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Should You Write a Blog Or a Book?

You know I’m a fan of writing. You know I believe that we should each write Every.Single.Day. to exercise that muscle and make sure we’re in momentum.

But have you ever wondered what you should be writing?

Let me be honest:

When I got started with publishing my books, I did take a collection of my past articles, shape them into chapters, and use that as the basis of my book.

I’ll say that again:

The BASIS of my book.

I didn’t take 25 blog articles, slap a cover on them, and call it a book. That’s not a book!

Slapping a cover on a collection of blog articles is NOT a book. You can't blog a book. Click To Tweet

I did the planning and re-reading to see what I had already written, see what I was missing, and then close that gap to create a book. For example, my book on fishing “Must-Know Trout Fishing Tricks, Tips, & Techniques” was written this way. I’d spent the 4 years leading up to that book writing a weekly blog article about fishing so I had content already created.

This system ONLY works if you have a backlist of on pointe articles that are already written.

Let me say that again:

  1. They’re on topic.
  2. They’re in your voice.
  3. They reflect your current views.
  4. They are ALREADY written.


But you’re here because you really want to write a book…

  • Do you start with a blog or a book?
  • Should you “blog a book”?
  • Do you write articles related to the topic so you can “get started”?

(I was asked a variation on this theme AGAIN last week!)

My short answer:

No. Don’t start a blog when you really want to write a book.

Write the book!

Don’t write articles on that topic when you really want to write a book.

Write your book!

Don’t think you can “blog a book” – with a series of articles so you can slap a cover on it and call it good. (BTW: Amazon won’t let you publish a Kindle book when “too much” of the information is already available on free websites. How much is “too much?” Amazon decides so it’s really hard to tell.)

If you want to write a book – write a book. Get into the nitty gritty of it, hone your idea and WRITE YOUR BOOK.

You don’t need to do “practice” writing first. It’s okay (yes, really) to go straight into writing your book. But you DO need mentorship to make that book a reality.

Don’t try to do it alone! Otherwise, you’ll “write” for years and tens of thousands of words and STILL not have a book. You’ll have a mass of STUFF that needs to be culled, edited, re-written, and tossed and THEN it’ll be a book.

Let’s shortcut that whole process, okay?

It starts with a Strategy Session where we jump on the phone to see if we’re a good fit to work together. Book yours here.

Kim Galloway
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