The New York Times has another article about authors using blogs during the writing process of their books.
Instead of simply being a relief from writerly solitude, these blogs have turned into part of the process. Mr. Battelle (an author) said that he was surprised by the number of people who read his journal and offered feedback, correcting mistakes, making suggestions of people to interview or articles to read and contributing ideas that are finding their way into his finished manuscript.
Authors’ blogs also change the solitary mission of writing into something more closely resembling open-source software. Mistakes are corrected before they are eternalized in printed pages, and readers can take satisfaction that they contributed to a book’s creation.
Which all reinforces the fact that Denise Wakeman and I are on the right track with our Blog to Book Project. Already 30 potential authors have joined this project and are busy writing pages of their books onto their blogs.
Blogs offer a way to organize content, experiment with style, get reader feedback, and create marketing buzz even before the book is even complete.
The Blog to Book Project is an ongoing, open enrollment program delivered through a private tutorial blog with monthly support meetings and weekly telephone conferences with book publishing experts.
To get more information or to register, go to www.blogtobook.com.
Clearly, if you can write a newsletter or ezine, or a blog, you can develop material for a book that can then be used as a marketing tool for your professional services. Your competitors are already doing it. When will you take the leap and give it a shot?
Do you dare?