One of the biggest crazes on the internet is how you can turn blogging in to your career. Many of you are attempting this, I know I have been. You can find so many resources that will tell you exactly how to turn that passion for writing into a lucrative and rewarding career.
The main problem with career blogging is also the reason that so many people are attempting it. It is extremely easy to start a ‘business’ blog in an attempt to profit. Many services cater to the career blogger, and it has over saturated the marketplace. Finding a fresh and new voice in the blogging world is about as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. It doesn’t mean you cannot be that fresh voice, but the odds are stacked and they are not stacked in your favor.
As a writer, do you feel it is in your best interest to expand the reach of your writing?
What if you are a good writer, but feel that you are wasting your talents in a going nowhere blog?
Have you considered writing a book?
It seems a forgotten way to turn writing in to a career is to author a book. I say forgotten only because my writing experience has been limited to the internet. I bet many blog writers feel the same way. When I was a writing music for a living, I always felt my work was legitimized by producing a physical CD. Would I feel more like a ‘real’ writer if I published a book? I decided a month or so ago that I was going to research that, to see how I would like the challenge. Maybe this is another way to expand my writing and truly make writing a career? Like any good interweb user, I approached Google with a simple query:
“How do I write a book?”
The first listing that came up was actually insightful and beneficial to me. It was written by Scott Berkun and posted to his blog. He has some pretty straight forward advice when it comes to writing a book. After taking a little time to mull over if I did or didn’t want to write a book, I decided it was something I wanted to try. What do I have to lose?
So for the past three weeks I have been working on my first book, and it has nothing to do with AdSense, Blogging, WordPress or how to generate a six figure income online. I have been using WordPress on a non-public blog to write the book. Each post I make is a chapter, and it is very easy and comfortable because of the amount of time I spend blogging in general. I can go back, edit, and make changes at will, and it’s kept in order for me. The beauty of the book I am writing is that it’s chronological in a way, so using a blog format works. I am aware that I will have to convert everything into a publisher ready format, but the process appears to flow so far. Without knowledge of book publishing, however, I had to do a little research to find out what my options are. When I was in a band, It was difficult to land a record deal so many bands would self-publish their music on CD and then sell them at shows. I figured the same could be done for an aspiring author, but instead of playing shows, I could sell it online. You may call it a lack of self confidence or a lack of knowledge, but I feel it will be easier to self-publish than attempt to find a publisher, at least at this point.
After looking over about 100 self-publishing websites, I decided that Lulu.com was looking like the winner. They offer all types of publishing solutions, and it appears they have a one that will fit my book style and my budget. They let you create your project in a private or public setup, so you can go right to selling it online if you choose. I have set mine up as private because I am not ready to publish. I intend of finding someone to edit and proof read my book first, similar to how I rely on sound engineers to record and produce my music. Another good thing about this specific company is you can publish as few or as many as you’d like, so I intend on publishing a small amount first, just to see if I like the quality of the product.
When I get close to completion, I will post about it here and more than likely create a website specifically for the book. I am excited about this endeavor because I feel closer to that ultimate goal of being a self employed writer. Blogging is great for earning income, but I definitely feel I have moved some eggs to a different basket.
I am interested to find out how many blog writers have considered publishing books if they have not done so, and if they have, what are some good suggestions they could give an aspiring author such as myself.
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