Blog writing isn’t the same as book writing. Here’s why.
An interesting post from Jane Friedman called “Please Don’t Blog Your Book,” gives four reasons why you shouldn’t use your blog to write a book. She’s right about blog writing being different than book writing.
And I agree with her that blogs make bad books. The informal nature of blog writing isn’t what you expect to read in a book. You read a book for in depth coverage of concepts, not for conversational snippets.
Here’s a similar example: I bought an ebook called “Blog to Book Deal: How They Did It.” It consists of poorly transcribed interviews. A podcast makes for a terrible book because the way people speak is not conducive to good reading.
As for Friedman’s four reasons, I disagree that you shouldn’t use your blog to write a book. Don’t use it thinking you’ll land a big book deal, however.
- Use it to flesh out ideas and compose content that can be repurposed in chapters.
- Use it to stimulate conversations with readers and get their input.
- Use your blog to gather stories and interviews from others.
- Use it to start building a platform of readers interested in your topic or expertise. Read More→
