Repurposing Content: A Strategy for Book Authors

A Guest Post by Tom Von Deck

Using a simple MP3 recorder, you can have yourself a book, an audiobook, an ebook or even an email correspondence course in as little as a few hours. Repurposing content means to use the same content for more than one media type. If you already have written a book, then repurposing your book means to offer it as a CD, a CD box set, a digital download or a multimedia course.

Print books are typically priced according to the number of pages and whether they're hardcover or paperback. Your book, if you've written one, probably costs less than $20.00 USD retail. Other media types are not necessarily priced this way. Some authors create multimedia courses and charge hundreds of US dollars for such a course. Audiobooks are often worth more than books. The perceived value is higher even though the content is the same. This is why a lot of marketing gurus don't even write books, but instead create "courses". The course may include a book, but you won't be able to get the book separately on Amazon in some of these cases.

I'm a book guy, so I didn't go this route. I wrote a meditation book called Oceanic Mind - The Deeper Meditation Training Course. This book began as both a print book and a PDF ebook. Since writing it in 2009, I have repurposed the content into several ebook formats and have partially repurposed it into a 400 minute long audio course.

The Deeper Meditation Audio Course is not an audiobook version of the book. It has a different target audience, and the content is more secular, straight laced and business friendly. However, most of the outline for the audio course came directly from the table of contents for the book.

I used a free sound editor and MP3 recorder with a cheap $20 microphone and produced 65 MP3 files. The hardest part of the repurposing process was that the microphone turned out to be way too sensitive. The MP3s were filled with salivary sounds and breathy sounds coming from my mouth. The sound editing process mainly involved chopping out these fraction-of-a-second sounds. This editing process eventually shrunk my audio course from roughly 8.5 hours to 6 hours and 40 minutes.

The next step was to create 48kbps versions of each of the files for smaller file sizes, and add the correct meta information properties to each of the 65 files, I recorded the course at 128 kilobits per second which is good for making CD's without music. The 48kbps version is for digital download. I wouldn't recommend lowering this bit rate any lower than 48 or else your voice may sound like an alien robot.

After this, I turned it into a ZIP file so that people could purchase and download the course online. I used JZip.com to create the zip file. Now, people can download the course for $39.95 USD and listen to it instantly. Repurposing my book's content allows me to charge more than double what the book costs. Customers usually get a free copy of the book with the audio course, which leaves me with $25-$32 when all is said and done. This is still a lot more than the total retail cost of the book.

There are many resources and shopping carts to sell your repurposed digital content through your own website. Popular ones include EJunkie and Payloadz. Both of these will run you at least $15 USD per month, but there are alternatives. I use ByteCommerce.com which only keeps the money from the 20th sale of an item. That's their 5% cut. The only downsides are that there is less flexibility with handing out massive amounts of coupon codes, and the customer database has less features. There are other options out there, too. Choosing a shopping cart system is a matter of prioritizing your desired features.

There are resources available on the internet to repurpose your content into a CD or a CD box set. CreateSpace and CD Baby both come to mind. CreateSpace is great for box sets, although your royalties are dismally low if you sell them on Amazon through CreateSpace. CD Baby is more set up for single CD's, and there's a slightly less than modest setup fee for each individual CD.

Ebooks are usually the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to repurposing content. There are many online retail outlets, other than your own website, to sell ebooks. Each one has different demands for formatting your book. If you typed your book with a word processing program like Microsoft Word, the formatting of your book will not be fit for some of these outlets. You'll have to use special software to reformat it in Epub, Mobi and other formats.

Luckily, you can refurbish your content into multiple ebook formats in one shot by publishing with Smashwords. Follow their style guide closely when you reformat your book. This will make your ebook worthy for distribution in iBooks, Amazon's Kindle Store, Barnes and Noble's NookBooks store, the Sony Store and others. Smashwords will only take a small cut of the royalties. They are very generous. The only downside is that you get paid quarterly.

Another method of repurposing nonfiction content is membership site coaching programs. Members may pay you a monthly subscription fee to gain access to a site which offers useful content such as video, audio, webpages, chat opportunities with the author and emails. Sometimes the content on such sites is time released so that the student gets a little bit at a time over a certain time interval.

