Turning Your Content Into a Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Creators
As a content creator, you’ve already done the hard work—crafting blog posts, recording podcasts, producing YouTube videos, and engaging with your audience on social media. The problem? Turning all the content you’ve created into money.
Content creation is a great way to build an audience. But once you’ve got those followers, you need to find a way to monetize what you’ve created.
There are plenty of ways you can turn your expertise into a revenue source. Coaching or paid courses are both popular and lucrative options. But if you want to keep your existing content working for you, the best way is to publish a book.
Using a Book to Monetize Your Content
In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of gathering and organizing your content so you can publish it as a book. For entrepreneurs and content creators, this step-by-step approach will help you repurpose your content effectively, ensuring it resonates with your audience and stands out in the market.
The process usually entails three parts:
- Gathering content for your book
- Organizing the content
- Filling any gaps with new content
But there’s a preliminary step you can’t skip: determining your book’s theme and goal.
You need to be certain your book does more than just compile some of the content you’ve already created—it needs to create a deeper connection with your audience and expand on your expertise.
Before you start gathering your content, you need to know what your fans want (or want more of). Start with a poll to your followers to ask what they’d like to see more of. Then, look for other books that fit that niche to find ways you can differentiate yourself.
Imagine your niche is financial management. You might find three or four books on that subject and discover they’re mostly text-heavy volumes with charts and graphs. You could mix it up and use simple language along with vibrant graphics to share your take in a new way.
Assessing and Gathering Your Existing Content
Okay, with a direction for your book in mind, it’s time to take stock of the content you already have. As a content creator, you’ve likely created lots of content—blog posts, podcasts, videos, social media updates, emails, and—if you’re an author—short fiction. The key is to identify the content that aligns with the theme or message of the book you want to create.
Remember to think about what you know your audience wants. Every one of them is a potential customer, and you need to keep them in mind while sorting through the types of content you’ve already got.
Categorizing Your Content
If you’re a fan of spreadsheets, this moment is for you.
Make lists of all the content you’ve created. This can be links to blog posts, YouTube videos, and podcast episodes. Then, create a categories column and a tags column. Depending on the platform you’re using to create and host your content, you might already be categorizing it.
Organize everything into one category. Keep these broad and try not to have more than five or six categories. Then add tags to each—here, you can go wild. The tags should be more specific and niche, letting you further sort the content you’re working with.
Sorting For Specific Topics
You should be able to align a category and/or some of your tags with your book’s theme or goal. Make another list with just the content you’ll consider for your book.
Evaluate each piece of content as a potential chapter, section, or reference point for your book. Ask yourself: Does this content fit into the larger narrative or purpose of my book? Is it relevant and valuable to my target audience?
By thoroughly assessing your existing content, you’ll not only streamline the creation process but also ensure that your book is rich with information that your readers will find engaging and useful.
Organizing Content for Your Book: Structuring and Formatting
Once you’ve gathered all your content, the next step is to organize it into a coherent structure for your book.
You’ve done some of this work while identifying your existing content. For example, if you have a basic guide and an advanced guide, the basic one is likely to be good for the first parts of your book, while the advanced content might want to be held for later chapters.
Your existing content will be the main content of your book. Group similar topics together to create chapters, and arrange these chapters in a logical sequence that flows smoothly from one idea to the next. Then, read it, review it, and take note of any content that might be missing.
When you’re working with existing content, you’ll often lack the following:
- Transitions between sections or chapters
- Overarching or meta-commentary that ties big concepts together
- Conclusions, takeaways, and action items
- Supplemental and reference content
To figure out what you’ve got and what you might need, it’s smart to start with an outline. Use that as a guide to crafting your book’s manuscript. When you draft your outline, think about the natural flow of your book—will your organization make sense to your readers? Do the points you make in the later chapters align with the questions or problems you presented earlier?
Use your outline to further organize your content. Then, make a list of additional content you’ll need, whether that’s simple transitions or completely new sections.
