5 Ways to Repurpose Your Nonfiction Book

You did it! Your book—the culmination of tremendous thought, organization, and effort —is finally published. You may be eager to get started on another book, but don’t move on to the next project yet. Instead, leverage the time and mental energy you invested in your book into new possibilities. You can convert your book into other formats such as blog posts, podcast episodes, social posts, and more, making the content creation process faster and easier. 

Repurposing your book in this way can help spread your message to a wider audience and increase your book sales. You may even be able to create new revenue streams by adapting your book into different mediums. It’s possible to earn additional income from speaking engagements, podcast sponsorships, and online course sales. If you want to try out this content creation strategy to build your author platform and boost your income, here are five book repurposing ideas. 

5 Book Repurposing Ideas

Repurposing your book doesn’t mean copying each chapter word for word and reposting it online. Instead, think of your book as a starting point that you can edit and expand upon to create new pieces of content. Here are five book repurposing strategies to give you some ideas.

1. Turn Your Book into Blog Posts 

Your book can be a great source of inspiration for original blog content. To create a tight, cohesive narrative, you probably had to cut a few subtopics and anecdotes from your manuscript. These additional ideas and stories are perfect fodder for blogs, which can be posted on your author website or a publication related to your book’s topic to expand your online presence. 

You can also base blog posts from chapters in your book, but make sure you update what you’ve written to suit the new format. Blogs are usually shorter and narrower in scope than book chapters, so focus on a single topic or idea in each post. Add extra headings and bulleted lists to make the content more skimmable. And don’t forget to incorporate keywords related to your industry to draw search traffic to your website. You can find relevant keywords using free SEO tools like Wordstream.

It’s also a good idea to add a new angle or additional information to your blogs. That way followers who have read your book can still learn something from your posts. See if there are any ideas from your book you could expand upon by adding extra examples and insights. You could also discuss new studies or current events related to your industry. If you’re a memoirist, you could write about new perspectives you’ve gained or experiences you’ve had since your book was published.  

2. Share Quotes from Your Book on Social Media 

Another way to reach new readers is to pull quotes from your book to post on social media. Although you could reread your manuscript and highlight lines that stand out to you, there are easier ways to choose the best quotes. 

For example, you can check your book’s Goodreads page to see if readers have reposted any quotes from your work that resonated with them. There’s also a feature in the notes section of your Kindle ebook that enables you to see which lines and passages readers highlight most often. You could even ask your followers to share quotes from your book that they found inspiring or helpful.

Once you’ve chosen the quotes you want to post, it’s a good idea to create images to accompany them. Research has shown that social media posts with images get 650% higher engagement than text-only posts, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to design an eye-catching graphic. Canva is a beginner-friendly design software that has ready-made quote templates. You can also use an automatic image generator such as QuotesCover or Quozio that creates graphics for you.

3. Host a Podcast 

Nearly 30% of Americans listen to podcasts on a weekly basis, making them an essential part of any book promotion strategy. Starting a podcast can help you build your author platform, attract new readers, and potentially generate more revenue from book sales and podcast ads. 

There are several ways to go about creating a podcast inspired by your book. One option is to invite other industry experts to discuss some of the topics covered in your book. Each guest will bring a unique perspective to the table, which will help your podcast feel fresh even if it discusses the same ideas as your book. 

If you don’t want to invest time into finding guests, you can host your podcast solo and  entertain your audience by sharing the expertise that led you to write your book. You can also sprinkle in a few fun segments in between more serious discussions to keep your audience engaged. Here are some interesting podcast activities you can try out:

• Read an excerpt from your book
• Share a quick tip of the day based on your book
• Answer frequently asked questions from readers
• Share fun facts about your industry
• Give industry news updates 
• Play games like trivia related to your book’s topic
• Tell a story 
• Read comments or book reviews from fans 
• Recommend other podcasts, books, and articles your listeners may enjoy

Podcasts are meant to be conversational, so you don’t have to stick to a set script. In fact, your podcast may turn out better if you don’t overplan it because your delivery will sound more casual and natural. 

4. Create an Online Course 

Adapting your book into an online course is a great way to create another income stream as an author. Courses can usually be sold at a higher price point than nonfiction books, enabling you to generate even more revenue from your ideas and expertise. But if you’ve never created an online course, you may feel overwhelmed by the project and unsure where to start. 

The easiest way to begin planning your course is to think of it as an extension of your book. Your course should help readers overcome the problems presented in your book by providing them with helpful tips, tricks, and resources. 

Say you wrote a memoir about your journey to a more mindful, minimalist lifestyle. You could teach readers how to simplify their own lives through resources like meditation tutorials, gratitude exercises, and decluttering challenges. Everyone has a different learning style, so try to include a variety of multimedia elements in your course, such as: 

• Video tutorials and presentations
• Educational audio recordings
• Worksheets
• Activities and exercises
• Quizzes 
• Infographics
• Challenges 
• Cheat sheets featuring quick tips

If you don’t have time to create a course with multiple lessons and modules, you could lead single-session workshops in person at conferences or online over Zoom. 

5. Turn Your Book into Speeches

Since publishing a book positions you as an expert in your industry, you can use your author status to launch a public speaking career. Speaking at conferences can help you earn a secondary income and sell more books, especially if you set up a book sales table at the event. 

In order to land your first speaking gig, you’ll have to put together a one sheet to send to event organizers. It’s similar to a resume and includes your professional bio, topics of expertise, headshots, testimonials, and contact info. Once you get hired to appear at your first conference, the hard work begins—adapting your book into a speech that suits the event. 

Before you put pen to paper, make sure you have a clear understanding of what’s expected from you, such as the required length and tone of the speech. Next, think about the types of problems people attending the conference might have. Based on those pain points, which ideas and solutions from your book will they find most helpful and applicable to their lives? Focusing your speech on the parts of your book that are most relevant to your audience will ensure your address is well-received. 

You’ll also need to come up with an attention-grabbing hook to reel listeners in right from the start. You could begin your speech by asking an intriguing question, presenting a surprising statistic, or telling a fun anecdote. Don’t be afraid to personalize your speech and even inject some humor into it to connect with your audience. 

A BookMAP Makes it Easier Communicate Your Message 

Distilling all the information in your book into short blog posts or podcast episodes can be a challenge. The Book Professor’s proven book planning process will make it easier for you to communicate your core ideas across different mediums. 

At the beginning of your book writing journey, Nancy will help you craft a purpose statement. It describes the results you want to help your audience achieve in a single sentence. This purpose statement will serve as your North Star and guide your entire content strategy, whether you’re writing your book or hosting a podcast. 

Next, Nancy will guide you through creating a BookMAP, which is a visual roadmap of all the problems, solutions, examples, and stories you want to share in your book. This outline will not only help you write your book, but also serve as the foundation of the repurposed content you plan to create later. Your BookMAP will enable you to quickly identify the key takeaways of your message, helping you boil down your book into shorter blogs and speeches. 

The Book Professor® will guide you through the whole publishing process from book planning to repurposing so you can build a solid, profitable author platform. Contact us today to learn how we can help you share your story and expertise with the world.