This article can go on forever. hopefully a few lightbulbs went on above your head and you're ready to repurpose your content in creative ways. Enjoy the creativity phase because the repurposing process may become tedious at times. Try to make it a fun journey all the way through. The long term rewards that come from repurposing content will likely be worth the effort.

Tom Von Deck is a corporate meditation trainer, international speaker and author of Oceanic Mind - The Deeper Meditation Training Course. Tom specializes in making meditation a much easier and more customized process for busy people and everyone else from all religious backgrounds and lifestyles. Tom's main site is www.DeeperMeditation.net. His book and blog can be found through the links below.
Tom's meditation book
stress management blog

Murder and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a guest post by Nancy Lynn Jarvis.

Why would a Realtor turn to a life of murder and chocolate chip cookies?

I’m a real estate agent who is having so much fun killing people that I’ll probably never sell another house. I never planned to kill anyone and never intended to write anything other than enticing advertising copy for my listings, but in 2008 when the real estate market tanked and I couldn’t dispassionately tell clients their homes might not sell for what they owed on their mortgage, I decided to run away from the too-real world of foreclosures and short sales, take a time out, and pretend to be retired.

I quickly got bored and missed all the interesting people I met in real estate. Maybe because of that or maybe because my fallback mode was avoiding reality, as a purely time-filling intellectual exercise, I began to toy with the idea of writing a mystery.

The logic and careful structure of mysteries has fascinated me since the days when I sat in a wicker rocking chair at my grandmother’s house and read Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, sworn to secrecy in case my mother wouldn’t approve of a young girl reading something other than Nancy Drew.

Writing a mystery would be like solving a logic puzzle—Sudoku on steroids— and if that wouldn’t be fun enough, mystery writing would give me an excuse to delve into a world of fascinating but unsettling things like decomposition, accidental mummification, and how ligature strangulation and death by hypothermia work. Researching those topics would be akin to being a four-year-old playing with rubber dinosaurs: the game would be enjoyable, and I could control what might otherwise give me nightmares.

The idea of writing mysteries kept getting more appealing. I could take my twenty-plus years of situations—that’s a polite term for all those things that happen in the world of real estate that makes agents say, “I could write a book”—and use them for background. I could create a real estate agent protagonist named Regan McHenry who could be kind of like me, only younger, thinner, and more daring, and get back in touch with my favorite agents, clients, and associates by using them as inspiration for characters.

The murders in my books are made up, but the real estate stories are real—yes, Realtors do come across bodies in the course of doing business—so a Realtor who solves mysteries isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem.

And the cookies? Well, Realtors often bake cookies at open houses to entice buyers. It’s an old trick-of-the-trade. In the first book I wrote, The Death Contingency, Regan baked homemade cookies at an almost lethal open house. In Backyard Bones she baked cookies to take as comfort food to a client accused of murder. After Regan’s cookies appeared in two books, there had to be a recipe. When people visit my website they can not only read the beginnings of the books, they can also pick up a free recipe for “Mysterious Chocolate Chip Cookies.” The cookies make a cameo appearance in Buying Murder and a mention in The Widow’s Walk League which will be out in time for summer beach reading.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ReganMcHenryRealEstateMysteries?ref=ts

Books are available in standard and large print and for Kindle and other e-readers at Amazon and for the Nook at Pubit!

Child's Play - Caring for the Environment

By Christy Baldwin, children's author of Care for Creation

Teaching children the value of the Earth and all of nature is hard in today’s “tech-crazy” world. It is hard to pry kids away from their game systems, televisions and computers long enough to enjoy the great outdoors.

I say, “Get the kids outside and they will find lots of ways to enjoy themselves, and maybe even get some fresh air and exercise too.” My husband and I started taking our kids to State and National Parks and other “natural” locations very early. We love to point out interesting trees, listen for odd sounds, and walk slowly to try to observe wild life in its natural habitat. Our kids know the names of many plants and animals that others don’t, simply because they have been able to observe them in their natural habitat.

We feel it is very important to teach kids about the who, what, when, where and why of nature so that they will appreciate when they are around it. We also feel is it important to teach them various ways to protect the nature and resources. It is crucial that we think about not only leaving the outdoors as we found them but also what we can do to improve how we found the area.

For example, when you see trash, pick it up. But if you see a dirty corner of the street with grass or simple dirt, ask the owner (town or appropriate officials) if you can clean it up and plant a tree or flowers there. I venture to guess you will not be told no. Many people don’t slow down enough to notice nature, much less to care for it.

