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Lynn Smargis: How to Repurpose Your Content Into a Book · The Daily Writer

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Rider.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Each weekday we bring you a short lesson that helps you live out the four practices of the great writer.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Creativity, consistency, courage, and connection.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the weekend edition, we take a deeper dive into those topics through conversations with writers and teaching that helps us apply what we're learning.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, I am excited today to feature a conversation from this past week in our Daily Rider community.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: My friend Lynn Smargus is a freelance writer in the area of health and fitness, gluten-free lifestyle, education, science, travel, and educational technology.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's also the host of the Gluten Free Travel Podcast.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, every month we feature two guest expert calls in the Daily Rider group, and this past Thursday, Lynn was kind enough to walk us through how to repurpose your blog or podcast into a book.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a really vital skill to develop in order to reach many more people with material that you're already producing.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: But really it's it's fairly simple.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: You create material in one form, then you reuse it in another form.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Lynn gives us a very balanced and very step-by-step method for doing this.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is fantastic.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And also as a bonus, you can go into the show notes and I've got a link in there where you can download her presentation slides, which are amazing.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, let's get into this group call that we had with my good friend Lynn Smargis.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, everybody, welcome to our community call today.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really, really pumped about this because my good friend Lynn Smargis, otherwise known as Eliquity, and I want you to explain where that name comes from, too.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's going to walk us through how to repurpose uh blog posts, podcasts, and other kinds of stuff into a book.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is a topic I love, and uh she's gonna walk us through that.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Also, we have two other members of our community, Dave Jenkins and Jennifer Harshman on the sort of on the horn with us here.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome, guys.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to have you uh on this call today.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Ken.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Lynn is a podcaster, a freelance writer, a business owner, a traveler, and lots of other cool things.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really glad that you could join us today because I know you have a lot of value to add to us on this topic.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, Lynn, if you want to take it away and uh let's let's get this puppy rolling.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: That made more sense actually, but let's get this thing started.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I like puppies, so it's all good.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Good roll puppies.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that's dangerous.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let me make sure I can you guys can all see my screen.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, is everybody good?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Can we all see?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: You're good.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so I'll I'll do a little introduction of myself.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like Kent said, I'm a business owner, writer, traveler, um, podcast producer.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I have three of my own podcasts.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have travel gluten-free, I have COVID travel update, which is published, but I'm not publishing any new episodes right now because I'm focusing on my new podcast, which is the digital marketing hot seat podcast.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that podcast is um I have a co-host, Mark Thackeray, and we both do digital different forms of digital marketing, and we have small business owners come on and ask us their digital marketing question, and we answer it for them on the episode.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's really fun new project that I'm doing that I'm really excited about.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, so Eliquity is actually a branded name that I came up with many, many years ago.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna date myself.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So back in 19, I want to say it's 92, when I got my AOL email for the first time on that wonderful CD they used to send you through the mail that was so valuable that you got like 12 of them by the next two years.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was signing up for email.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And since email was a new technology, I didn't want to use my real name because I wasn't sure of security.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I came up with a name.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started out with Elizabeth because Elizabeth was my grandmother who I was very close to.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I created the rest of my name based on I wanted it to sound exotic and feminine.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted when people read Eliquity at Yahoo, I wanted people to know, like, hey, that's definitely a female, it's definitely not a guy.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's how I came up with the name.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And several years ago, I was working with a life coach and I had filled out the form with my email, and he's like, Eliquity?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, What?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Where's that coming from?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I told him, and he's like, if you do not market that at some point in your life, I'm gonna lovingly slap you.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And well, he actually expletives in there, but I won't say that on your podcast.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so when I started my podcast for almost four years ago, I was like, hey, I'll use Eliquity, and it ended up going really well.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody in the creative industry absolutely loves it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So in when in the podcast industry, I'm known as Eliquity.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: In my writing industry, I'm known as Lynn.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and some people know me as both, and so that's where the name comes from.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm super excited to be here today, though, to talk about turning your blog or podcast content into your book.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can even use this for video content.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the reasons why I'm super stoked about this topic, and it's my favorite topic to talk about, is because a lot of times when I have clients, and I'm sure if you're a writer listening to this, you get this too.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, your clients always think you constantly have to create new stuff all the time.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And while that's partially true, that's not completely true.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we're gonna talk about that a little bit.