The Blog-to-Book Strategy

Your first book may already be written

Many soulpreneurs have years of blog posts, newsletters and notes, and a book they’ve meant to publish for just as long. The writing is often the easy part.

Choosing the pieces, finding readers to help edit, getting a cover and publishing on Amazon can keep a book waiting for years.

Don’t require yourself to write your magnum opus in your first books. Truly, your masterpiece is your entire body of work.

(For example, the second editions of my books are far better than the first edition.) You have to get started, so that you’ll receive the reader feedback needed to keep improving your books.

This course takes a lighter path to a published book:

• ✓You start from posts and notes you’ve already written, and gather your best writing on one theme.
• ✓Your chapters open with your strongest piece. Blog posts weren’t written to be read in order, so a perfectly logical sequence is rarely possible anyway.
• ✓Your Amazon description and categories sit at the bottom of my list of what helps a book sell. Reviews, a strong first two chapters, your title and your cover come first.
• ✓You can skip the pre-order period. I don’t recommend one unless you already have a big audience.

Please publish sooner.

The process of putting your book together (and getting feedback) is itself a profoundly helpful method to clarify your own message.

What you’ll be able to do, step by step

The course follows the five phases I use for my own books. Each module has short videos and a lesson document you can read or hand to your AI.

Many of the lesson documents also gather past students’ questions, with my answers.

1. Getting ready · Mindset, topic and structure

   Choose your book’s theme from what you’ve already written

   Step out of what I call the Magnum Opus Trap, and see where a book fits in your business, between your free content and your courses. You’ll also write a quick note to your ideal reader, someone already rooting for you.

   Choose a theme with five questions, such as which theme already has at least 15,000 words. Decide on your book’s length and chapter length too, and what you’ll invite readers to do at the end of each chapter.

2. Phase 1 · Collect & recruit

   Gather your writing into chapters, and invite a few readers to help

   Gather your posts and notes into one document, titles first. Then sort them into themes with my Google Doc or spreadsheet template (the spreadsheet adds up your word count as you go).

   Put your chapters in order, best piece first, and write a short introduction and ending. Next, invite a few volunteer readers (I call them editors) with a clear ask of about three hours, and share a draft they can mark up without changing your text.

3. Phase 2 · Title & launch plan

   Find a title that delights you, and plan your launch

   Brainstorm keywords, turn them into title and subtitle ideas, and keep the ones that delight you. Your audience can then vote on your favorite three.

   Plan your launch with my Book Launch Template, choose your timing, and let people know early that a book is on its way.

4. Phase 3 · Book cover

   Brief a cover designer, and let your readers help you choose

   Start with your own vision and with covers you like on Amazon. Then find an affordable designer on Fiverr, and give them a clear brief.

   Poll your audience on the designs with a short Google Form, then turn the winner into a paperback cover, back and all.

5. Phase 4 · Edits, blurbs & interior design

   Turn your readers’ edits into one finished manuscript

   Decide which edits to accept, and bring everything into one Google Doc with a table of contents, headings and a copyright page. You’ll also find someone to do the book layout (interior design) very affordably, for Kindle and paperback.

   Along the way, you’ll ask for blurbs and early reviews, with sample request emails to adapt and a sheet to keep track of who said yes.

6. Phase 5 · Publish & promote

   Publish your Kindle book and paperback, and launch without sounding salesy

   Upload your Kindle book to Amazon KDP step by step, from the description to the price. Your paperback comes next, with KDP’s free ISBN, printed on demand (no more stockpiling books in your garage!)

   For marketing, you’ll see the ten factors I weigh most, and pick a few ideas that fit a gentle pace. You’ll also make one book link that works for readers in any country.

7. Next books · Second editions, audiobooks and your whole plan

   Run the process again, for your next book or edition

   Keep every step in one place with my Blog-to-Book Complete Plan Template, and decide when a second edition is worth doing.

   If you’d like an audiobook, you’ll learn to record it yourself and upload it to Audible’s ACX (professional mastering is a paid step).

What students loved most

When students wrote about this course, these are the moments they mentioned most:

• ✓Step-by-step help with tasks they’d never done before, like inviting volunteer readers and asking for blurbs and reviews.
• ✓Permission to publish before a book feels perfect, and to build a catalog over time (the Magnum Opus Trap lesson drew more responses than any other).
• ✓Discovering that a book, sometimes two or three, was already taking shape in what they’d written.
• ✓Templates they could copy and use right away (some made several copies, one for each book idea).
• ✓Watching me prepare my own book draft for readers, step by step.

These reflections come from students of earlier versions of the course.

“It's rare to find a class where your expectations are fully met. Blog-to-Book is such a class.

George Kao goes into the nitty-gritty of publishing an ebook, from coming up with a book title to finding editors to creating a book cover to uploading to Kindle. Every step is covered well and all questions answered - with care, ease and gentleness.

I find myself excited to move forward because the path to publishing is finally clear.”

Coleen ChandlerProfessional Certified Coach

“In typical George fashion he takes something that is daunting and scary and breaks it down into simple steps that can easily be completed one by one.

If you've been on the fence about about writing a book - don't wait! With George's support and organization it's easy!”

Ginny BrandenAnimal Communicator

“I've been dreaming of writing my own book for over a decade.

Just after the first class, I made the commitment to publish my first book… and now I have!

This course gave me the confidence, tools, and steps to make it happen.”

Joselito LaudenciaSpiritual Leadership & Life Coach

“This is so inspiring...I feel the freedom to not do this perfect...to be an explorer on the path finding my first book...such relief!”

KristinaStudent

“I'm finding the organizing of content very helpful and inspiring! Encouraging and affirming to see the shape of two books emerging... from already created content.”

GregoryStudent

A good fit if…

• ✓You’ve written a good amount on one theme, in blog posts, newsletters, social posts or talks
• ✓You would be proud to publish a collection of (some of) your blog posts, organized into a theme
• ✓You’ve meant to publish a book for years, and you’d like the steps laid out for you
• ✓You’d love a collection of your best writing to give to clients and colleagues

Probably not if…

• ×You want personal coaching or feedback on your book. This course is recorded, and you work through it at your own pace
• ×You want your book to be a main source of income. In my experience, books aren’t meant to be a profit center (I think of mine as big business cards)
• ×Your book is mostly photos or illustrations. I have little experience with image-heavy books
• ×You’re hoping for a traditional publisher. This course is about self-publishing on Amazon

By the end, you’ll…

1. 1Have your best writing on one theme gathered into chapters, opening with your strongest piece.
2. 2Know how to invite volunteer readers, and how to turn their edits into one clean manuscript.
3. 3Have a title and a cover that your audience helped you choose.
4. 4Know how to publish a Kindle book and a paperback on Amazon, step by step.
5. 5Have a gentle launch plan, and a process you can repeat for your next book.

$75

One payment for the videos, a lesson document for each module, and my templates for sorting your writing, tracking your editors, planning your launch and running the whole process, all in a Google Drive folder that’s yours to keep, with lifetime access.

Checkout is on Kit. Then you’ll get a button that opens the course’s Start Here page.

Before you enroll

Ready to turn your writing into a published book?

$75 · lifetime access · go at your own pace