My book, Care for Creation, gives parents and teachers an easy way to not only share nature with kids but also to share why it is important to care for the Earth. I hope that my book will inspire entire families and classes to spend more time outdoors looking for the beauty and brainstorming ways they can help make it more beautiful!

Examples of things you can do as a family or group include trash pick up days, flower or tree planting days, energy saver days, education days, nature walks, scavenger hunts, or even water conservation days. Recycling programs are also another way to reduce waste, recycle what can be reused and to educate the public on the effects of throwing everything into landfills.

Still have questions about ways that you and your family or class can help? Contact me via my website (http://www.careforcreationbook.com) and I will share resources I have found during my research for this book. One website I have found to be especially helpful is http://www.futurefriendly.com. This website shares simple ways to obtain reasonable results.

10 Ways Your Family Can Save Energy, Resources & Money

#10 Take out screens in windows and seal any open areas

#9 Use a heavy blanket or draft cover around the edges of exterior doors

#8 Enjoy the nicer days by turning off heater and opening up the house

#7 Leave oven door open after baking to allow heat in the room (Caution: keep children away from the stove, out of the room if possible)

#6 Collect rain water to use for flushing, washing or watering

#5 Insulate your attic with extra blankets or purchase insulation

#4 Wrap pipes with foam sleeves or cover with blankets

#3 Cover your water heater with a blanket to keep warm

#2 Play in the yard rather than going out to the movies

#1 Make your own yummy treats from fresh produce rather than buying it in the stores

About the Book:
Children learn to protect the environment and respect nature through recycling, home energy conservation and neighborhood clean-ups. Through accompanying Bible verses, they are encouraged to be responsible stewards of God's creation.

"Christy Balwin's Care for Creationn is a charming story that teaches children how to care for our environment in a fun and loving way. The colorful illustrations and inspiring verses from the Bible will delight both children and adults. The book is a powerful tool for families that shows how living responsibly can make a difference in our world!" - Tony Townsley, inspiration for Three Cups

"Care for Creation by Christy Baldwin backs up the modern theme of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle with the Biblical messages passed down from our Creator. From the time of Adam and Eve, men and women have been called to care for the Lord’s creations. In this meaningful and inspiring book, children learn how easy and important it is to do their part." - Cheryl C. Malandrinos, author of Little Shepherd

Book web site:
http://www.CareForCreationBook.com

Christy Baldwin Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001044000739

Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com

Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176

Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks

Christy Baldwin Bio:
Writing has been a passion of Christy's since she was very young. As a child, she loved to write stories for her grandfather and poems just for fun. She lives in Mason, Ohio with her family and is active in church, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and volunteering with various organizations. Christy has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Cedarville University and a master's degree in Special Education from the University of Scranton. She is a stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with her kids and being involved in their schools. Her previous children's titles include Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night and Remembering Wilma.

"How to Finally Write Your Novel This Year" by Wendy Bailey

So many of us have fantastic ideas for a new novel. When a creative and unique idea strikes us, we become consumed with the possibilities and promises that are offered by writing a book. By writing a profound novel, you can change the way your reader thinks, influence the world around you, spread your personal values and ideals, and of course earn a bit of well-earned money for your efforts.

So why is it that most of these fantastic ideas never evolve into physical books? In truth, most people are simply too busy with the tasks of their everyday lives to worry about writing a novel. Although some people are able to accomplish some light writing in their spare time, most of us need dedicated work time in order to accomplish our literary masterpieces. It can be nearly impossible to squeeze such time into our busy schedules.

Thankfully, by following a few rules of thumb, you can help yourself to locate the time and the motivation that you need in order to complete your novel. The ideas are already there in your head; it is simply a matter of transferring them to your computer. To finally write your novel, you must simply:

• Create an outline
• Make a work schedule and stick to it
• Power through frustration and difficulties

Outlining Your Piece Helps You Visualize Your Goals

Some writers prefer to have their entire stories mapped out before they begin the writing process, while others like to just barge ahead and see where their characters take them. However, whatever your writing style, you need to have some sort of physical idea of where you want your story to lead the reader. Perhaps you want your main character to accomplish a certain goal or learn a valuable lesson. Even if your outline is very vague, it will be beneficial in managing your time and preventing you from becoming stalled during the writing process.

