The Writing Part of the Blog-Your-Own-Book Project Starts Tomorrow
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Byob, Writing, Blogging, Creativity, Productivity

I just finished planning out all 31 of my Blog-Your-Own-Book project posts. Whew.

It took me a couple of hours to think of the story, subheads, take-away, and an opt-in for each of the posts I’d picked for my project, but the results will be worth it. I’ll be able to write them so much faster and easier in August.

And I know I have a whole book’s worth of things to say on my topic.

Screenshot: Author

The writing part of BYOB starts tomorrow (August 1.) Are you ready for this?

There are a few things that I want you to know. Think of it as last-minute flight instructions. These things will help you make sure to have fun, actually finish your book, and build your audience while you’re doing it.

Think About Your Project as a Whole

As I was planning out all of my posts today, I had an idea. If I create worksheets to use as my opt-in for most of the posts, then I’d have a workbook at the end that I can either include with my finished BYOB book or use as a lead magnet.

You know: maybe a link in the book to a landing page where someone could download a PDF of all the worksheets. So they get on my email list and they get this workbook that I’ve created.

Your BYOB project is more than just a collection of blog posts. It’s a book. A whole project in its own right. It will help you to see all of the posts in one place, so that you can see how they fit together and where you might work to expand or make your project better.

Think About Your Reader

Who are you writing this book for? I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to know that.

Hint: You’re not creating it for everybody. I mean, sure. Everybody who wants to can read it. But you really need to know who exactly you’re writing for. Because that person (those people!) will come find you if you create something for them.

My project is about creating a writing habit. My reader is a writer who wants to write more, but struggles with time management and prioritizing writing in their life.

Who is your reader?

Pick a Good Title, Subtitle, and Photo for Every Post

Let’s think about a couple of important things for your actual posts.

Every single one should have a nice, clear, simple title. Think ‘newspaper headline’ not ‘clever writer title.’ You should be able to tell someone what your title is, and have them be able to tell you what your post will be about.

Really. That’s an exercise you can try.

You should also have a subtitle that lets your reader know a little more about what to expect. It can be a little more clever, but should still be clear and simple.

And then choose a photo that adds something to the post. You don’t have to go crazy here, but remember that all your reader sees before they decided to click on your post is the photo, the title, and the subtitle. So the three of them should work together.

Be Sure You’re Set Up for Capturing Your Audience

Here are the ways that I’m going to work toward capturing my audience for my BYOB project.

Today, in my Write Brain publication, I set up a tab for my BYOB project. And a feature page to hold the posts. You can see how to do that yourself here.

In a pinned post on the feature page, I have an introductory post I wrote today. And on that page, I have a link to a landing page, where readers can sign up to get daily notification in August of my posts.

You can see that feature page here.

I’m also creating an opt-in for every post in August, or using one I’ve already created if it fits.

The goal with this project is to start building an audience while you write the book. This is how you do it.

So. Are you ready?

I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with for your BYOB project!

Use the hashtag #NinjaBYOB on social media and NinjaBYOB as a tag on your posts here, so we can all find each other.

We’re hosting daily write-ins in August if you want some support while you’re working on your project. You can get access to those by clicking here and signing up for a free month of the Ninja Writers Club.