Blogger to Author

These days, more and more people are self-publishing books. That means more competition for readers and more noise for you to break through. How do you get your self-published to stand out? By finding what makes your book unique and special. In many ways, your book is like your business. To stand out and find people willing to buy your book (or invest in your business), you need to tell them how your book is different. How is your book THE book to solve their problem or help them make a transformation they've been working toward? Why should your book be the go-to book in your niche? As an added bonus, finding what makes your book special can also help you focus your writing and editing to make your book really good. When you know why and how your book is unique, you can double down on that uniqueness and make your book truly special. Yes, your book can still do a lot of good and help people even if you don’t know what makes your book unique. BUT, if you can find out what makes your book truly special…it’s going to make your book even better.

In this episode, I'll walk you through five questions you should ask your self to find what makes your book special. You can use those answers to help you write a better book, and to help you find more readers (and sell more books), too.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/83

"How do I know if my book is any good?"

That's one of the top five questions I get asked over and over again. It's a tough question to answer, and my answer is always nuanced and dependent upon that author's audience and ideal reader. Really, it comes down to whether your book helps solve a problem for your reader, or if it helps them improve their life.

Luckily, there are a few simple ways that you can improve your manuscript. So today, I'm giving you a little bit of insight into my thought processes as an editor and sharing three ways that you can expand on and improve your nonfiction book manuscript. These three strategies will help you write a better book — a good book. If you want to make sure your book helps your readers and helps you build a relationship with them, make sure you listen to this episode.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/82

Many food bloggers (and other fans of food) dream about becoming a cookbook author someday. They flip through cookbooks in the bookstore and fantasize about what it would be like to see their name on the cover and see their food photography on those glossy pages. But, many of them wait around for a publisher to come calling. They either wind up waiting many years for their dream to come true, or they never realize that dream at all.

I'm excited to feature an interview with registered dietitian and author Maggie Michalczyk in this episode. Maggie decided that she wanted to publish a cookbook, but that she didn't want to wait around to get a deal with a traditional publisher. Instead, Maggie decided to take her cookbook's fate into her own hands and self-publish. Best of all, she leveraged her relationships with brands to get them to sponsor recipes in the cookbook, giving her money to fuel the production of the book.

If you dream about publishing a cookbook someday, I think you'll find this interview with Maggie very inspiring. Maggie will show you that you don't have to wait for a deal with a publisher to create your cookbook. And, you'll also hear some great tips for working with brand sponsors to help you offset the cost of the production of your cookbook.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/81

Follow Maggie on Instagram @onceuponapumpkin Follow Beth on Instagram @drbethbrombosz

Bloggers are uniquely suited to become authors. Most bloggers today are actively working to build an audience of engaged followers who will want to buy their book. They don't have to create an audience of book readers from scratch. They've done the hard work of finding the people who need their message, which makes the process of selling books infinitely easier.

Bloggers are also used to the writing process. They consistently create new content month after month. They have the skills that it takes to write a book manuscript. And, as a bonus, they can repurpose the content that they've worked so hard to create and use it in the first draft of their book. They've got a leg up when it comes to writing a book, and many bloggers can put together a self-published book very quickly.

This episode is a dive into why every blogger should consider writing a book. Even if you ultimately decide that it's not for you, I think it's something that you should at least ponder for a little bit. A book can do big things for your blog and for you. I'll tell you all about them in this episode. And, I'll tell you how you can get started on your book, too.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/80

As self publishing becomes more and more popular, self-published authors are more and more likely to run into...well, let's call them haters. They look down on self-published books, and they tell self-published authors that their book is never going to go anywhere. There are even a few traditionally-published authors out there who think they're better than self publishers.

I'm here today to tell you to ignore all of the haters. Your self-published book can be just as important as any traditionally-published book. That's especially true when you look at your book from the right perspective. Aside from a plethora of examples of very successful self-published authors, there's one thing that I think you should focus on when you gauge the success of your book. Hear what that metric is in this episode.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/79

I know that many of you who listen to the podcast are already authors. You've written, published, and launched your books, and you love hearing tips to help you sell more copies of your book now that the momentum of your launch has worn off. Whether you published your book six months or six years ago (or even longer), this episode is for you.

