Writing takes time, and life is short.

When experts recommend we post content on Facebook and on blogs and in newsletters and YouTube and all these places while we’re trying to write essays or articles or books, we can feel deflated and defeated. How on earth are we supposed to produce that much content?

It’s easy to just say, “Forget it. I can only write one thing at a time."

Repurpose Your Writing to Connect with More People

I’m not super strategic, and I tend to write just one thing at at time, but I’m discovering ways to repurpose content in order to connect with more people in places like Facebook and on my blog and in newsletters.

What I’ve been doing most often is writing one solid piece—usually an article that’s available as a podcast episode, like this one. Then, if it seems workable, I repurpose it—that is, I repackage it in some way, or cut it down, or, if its short, I expand on it. The various versions head out to appropriate destinations often with slightly different audiences and purposes.

For example, about a month ago in my weekly newsletter, I described a trip I took to New York City with a client. It was my first-ever trip there, and because my sole purpose was publishing-related, I thought it might be interesting to my subscribers.

Then I realized, Hey, this could be an article at my website.

You may have noticed that articles at my website are also available as podcast episodes, so that story I wrote for subscribers ended up as an article and a podcast episode.

And then, on Instagram, I posted a photo of me standing in Times Square that did not appear in the article at my website or in the newsletter. Along with that photo, I posted a short story about the trip that was really similar to the original, but different. In other words, I didn’t write anything new; instead I tweaked the article, cutting some material and changing the focus a little bit, and published it there in Instagram. So far, it seems to be one of my most popular images.

I took one idea, spun it different ways and shared in different spaces for different people. That’s repurposing writing. Whether you start small and go big or start big and go small, this will save you time as you reach more people.

You can start with one little nugget of an idea—maybe a thought you had, or a quote you came across and posted on Twitter—and expand that one small nugget into a full-blown article, essay, or book chapter.

Or you could start with a full-blown, fully developed project and pare it down until you express it at its simplest core thought—perhaps as a quote—on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Start Small, Go Big

Let’s say you start with a quote you find. Here’s one I came across in my reading not too long ago:

Honor the world by observing it truly and writing about it with humility. (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)¹

That rang true to my ear…and my heart. So I shared it as-is on Instagram as the caption accompanying a photo of a leaf. I didn’t say more. I didn’t offer commentary, though I often do. I simply shared the line and the source for other writers to ponder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZzDeDHB147/

My hope was that maybe they, too, would find that it rang true to their ears and their hearts, and they, too, would feel inspired to observe and write with attentiveness, honesty, and humility.

I could just let that be what it is: a quote on Instagram. It doesn’t need to be more.

But I was looking at that quote a few days ago thinking about the concept of repurposing by expanding on it. I could illustrate its message with a story from my own life and my own attempts to honor the world with my true observations humbly expressed in words.

Case Study: How to Expand