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: But repurposing content is such a great way to get your word out to multiple different channels without having to take the time to create a lot of new original stuff.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I love this kind of this um topic so much.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have already have content, whether that's video on YouTube, whether that's podcast content, whether it's blog content or other content that you have just written down, um, the first thing you want to do when you are taking your content you already have to turn it into a book is you want to choose the topic of your book.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now that sounds really um that sounds really basic, but a lot of people try to choose their title first.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you really don't want to do, well, you can do that if you want to.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: For me, for my book, The Guide to Traveling Gluten Free was really easy because I was basing it off of my podcast, travel gluten free.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, the name was super easy and the topic was super easy.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're not sure uh of your title, you don't really need to worry about that.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: You just need to choose the topic to match your current platform, especially if you're doing a book that's um similar or the same uh you're gonna be wrapping into a brand that you already have.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I was doing travel gluten-free and I took that content from my podcast and turned it into my book, The Guide to Traveling Gluten Free.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I made sure everything had the same color, the same branding, the same voice, the same style.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the most important things to do.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: So if your book is based on content that's already on a platform, you really want to make sure that you are on brand so that your content that you're creating in your book is recognizable when people come to your website or your social media or wherever it is.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I said before, forget the title, don't worry about it.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: I have so many clients that go straight and clients that obsess about the title at first.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, don't worry about the title.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to think of like a general title, you can do that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then, but the thing is, is as you're going along writing your content, you think of new, like you're you may take it in a little bit of a different direction, a little bit of a different sub-niche.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: So your title is going to change, and that's okay.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because one thing you have to remember when you're writing, especially writing a book, is everything is a process and anything that you do can be changed until it goes to the formatter.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to worry about, like, oh, I uh what if I don't like this title when I come to the end of the book?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to worry about your title of your book until you are finished writing.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: So the first thing I like to tell people is to start to create a mind map.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I know a lot of people in writing, this is new, but I taught for over a decade and I was doing mind maps back in the early 2000s with my kids.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So this is not a new concept, but it is an awesome organizational tool that I found because um I grew up um in the early 80s and late 70s doing outlines.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And while outlines are good too, I like mind maps more because I feel like it gives you more creative freedom.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's really great for organizing your information in sections so that you can understand and see the whole overlying, outlying, like the whole overarching concept of your book and then how your details are gonna fit in.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really important, yeah.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, okay, so I do want to jump in back on the mind map.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have any particular tool that you use or suggest or recommend for mind mapping?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask the same thing.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm actually gonna get into that in the next couple of slides.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, forgive me.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So great question.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for asking.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So um, when you do your mind map, you want to add sections to it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you start in the middle with one big concept in a circle or a cloud or how whatever shape you want.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then you go, I'll go out from there.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you have your one main topic in the middle, and then you go and you make your main basically your second ones that are going to be around your main topic are gonna be your main chapters.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, when I wrote my book travel gluten-free, my uh the guide to traveling gluten-free was the center of my mind map.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then on the outside, I had all my chapters.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So one was camping gluten-free, one was road tripping gluten-free, and one was cruising gluten-free.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then from there, like cruising gluten-free, I took details off of that and being like, how to talk to your major D about ordering food, when you want to contact your cruise line to like tell them that you're gluten-free, all that good stuff.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's a couple of different ways you can do a mind map, just like Dave was just asking.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: One is you can write it out on paper.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to get like one of the things I like to do is to get those big desk calendars like on sale at the end of the year and use the back of them that's blank, because I as a creative, I love to like write things out when I'm creating things.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I don't like to do it on the computer unless I'm like writing blogs or newsletters or something like that.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: But if I'm doing something like this where I'm mapping out ideas, I love pencil, pencil, not pen, pencil, and paper, because then I can easily erase it, change it, do whatever I want to it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're listening to this on the podcast, um the I'll I I have like little visuals of this on how you can do different mind maps on paper.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some people like those big scroll papers.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: You can do that as well.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen people do that.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Some people do it on sticky notes on either like a wall or a whiteboard.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, whatever way you feel comfortable or you feel works for you is your mind map.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: That is that's the thing.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's just you just want some way to organize it that works for you.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing you can do is you can use software for mind maps.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: So if you actually just Google like free mind map software, there's a lot of different things that come up.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's Luci Chart, there's a bunch of other things, and all of them have different functionalities.