Turning Your Bite-Size Blog Posts Into an eBook

Writing B2B content can be a lot like cooking: sometimes, you just have to make due with the ingredients you’ve got. And given the expenses and pressures of constant content creation, it is no wonder that repurposing old content has become so popular in recent years. If you want to whip up a great eBook by reusing material from your blogs, just follow our easy recipe:

1. Gather Your Ingredients

Just as a cook looks to combine complementary flavors, you’ll need to find a number of your blog posts focused on the same or similar topics. You want there to be some overlap between the topics of the posts, that way your eBook reads as a coherent whole. Avoid trying to turn several unrelated posts into a single eBook, the results will likely be a sloppy mess.

Also, be sure that you are catering to your audience’s appetites. Don’t be afraid to dive into the data and figure out what posts and topics your audience is most interested in!

2. Blend Thoroughly

So you’ve got a few popular posts on your chosen topic together, and now you think you can just hit Ctrl-V a few times and you’ll be done? Think again. You should not just paste a bunch of your posts together end-to-end, that leads to a disjointed eBook that reads like what it is: a cheap, slapdash compilation.

Your eBook should flow together as a unified text, so mix the posts together in a way that your eBook makes a single coherent point. Feel free to break the posts apart, remove the bits that distract from your central argument, delete any filler, and rearrange and rewrite copy as needed. Don’t become too attached to any of the individual pieces, you’ll often need to edit mercilessly to refine your content to perfection.

3. Garnish

I used to work at a trendy little cafe in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The owner always told me that presentation is the most important part of cooking, because you see the food before you eat it. Similarly, you want your eBook to look appealing, because otherwise, who is going be excited to dig in?

Consider carefully your formating, typography, your use of images, and, most importantly, your cover art. eBooks especially tend to capitalize on images to help set off the content. Content may be king, but being king requires you to look the part. Don’t skimp on this! Great design can elevate weak content, to a degree, but poor design can utterly ruin otherwise good content. If you don’t have people in-house with the needed design skills, consider hiring a professional.

4. Example of an eBook Developed from Blog Posts

Here is a blog post, from performance marketing solutions company Impact Radius:

http://www.impactradius.com/blog/affiliate-marketing-best-practices-for-advertisers

Check out the eBook created from this preexisting content:

http://pages.impactradius.com/2015_10NewWays_WD_LP.html

5. Create your eBook - Ready for B2B Lead Generation Success

By following these guidelines, you’ll be able to cook up an amazing eBook in no time!

How do you source material for your eBooks, white papers, or other B2B content? Let us know onTwitter, LinkedIn, or Google Plus.

by Andrew Hartwell, Social Media Manager at emedia