BYOB: Prepare to Stretch Yourself With a Big Challenge
Questions to help you set off on the right foot.
I’ve given myself blog challenges a few times over the years.
One challenge that stands out to me was in May 2017. I’d seen someone — I don’t remember who now — talk about how they’d blogged every day for 30 days and had great results.
So I thought, why not?
I have a life philosophy (a personal motto, really) that goes like this: Just see what happens.
That’s all I wanted from my challenge. To see what would happen. So I recording my 30-day number of blog reads on day one. It was about 3,000. Then I got to work, writing every single day.
Thirty-one days later, since it was May, I had 30,000 blog views.
Holy cow! I’d 10X’d my views?
I was so excited, I decided to keep going. I upped my challenge to 90 days. And guess what. I 10X’d again. My blog views at the end of the 90 days were 300,000 for 30 days.
I started my MFA program around that time, so daily blogging fell by the wayside. But I’d proven something to myself. If I really dug in and kept to a challenge, I’d have results.
Are you ready to commit to a challenge?
Here are some questions I think you should ask yourself before the writing portion of the Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge kicks off on August 1. You’ll be writing every day for 31 days.
These questions will help you make sure you’re ready.
When will you write?
One of the most important things you can do is schedule your writing time right now. The earlier the better.
Think about BYOB like you’ve taken on a short-term, part-time job. Respect it the same way you’d respect that job. Only — it’s a job you’re really going to love doing. And you’re the boss! How cool is that?
Get out your calendar and schedule your work hours. In August, you’ll probably need at least an hour a day, depending on how fast you write. In July, you might want an hour most days as well, for planning those August posts and preparing to take your challenge.
Also, you might want to do more writing than you’re used to in July, to ramp up for the 31 day writing challenge in August.
Take this part seriously. You really are the boss. Set hours that you can keep, and then plan to keep them.
What will you write?
In July, we’re going to do a lot of work planning exactly what we’ll write. I wrote a post the other day about choosing a topic. I’ll go over that more this week.
Picking your topic for August is important. You want to be excited enough about it to stick with it all month. But also? We’re writing books here. You need a topic that will support 31 blog posts.
If you really can’t come up with anything to write about, you might not be ready for the BYOB Challenge. This isn’t about just banging out 31 random blog posts. They need to gel together into a book at the end.
Who are you writing for?
Or: Why are you writing this book? These questions are very similar, if you think about it.
Do you want to write a book that fills a gap in the market? Something you can sell to people who log into Amazon and search for something they’re not otherwise finding?
Do you want to write a book that you can use to market your other work? Maybe as an email list opt-in gift, or a minimum viable product you can offer as a thank you when someone joins your list.
Either way, you need to know who you are writing for and why you are writing this particular book for them.
Have you validated your idea?
Validating your idea is the step that lots of writers, especially new writers don’t want to take. Because it’s scary, or they don’t know how to do it. They figure they’ll just write the book and put it on the market and let the chips fall where they may.
But validating is a good idea. And it’s not so scary, I promise. Here are a few ways that you might do that work:
Head into Facebook or other social media groups you belong to that are centered around your topic. Search for your topic. Are people talking about it? Is there any frustration surrounding it that you can ease with your book?
Ask. If you have friends who might be readers for your book, ask them their opinion. Would they want the book you’re thinking about?
If you already have an email list, then you have a nice selection of possible readers. Ask them.
Use a tool like KDP Rocket to search the market for possible gaps you can fill.
I’ll write more about idea validation this week, but these ideas should get you started.
Do you have a way to capture fans?
This is another thing I’ll cover more deeply in the next week. If you’re going to do this thing, part of being prepared means having a way to let people follow you if they like your posts.
That way, they can buy your book when it’s finished.
That means building an email list and having a call-to-action, or CTA, at the bottom of your posts.
Email list building is another topic that lots of writers would rather just not think about. But it’s important and I’m here to help. You can do this.
So. Are you ready?
You have a little less than a month to gear up for the writing part of BYOB. It starts with making the commitment to take the challenge. And then preparing to make the most of it.
Today, get out your calendar and schedule you writing time. My suggestion is an hour a day, five days a week, in July and an hour every day in August.
Make sure you’ve solidified your topic. And think about who you’re writing for and why you’re writing the particular book you’ve settled on. Do some validation on the idea, to make sure that there are people out there who need what you’re working on.
Have questions about the Blog Your Own Book Challenge? Check out the FAQ page!
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Just subscribed today, Shaunta! I love this BYOB idea. I am finally going to write a book!