Blogging a book with Phil Gerbyshak

Phil Gerbyshak blogged his excellent book, 10 Way to Make It Great!, and talks about the experience.

"I couldn't have written the book without the blog" - blogging a book can make a almost impossible seeming feat seem and be very possible!

Phil, when you started your blog, were you thinking about writing a book?

Absolutely. My goal was to get as many different thoughts out there as I could so I would have enough stuff to be the seeds for a book. I asked a lot of questions of my readers, got some feedback, retooled what I was writing, refined my writing style, and just kept going.

How much did your blog help you get your first book done? Or did it get in the way?

The blog was instrumental at getting the first book started. Writing a book without my blog would have been tough, as thinking about sitting down and writing 50-100 pages is a pretty daunting task. Writing a blog allowed me to write a lot of things around the same topics, and refine and refine and refine. The blog got in the way of getting the first book finished. The blog took on a life of it's own, and I kept writing because it was fun, and the feedback I got was great, and it distracted me from finishing the book. I actually took some time off of writing my blog because I kept getting new ideas and new inspiration to add to the book, and I realized I needed to stop writing new stuff, to refine the old stuff, and to put the book to bed and get it finished.

Did you get much feedback from your blog that determined the direction your book took or maybe some fine tuning?

I got, and still get, continuous feedback on my blog. I looked at the most popular posts, either because of the number of comments and e-mails I got about an article, or because they were in my weekly newsletter and people enjoyed them, or they happen to be the ones others linked to the most, and I tried to use some of those same topics in my book. I sent my nearly finished manuscript out to 50 of my most loyal readers and asked them for feedback, in addition to putting many of the chapters in various stages of completion out on my blog. They gave me feedback that the book was too long (originally I had about 25 ways to make it great. The final book has 10.), that some parts weren't clear, that some parts didn't fit in, and that there was a tweak here and a tweak there needed. I couldn't have written the book without the blog, though I could have a blog without ever publishing a book.

What are doing next? I know you've got a great book and probably some plans for the future?

I've got book 2 almost done (I'm working with Liz Strauss from Successful-Blog.com on this), and an outline for book 3 done too. My immediate goal is get book 2 done, do as many speaking engagements as I'm able, and then get book #3 done.

Book 2 will include many of the posts that didn't fit into the first book, with a slightly different twist on some. Each chapter will still have a tip or 2 so you can put the idea into practice in your life. It'll also be a little longer than the first book.

Anything else?

   

I encourage anyone thinking of writing a blog to think about ways you can package your blog around a few simple ideas. You can then think of creative ways to re-package these ideas into books, booklets, manuals, and the like. Throw as much out there as you can, and you'll find what flows best, and what works best. Ask folks what they like, what they don't like, and don't take it too much to heart. Just have fun out there.

   

Also, if you're interested in learning more from me, you can listen to me most weeks at the Great Big Small Business Show (with Ted and others), writing and exploring new learning paths at Joyful Jubilant Learning, and of course, writing nearly every day at Make It Great!