Once you’ve got all your existing content sorted and organized, you’re ready to fill in the gaps and design your book!
Filling the Gaps: Writing Additional Information
My four bullets above are not an exhaustive list. You need to carefully look through the content you’ve got and assess what might be missing. Start with the most obvious things like transitions and conclusions.
This is also the right time to edit your in-progress book. Even though you created all that original content, you might use a different tone for blog posts than YouTube videos. Your LinkedIn posts might not read exactly like your Facebook ones.
Do a few rounds of editing to clean up your content and make sure it’s cohesive in tone and structure.
During this process, adhere to best practices in content creation: maintain your unique voice, ensure consistency in style and tone, and add depth where needed. You want to make sure that every piece of content in your book, whether repurposed or newly written, contributes to the overall narrative and purpose.
Adding Front & Back Matter
The front and back matter of a book are necessary elements you won’t have in your original content. You should plan to create these sections after you’ve organized your content and worked on filling the gaps in the body.
- The front matter includes the title page, copyright information, table of contents, and introduction.
- The back matter can include additional information such as references, a glossary, or an index. This section can also be used to promote further reading, link back to your other content, or provide resources for your audience.
Finally, take inspiration from successful content creators who have turned their accumulated content into popular books. Their strategies can offer valuable reference points as you work on filling in the missing pieces of your book.
Trimming & Finalizing Your Content
The book’s interior file is basically done. You’ve got all of your content, and you’ve woven it together with transitions, filled gaps, and updated information.
Now, you should take a moment to pause and think about cutting some of that content.
Hold on to your pitchforks.
I know you just put a ton of work into organizing, sorting, and preparing this content for your book. So why would you want to consider cutting anything?
Because you have to be sure your book will meet your goals. If you’re writing the definitive guide on how to do something, a long tome rich with examples and insights is what your readers want.
But if you’re hoping to spark some interest or use your book as a simple lead magnet, you don’t need to write a brick of a book. A small volume with 60-100 pages is becoming more and more common.
Think about how you plan to market and share your new book. Then, refine your content to be sure it fits your goals while speaking to your audience.
Designing a Compelling Book Cover and Layout
Formatting a book is a lot of work. I’m not going to go into it in-depth here, but you’ll need to decide if you’re doing your own design work or hiring a professional to help you create your interior PDF and cover file.
Your Book’s Interior Pages
A well-designed layout enhances readability and ensures that your content is presented in a way that is both engaging and accessible. Pay attention to typography, spacing, and the overall visual flow of your book.
Remember, your book’s design is not just about aesthetics—it’s about creating a user-friendly experience that draws readers in and keeps them engaged from cover to cover.
Your Book’s Cover
Your book’s interior pages are important, but your cover is a crucial marketing tool and essential to your content marketing strategy once you start promoting your new product. Your cover should reflect the essence of your content and appeal directly to your target audience.
When designing your book cover, focus on elements like color, typography, and imagery that align with your brand and the message of your book. This is your chance to make your book stand out on the shelf—or in the crowded online marketplace.
Publishing and Marketing Your Book
With your book content organized, gaps filled, and design polished, it’s time to publish. Choosing the right platform is a critical step. Whether you opt for Lulu, Amazon, or another self-publishing service, ensure it aligns with your goals as a content entrepreneur.
Once published, your work doesn’t stop. Launching your book requires a well-thought-out marketing strategy. Leverage your existing audience—your blog readers, podcast listeners, or social media followers—and build excitement around your book launch. Consider pre-launch activities such as offering exclusive content, running giveaways, or providing special discounts.
The Power of Repurposing Content
Turning your existing content into a book is more than just a strategic move—it’s a way to amplify your voice, reach new audiences, and establish your authority while taking advantage of the content you’ve already created.
Now is the time to take that next step in your content strategy. Gather your content, organize it thoughtfully, fill in the gaps, design with intention, and give your fans the book you know they want. Then, once you’ve got past the initial book launch, go back to the spreadsheet with all of your content and decide what your next book should be about.