Traditionally you think about retail stores getting ready for holiday shoppers. But, authors should take the time to get their books ready for holiday shopping season, too. There are shoppers out there who will want to buy your book as a gift...but is your book ready to find them? And, will your book stand out enough from other books in your niche so that it lands in someone's shopping cart?

In this episode of the Blogger to Author Podcast, you'll learn five things that you should do (or at least consider) to get your already-published book ready for the holidays. I'm going to be applying these five tips and strategies to my books over the next few weeks, and I hope you will too. I think they'll result in more holiday book sales for both of us.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/78

As you can tell by the title, "How to Get More Health and Wellness Clients with a Book," this episode is specifically aimed at those of you who are professionals in the health, wellness, and fitness industry. I've spent many years first being passionate about, then working in, this industry, and three of my four books are fitness books. Most of my clients are also in health and wellness, which means I have a LOT of experience with health and wellness books. I also interact with many, many professionals in the industry.

One of the big things I notice when it comes to helping health and wellness professionals write their books is that they often don't see what a huge impact a book is going to have on their business. They often look at a book in terms of book sales and how many copies they can sell a month. But, by focusing on book sales alone, they're missing the big picture.

In this episode, I'll walk you through all of the ways that your book will help you build your health and wellness business. I'll tell you exactly how your book will help bring more clients to your business, clients who want more than just a book. You'll get a better picture of how a book will help you increase your revenue much more than by simply selling books. And, you'll see how your book is the key to taking your health and wellness business to the next level.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/77

Free "5 Easy Steps to Become a Health & Wellness Author" Guide: bloggertoauthor.com/health

eCommerce giant Amazon has been a game changer for self-published authors. But, getting your book seen by the shoppers who want it can be a little tricky. With hundreds of millions of shoppers on Amazon each month, all you need to do is load your eBook into KDP and the money will start rolling in, right? If only it was that easy...

In this episode, I'm featuring an interview with Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. Dave is a Kindle publishing expert, the host of the Book Marketing Show Podcast, and creator of KDP Rocket software, which I've used to help my books and dozens of client books show up more often in Amazon search results. I invited him to come on the podcast to talk about his author journey, why he created KDP Rocket, and how KDP Rocket can help you sell more Kindle books on Amazon.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/76

Smart authors take full advantage of the holiday shopping season. They know that their book would make a perfect gift, and they want to make sure that it's on shoppers' lists. But, if your book isn't ready in time for the holidays, well...you're not going to see that nice holiday bump in your book sales and royalty payouts, either.

If you want to publish you book in time to take advantage of the holiday shopping season, you need to be getting started NOW. In this episode, I'll walk you through everything you need to do to get your book ready for holiday shopping season. I'll also share the #1 thing you need to do to make sure shoppers actually buy your book as gifts (hint: you can't unwrap an eBook). And, I'll tell you how you can get a copy of my self publishing checklist for nonfiction authors. That way, it's easy to see what you've already done and what you still need to do to get your book ready for holiday shopping season.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/75

I've mentioned before that more and more authors with big audiences are choosing to self publish. I'm really honored to feature an interview with one of those people in this episode of the Blogger to Author podcast. I had the amazing opportunity to interview Dana Malstaff of Boss Mom. Dana self published her book Boss Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Business & Nurturing Your Family Like a Pro in 2015, and that book helped her launch her business into the stratosphere.

In our interview, Dana and I chat about why she chose to self publish her book and the process she went through to write it. We also talk in depth about how she chose the topic for her book, why that topic wasn't what she had originally intended, and why that decision wound up changing the course of her business. And, Dana gives us a few suggestions for using mind mapping to plan out our books.

Show notes: bloggertoauthor.com/74