Creating a Work Schedule

Many writers find it beneficial to have a designated time every day that is devoted solely to their novel. This does not have to be a major commitment. You could choose to write for just fifteen minutes when you wake up in the morning, at your lunch hour, or before you go to bed. Even if you are not able to make time for more than a few minutes of writing, some progress is better than none at all, and sticking to a set schedule will ensure that you never drop the writing process.

Stick to It!

In addition, you should always ensure that you accomplish something palpable during your writing time. Even if you are completely drained of ideas, you should not simply stare at your computer screen while you should be writing. Give your characters actions and thoughts despite the fact that you are not sure where they will lead. You never know; what seemed to be an unimportant exchange between two characters could later evolve into an important component of your story. You can always edit out irrelevant text later on.

Read more from Wendy Bailey on the Adderall Side Effects website

"Writers Block 101: Three Ways to Get Over It" by Haley Stokes

This guest post was originally published at Triumphal Writing

Okay, maybe that's false advertising and this isn't the one and only cure. There are as many reasons for writer's block as there are genres. But out of everything I've ever tried, this seems to be the key.

Relax
Or as Don Draper once told Peggy Olsen: Just think about it. Deeply. Then forget it. And an idea will jump up in your face.

Often what we call writer's block isn't anything of the sort. Your brain needs a chance to process what it knows, to build a network of connections, to consider problems from multiple angles. Sometimes that means that everything stalls, and you can't think of the next word. Or you don't have an "in" for an analysis you need to write. Or you've got a story on the tips of your fingers, waiting to pour out of you, but you don't quite have the beginning.

Thinking about what you need to write, what you plan to commit to paper, and where you want to start is a good thing. Stressing, obsessing, dreading, and finally working yourself into a frenzy of anxiety and disappointment is a bad thing.

So think about it. And then do something else for awhile--an hour, a day, maybe a week. All of the procrastination tactics you love so much, as every writer does? Now is the perfect chance to indulge.

Don't Stop Writing
Don't break your writing routine. If you write for an hour every night, still use that hour, even if you have to trash everything you produce. One day the writer's block will be gone, and when it finally lifts, you want to be there and ready to work. Write something outside of your typical genre or purpose. This past month, I couldn't find a story anywhere. I couldn't hear my characters, I couldn't think of a plot. I focused on writing non-fiction and blogging, so every day I could tell myself "It's fine, you're still writing. Don't worry about the other stuff."

Introduce Something New to Your Life
In the past two days, I found my voice and my characters again, and I already have 7000 words on a new project. In the past three days, I've introduced new music into my life, using Pandora and last.fm to find artists I either didn't know or didn't know well enough. Now I've acquired albums by Radiohead, Florence and the Machine, Interpol, and Arcade Fire. I know, I know, hardly new acts, but theses albums are new to me. This isn't a coincidence. Finding new books, new music, and new movies always helps me. Sometimes just varying my shopping routine or introducing new food into my diet will help push me out of a rut.

Haley Stokes is the author of Put the Body on the Slab: The Anatomy of College Writing. She edits at Arch Editing Services.

Guest Post - "Bullying" by Children's Author Larry Peterson

Bullying---what to do? I do not have a Ph.D. in child psych or anything like that. I am a parent, grandparent, former little league coach and a writer who used to be a construction worker in NYC. My credentials on the topic of bullying were earned in the “school of hard knocks” having learned from the old time teachers whose names were, experience & common sense, although it seems common sense has been forcibly retired and replaced by a no-sense guy called zero tolerance. I digress.

First of all, we are all unique. But my experience has taught me that the kids who wind up being bullied invariably feel they are “more different” than their peers and do not feel good about themselves. They hate their nose, their eyeglasses, their hair, maybe their parent’s car is “old” and they are embarrassed being seen in it. It starts there and the bully will sense it. Why are some kids easier targets for a bully than others?