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've used LuciChart before, and the free one is pretty good.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you can use that or whatever works for you.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing um I love doing is color coding and so um, or shape coding.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: So like you can put like your main detail in the middle with a circle, you can put your secondary details in squares, you can put your third details in triangles, or you can color code them.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe your middle one is blue, your secondary details are orange, and your third like and fourth are like yellow and green, whatever works for you, whatever color you feel works for you.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So the whole thing with mind mapping is it doesn't matter what way you do it, it matters that you do it and you do it consistently, like everything else with writing.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and remember, like I said before, this is a work in progress.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So what you don't have to make your mind map perfect.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: You just want to get it so we can start and launch your writing.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So you just need to get it enough detail on your mind map where you can start writing and you you can like get yourself a good start in writing.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it does not have to have all the details filled out.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: You just want the main stuff filled out, and you can always add more content, chapters, content and more and more whatever later on, but you you want to use your mind map as a good launch for your book.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: All right, then the next step you want to do is review what you have for your current content.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the things I tell people, um, and I think I have this on my next slide, um, is well, let me back up a little bit.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: So look at your mind map and then look at what you have for your current content because on your mind map, you're not gonna have everything from your mind map in your current content, most likely.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people do.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the time, you'll have you're gonna have to fill it in with some original content, but you have to look at your current content and consider what kinds of content do you already have that fits into your mind map?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: What podcast episodes that you have that will fit into your mind map?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have a really great interview that's a great um part for like one of your one of your examples for one of your chapters.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, maybe you have a blog article that's a really great body for your content.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So depending on the type of content you have, it could be your main content that fits into your mind map, or it could be maybe a detail or an example.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to figure out what you have that actually fits into your current mind map.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so you want to add content that fits into your book, don't create your book around your content.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I tell that to lots of people because lots of people are like, well, I have this great content, I want to use it, but I don't know where it fits.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't fit, don't use it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay not to use content, but what I tell people is don't delete it, don't delete your content.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: What I do tell people is take it and put it on a separate document that says like extra content or something like that.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you're going along in the writing process, writing your book, you may be like, oh, that content that I wrote on blah, blah, blah fits really well here.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you can take it out and put it in.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't use it, that's okay too.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to use all of the content you come up with at first.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't have to use all of the content from your video, your podcast, or your blog.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: You want to use the content that works and fits with your genre and your book idea.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right, one of the things I highly encourage people to use is using transcriptions.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't know what a transcription is.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: A transcription basically what it is is that you're taking audio or video and you're putting it into a transcriber such as rev, otter, or tummy or descript.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then that transcription, you have two options.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can do the human version or you can do the automated version.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I always recommend people do the automated version because they're mostly correct.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And nine out of 10 times now the AI is getting so good that I don't even have to listen to the audio.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Once I have the transcript, I can just take that transcript and create content with it.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so transcripts are really great shortcut way to take your audio and make it into um and make it into text.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it only takes like 10 minutes to transcribe something that's like almost an hour long.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the automated version is way more budget-friendly than the compute, than the personal translated version.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so some transcript um services.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: You can use Rev, Otter, AI, Descript.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's also Temi, Temi and Rev are now the same company.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so whatever transcription service you use, I've actually used all of these at some point.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're all really good.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite right now is DScript.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one I like because I feel like it's actually a little bit better on the automated transcription than the other ones that I've used.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so how can you use transcriptions to make your book?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, one way is research.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, a lot of my clients, and I'm sure you get this as a writer, that you're a lot of your clients don't like to write.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: They just absolutely don't like it, it might be the last thing they want to do, or they might like to write but not have the time.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so a great way to use transcriptions if you're doing research is to verbally read the research you want to use in a voice recorder app and then take your voice memos and put them in the transcriber.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing is if you have just like thoughts, like a lot of people, a lot of my clients, they go walking and they're like, I get such great ideas when I'm walking.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, perfect.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Grab your phone, put your voice memo on, record it right there as you have the thought, because a lot of people are like, oh, I'll wait till I get home.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Don't wait till you get home.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna lose the idea.