14 books a year. What would make your book one of the 14?

The answer? The more you narrow your target down, the better the success of your book. You can use a reader persona or avatar to determine your ideal reader. 

Maybe you’re humorous. Perhaps your experiences appeal to them. Whatever the case, give the reader what they desire, and your book sales will skyrocket.

3. Create an Outline for Your Book

Now that you have a clear image of what to do, the next step is to outline your chapters and headings. Your outline should make logical sense to your readers and create a natural flow in your work.

There are two ways you can go: thematically or chronologically. If you’re going to write personal stories about your life as a traveler, you’ll do well with a chronological outline. 

You can use themes to write about practical skills or a how-to guide. There’s no hard and fast rule — use whatever works with your target audience. 

4. Choose Blog Material To Use or Repurpose

Having created an outline, you can go back to your blog and look for material to get started.

Depending on the nature of your content, you may find something to work with to avoid starting from scratch. If not, look for related content that you can rewrite or repurpose into your book.

If you want the best results for your book, don’t force blog material into it. Be honest with yourself about this. You may feel passionate about some details that could bore the readers. Leave them out and let your readers enjoy other aspects of your work.

5. Expand on Chosen Blog Material

Repurposing and rewriting tasks come in at this stage. Since you won’t just take all your existing blog posts and cram them into a book, you’ll have holes to fill in your plot and more work to do.

Here’s where you get a chance to tell your audience stories and experiences you’ve never mentioned before. You can give them new content, tips and tricks.

Your readers expect these surprises, and that’s why they’re paying for copies of your book.

Make it worth their while. Your audience will appreciate the new material you compile and publish in your book. 

6. Edit Your Book for Quality, Flow and Structure

Editing isn’t always the most enjoyable part of any book project. But think of it as a surgery that cuts out the cancers that would hurt the quality of your book. 

Take these steps:

• Read your book from start to finish to ensure your book has a coherent flow
• Address overarching structure first. Rearrange your work if necessary and add or cut out content to fit your needs.
• Do line editing, improve your style, and fix grammar issues and other errors.
• Get a professional freelance proofreader to go through your work.

7. Publish and Market Your Book

It’s time to publish your first book. Compared to other stages, this is relatively simple. 

Before getting your published book out there, you need to choose between self-publishing and traditional publishing. You can read more on that here. 

After that, you commission a book cover design and write a book description, that’s it. You’re now a published author!

To market your new book:

• Display it prominently on your blog
• Send marketing emails to your mailing list
• Use PPC marketing
• Use Social media and Amazon Kindle

What Are the Best Blog To Book Services?

If you are ready to go to print right now, here are some excellent book to blog services you can look at right away.

• Into Real Pages is one of the easiest blog-to-book services you can try out. You can import your WordPress blog directly to their website with support for Tumblr and Blogger.
   
• PixxiBook is an excellent self-publishing service for platforms Into Real Pages does not support, like Squarespace and Wix.
  
• BlookUp offers one of the most versatile blog-to-book services. You can use blog content from Tumblr, WordPress and Blogger. And if you have content-rich social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you can also turn those into printed books.

If you want your books in bulk, you can check out: 

• BlogBooker lets you import your blog, and you receive a book-format PDF. You can import content from Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger and others. Try out their limited free version before opting for a paid plan.
  
• 48 Hour Books prints your books in bulk. While you cannot import your blog directly to 48 Hour Books, you can import a PDF, such as one created with BlogBooker. 

Final Thoughts: How To Turn a Blog Into a Book Quickly and Easily

Turning your blog into a book is a pretty straightforward process if you know how to collect and curate your content to serve your audience. Publishing your book won’t just make you money. It will also change the lives of your readers.

In the meantime, if you’re also looking to optimize your blog, consider signing up with a hosting service that offers reliable uptime, performance improvements and 24×7 support.