The first line of defense against the bullies of the world is a suit of armor called self worth and self respect. This comes from the parent(s). This is CRUCIAL. A child can and must be taught that being different is OK. When they begin their journey outside the home (which often times starts in a day care center) they may be ready to defend who they are. If they are not prepared they are easy prey to the bullies of the world who will sense it and attack. So parents, teach by word and deed. Help the needy, say HI to a homeless guy, visit a rehab center where kids who are “different” are being treated. The preparation for the battle all starts at home. If you suspect your child is having a problem with a bully, ask him/her straight out. Then voice your concerns with the school. Go on-line and access the plethora of info available. And—do not be afraid of using some good, old fashioned, common sense.

My book, Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes, published by Tribute Books, was released in the beginning of February. It deals with “differences” and has an interactive guide that can be implemented in a classroom setting or at home. It has received some wonderful reviews, especially from those who have children who are “different” (Diabetes, poor vision, cerebral palsy etc).

My site is www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com, where you can check out the book and the reviews, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Best wishes,
Larry Peterson
Larry Peterson Facebook

Slippery Willie Synopsis:
Willie Wiggles hates his slippery feet. He just slips, slides and spins all over the place. But what he hates even more are the special shoes that have been made for him that will help him to walk just like all the other kids. Willie thinks that they are the "stupidest, ugliest shoes in the whole world."

Discover how sometimes we worry about things about ourselves when actually there is nothing to worry about in the first place. Read an excerpt here.

"Adorable work!" - Tampa Tribune

Larry Peterson Bio:
Larry Peterson was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. As a freelancer, he has written many newspaper columns for local publications. Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes is his first children’s book. Peterson has lived in Pinellas Park, Florida for the past 28 years.

Larry is looking for readers to share their thoughts about accepting differences at
http://slipperywillie.blogspot.com/2011/01/share-your-thoughts-about-accepting.html

Erin O'Riordan's thoughts: I recommend this book for all kids ages 4-12. The drawings are wonderful, especially the one of Willie's mom chasing him with a butterfly net to try to get him to put on the shoes. The text is fun, never preachy, yet it still teaches a lesson about respecting people who are different.

Tribute Books provided me with a review copy of this book at no charge. I was not compensated for this opinion.

"Ghostwriting - A Collaborative Experience" by Colleen McCarty

In school, we were all taught not to cheat. Don’t look off someone else’s paper, don’t pay someone else to write your essays, don’t copy and paste something from Wikipedia into your book report. We all know cheating is wrong. To a lot of authors in the past, the word ghostwriter was considered dirty because it felt like cheating. It feels as though, if you use a ghostwriter, you are being inauthentic. It feels like paying a nerdy kid to write your paper…it feels icky.

We at EMG are not in any way condoning cheating, but we do feel that the ghostwriting process is, quite often, misunderstood. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some authors who will pay a ghostwriter for a manuscript that the “author” will have no hand in producing, put their name on it and say, “I wrote that!” That’s not the kind of ghostwriting experience we are talking about here.

We deal with a lot of clients who know that they have an important, meaningful message inside them – but they simply lack the technical expertise to put it on paper. In this case, we recommend using a ghostwriter. The process looks much more like a meaningful partnership rather than having someone else do your homework for you. There’s no guilt or shame in the fact that not everyone can write. In fact, we’d much rather you embrace that fact and let us help you produce the quality book you envision instead of attempting to do it yourself when you’re not comfortable in the writing arena.

A true ghostwriter must possess the talents of a great actor, a great artist, and a great writer. Through interviews with the author, reading the author’s notes, blogs, post-its – anything and everything that helps them see how you tick – the ghostwriter begins to write through your voice. They put themselves in your position, as a great actor does with an intense role, and they create the book as if they were you.

You work together, chapter by chapter, producing your work. If something doesn’t feel right or sound like something you’d say, scrap it. No hard feelings here.

Sure sometimes along the way, a ghostwriter may add some flare and details to enhance the reader’s vision of the story. The truth may be “I first saw my wife at the movie theater,” and the ghostwriter will pen, “there she was, standing in line at the theater. Her red dress lit up ever so slightly by the lights from the marquee…” She is still your wife and she is still at the theater, but now the reader is engaged by the visual effect. Think of your ghostwriter as a collaborator on telling the greatest story in the world…yours.

By Colleen McCarty
Co-Owner, Expert Message Group
http://www.expertmessagegroup.com

Colleen McCarty also represents Presenting Matters, specializing in Business Communication/Presentation Training, Speech Coaching and Media Training. Visit the Presenting Matters blog at www.PresentingMatters.com/blog.