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: We have as as modern people, we have so many things going through our head.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've done that so many times before, like years ago, where I'll be like, oh, I'll remember that one.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'll never remember that.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: So record it as soon as you have it so it's fresh.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can take that, transcribe it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, transcribe your podcast episodes and use that content for your book.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: You can also do interviews.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: So any interviews you have, or if you want to interview somebody for your book, interview them on Zoom, take off the audio and use that to transcribe it, or interview them on your phone.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just use a little mic on your phone to get a little bit better audio quality, especially if you're in a coffee shop or if you're in a public place, and then use that transcription for your audio.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of really great ways to kind of shortcut the actual time it takes, not the quality, but the time it takes.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're using transcriptions, it's a really easy way to get that audio right onto text without having to sit there and type it all out yourself.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so once you have all your content in your Google Drive, your Dropbox, wherever you have it, you want to review and reorganize it.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you want to do this like probably two to five times in your book, depending on how organized your content is already.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to figure out which content you want to reorganize, look at your current content.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do you need to add chapters?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you need to take out a chapter, maybe you need to rename or reorder your chapters.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Should you add more original content, or should do you want to add quotes or images or whatever else?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: So at this point, you want to make your book get closer to the final stage and be more organized.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: You also at this point want to grammar check it and then um maybe have a couple people look at it as well.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So once you have everything where you want it, you want to create a table of contents.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And what I do on Google Docs is I just make a table and it says chapter number, title, and then number of words.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you can do this on a spreadsheet as well, because it's a great way to keep your word count as you're going along so you know how many words it is.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're hiring an editor, you can easily just pull up that document and be like and share it with them and say, like, this is how many words I have, this is my content.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So they can give you a price on your editing.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can always go back and change the table of contents later.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said earlier, the only time you can't change it is once it's gone to the formatter.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So any content that doesn't fit into your book, you still want to keep it because um, like um, so you still want to keep it in a folder that says extra content or however you want to label it, because you may want to put that into your book last minute.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you may also have some subheaders or some extra content that you might want to use for something else, like a blog post that you can use.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and like I said before, you don't have to use the extra content in your book, but still keep it because you can use it for things like lead magnets, another book, maybe, or other any other content outlets that you have.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Lynn, that's one of the things that I really stress to all of my clients like never delete.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: You'll always want to just cut and paste it into something else.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because I mean, you I have literally seen an entire book come out of one sentence that someone cut from their stuff.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: So you never know.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: You are totally spot on when you say you can use it for tons of stuff.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: That is incredible.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've never seen an entire book come out of a sentence, but yeah, that proves the point of like you just never know what's gonna spark the idea, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like it could be anything that you write.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, that's why I would.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing too is like if you've taken the time to create it and think about it, it has value.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like it's value less, it's just maybe that time or that space is not where it's needed.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: It might, but it might be, like you said, Jennifer, really important in another space.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and this is a big one with me.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Use a grammar checker.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Please use a grammar checker.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things I do is write podcast show notes.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um, a lot of times the guests that I write show notes for do not send them a bio.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I have to go on their board, their website on their about page.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: One person who was a seven-figure earner in two paragraphs had 12 grammar errors.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, if you're making seven figures, you can obviously afford an editor for your website.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: It just is super unprofessional.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And even do this even before you send it to your book editor.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things I love is I love Grammarly, the like the premiere, like magical unicorn paid version.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I use that all the time.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the reasons why I use that as a writer, I know Jennifer, you like to edit your own stuff, but one of the reasons I like to use that when I write is because I don't like to stop a lot in the creative process and do my grammar because for me, that really stops my creative flow.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I like to just like creative flow, creative flow, creative flow, go back like basic grammar check and then throw it in grammarly and then do my final grammar.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, please use a grammar checker when you're writing your book.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing you want to do when you write your book too, um, and I tell everybody this, it's and this is so funny, but it is actually completely true, is when you're done with your book, you want to share it with other people to get like feedback and stuff because as you're writing your book, because you're in the subject, you may not see where you're missing content.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing is before you go to the formatter, you want to do is to print up a hard copy because it is crazy how you can find a mistake on a hard copy when you're reading out loud that you do not see, even if you're reading it off a computer screen.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I thought that was BS when I first heard that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, no way.