A week doesn’t go by without these two questions coming in: What do I blog on? What should my next book be about? That, dear Author, is easy peasy to respond to. There is no reason to create/invent new-new material for every social media platform or product you put your fingers on.  If you think you need to, you are going to experience burnout pronto. Take a break and noodle over what you have already done.

AND, for a NEW book, look at your book that was written a few years ago. Trust me, you can cut up, introduce new information and re-introduced—new title, new ISBN, new descriptions, new cover … just new-new, all seeded with words that you created long ago. Now modified, they are repurposed. WOOT … you are an author again!

Let’s look at blogs.If you take a blog post or an article you wrote a few years ago, even a few months ago, can be dusted off and with a make-over, re-used. How so?

• Create an audio clip for each blog post using a service such as Audioboom.
  Connect your Audioboom account to iTunes and start creating your own mini-podcast.
  Post them to your social media accounts. Also add clips to your website.

  People like receiving information in short “bits and bites” so target audio clips to be about two, maximum five minutes in length.

• Another method to repurpose blog posts is to create boards on Pinterest for topics related to your blog posts. Weekly, I do a “tips” blog on TheBookShepherd.comwebsite: the Kick-butt Author and Book Publishing Tips and Ahas. To repurpose it, a Pinterest Board was created for Author and Book Publishing Tips. Within the board, each tip then has a poster created and added. Done.
• Create a new Board, let’s say Expert Tips on Book Marketing, add an image from the original blog that was posted along with a brief description of that blog post and include the URL to that blog post on your Pinterest board—it’s now linked.
• YouTube is next. Have you thought about taking your blog and creating a video? You’ve got the words already done. Blogs are usually short and can be presented on a video in just a few minutes. Programs like Camtasia can be used; the cameras on tablets and iPads can be put to use; and even your phone to get your feet wet.

Tip:Repurposing previously used material is smart—in fact, there could be another book just combining a few of your blogs and articles. Themes and topics that have multiple postings are ideal to gather. Create a new Intro to them, and exit with a type of call to action—of course, a page to reference your other publications and one on how to connect with you via your social media channels and an inclusion of any services—consulting, speaking, etc.—that you provide. A new book is in your midst, created from the repurposing fairy dust. AND … check out SiteOscope’s post on repurposing ideas including using Slideshare here. Good info!