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then I started doing it and I was like, wow, this makes such a huge difference.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely make a hard copy of it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said before, make sure a friend or colleague or several friends or colleagues read your manuscript.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be a family member.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: If your family members are like, they're not they're not interested, don't feel offended because I've had so many people that I know they're like, my family member never listens to my podcast.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, my family doesn't either.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: So don't feel offended if your family doesn't want to do it.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: But have a friend and ask them for real construction.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Constructive feedback.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like tell them, I don't want you to say it's just awesome.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what you like about it.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you like the style?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like the voice?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like the flow?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like the content?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like the pictures, the quotes, whatever?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then ask them constructively what don't you like about it?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Don't just tell me your book stinks or I hate this chapter.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, say, like, I don't like the way you use this verbiage, or I don't like the style in here, or this doesn't sound very flowy.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: So ask them for specific constructive feedback to make your book and your writing better.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: So does anybody have any questions on any of the content that I've just been gone over?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to underscore how important it is, like you said, to read it out loud.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, in my mind, I'm reading it out loud and I don't see anything wrong.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: But once I start using my voice, it's like, oh my gosh, what was that?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I wrote a three-minute video script for um a video that I was having produced, and I literally changed that like 16 times.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'd read it and I'm like, no, that doesn't sound right.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then I go back and rewrite it, and then I read it, and then the next paragraph, like, nope, that doesn't sound right.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is totally true, Dave.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: That absolutely happens.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I would love to connect with you, your listeners of the Daily Writer podcast and in our group.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can find me on YouTube at Write for You Content Creation.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Twitter at Lynn Smargis.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can also listen in to my new uh podcast, the Digital Marketing Hotseat Podcast.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if you'd like to be a guest, you can go on digital marketinghotseat.com and then just fill out our forum and you can come on and be a guest and we'll promote your business on the podcast.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I think, yep, and I'm available for book and podcast coaching too.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're interested in that, you can contact me at www.writeforyou.me and click on my contact form.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then you can just shoot me a message and I'll get back to you.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I hope you enjoyed that call with Lynn.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: That was a lot of fun.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And she is so full of energy and so full of creative ideas, it's just absolutely amazing.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I would say my biggest takeaway from this presentation that Lynn did for us is really just that you've got to start repurposing your content.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is critical to reach a lot more people, and it's honestly a lot easier than you realize.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to repurpose your stuff on you know 25 different platforms.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're creating it on one platform or in one fashion, I want you to really seriously consider repurposing that material in one or maybe two other places.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do all this at once, but consider maybe, for example, taking a blog post and repurposing that on social media, or taking something that you sent out in an email newsletter and sharing that on social media or sharing that on a blog post, or maybe taking some material from your blog and as Lynn suggested, turning that into a book.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: A book is obviously super, super high value.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I always put the emphasis on creating books out of stuff, but there's other ways you can do this as well.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: So take Lynn's advice and repurpose that content because you'll get way, way more mileage out of it than if you just created it in one place.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as I mentioned at the top of this episode, you can go to the show notes and I've got a link there to download Lynn's presentation slides.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and do that because there's lots and lots of good stuff there.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I want to give a massive thanks to Lynn for taking the time out of her busy schedule to lead this call for the Daily Writer Group.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're looking for a community of like-minded writers who want to take action and who are supportive of each other, the Daily Writer community is a fantastic place to join and to be a part of.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the kind of stuff that we do in the group.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: We have guest experts come in, we have uh some accountability that we do with writers, we have courses that we're getting ready to release starting this month.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: We have a super active Facebook group and all kinds of really, really cool stuff.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and check it out.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to dailywriterlife.comslash community.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And also don't forget to check out Lynn's links as well, which you can find in the show notes.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, and I'll see you in the next episode.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to take a moment to let you know about our daily writer membership community.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the very best ways to develop better habits and impact more people's lives with your writing is to spend time around other successful writers.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're tired of feeling isolated and chasing success on your own, then I know you're gonna love the Daily Writer community.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: For years, I searched for the kind of writing community that I would want to join, but I can never find what I wanted, so I created my own.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the features include weekly writing sprints, monthly community calls, book discussions, calls with guest experts, and much more.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: For more info, you can visit dailywriterlife.comslash community.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.