Summary

The Blog-Your-Own-Book (BYOB) Challenge is a structured four-month program designed to guide writers through planning, writing, editing, and publishing a short ebook.

Abstract

The BYOB Challenge is a comprehensive writing project that spans four months, with each month dedicated to a different phase of book creation. Participants plan their book in July, write in August, edit in September, and publish in October. The challenge is facilitated through Medium posts and a Substack newsletter, with the goal of helping writers develop daily writing habits, improve their writing skills, explore self-publishing, and potentially grow their audience. The project is free to join and encourages writers to engage with a community of fellow participants while learning the intricacies of blogging, editing, and manuscript preparation. While the challenge is flexible in terms of content genres, it is recommended that participants choose a complementary topic if they aim to traditionally publish their work later, as publishing blog content may affect the prospects of traditional publishing.

Opinions

The BYOB Challenge is suitable for a wide range of writers, including those looking to develop a daily writing habit, improve their writing, explore self-publishing, or simply be part of a collaborative project.
It is suggested that the challenge may not be ideal for everyone, particularly those who might feel overwhelmed by the daily writing commitment or those who wish to traditionally publish the exact work they plan to blog.
The project encourages flexibility and creativity, allowing for various types of writing such as fiction, poetry, and memoir, but it also emphasizes the importance of sticking to a theme for the duration of the challenge to ensure a cohesive final product.
While participants are encouraged to write new content for the challenge, it is acknowledged that writers have the autonomy to make their own choices regarding their submissions.
For those with aspirations of traditional publishing, it is advised to use the BYOB Challenge as an opportunity to explore a topic rather than publishing the exact content intended for submission to publishers.
The challenge is positioned as a learning experience, with the potential for participants to use their completed projects as marketing tools, lead magnets, or foundations for expanded books.
The facilitator expresses enthusiasm and support for participants, offering regular updates, guidance, and a community platform to share the writing journey.

Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge FAQ

Answers to your questions about the BYOB Challenge.

I wrote last week about the Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge, or BYOB. Basically, it’s a four-month project where you’ll plan, write, edit, and prepare a short ebook for publishing.

July is for planning. August is for writing. September is for editing. And October is for publishing. In the end you’ll have a completed book that you’ll be able to either publish or use as a marketing tool — or both.

There were some questions that came up, so I thought I’d answer them here.

Where can I get updates about BYOB?

I’ll be posting about BYOB here on Medium. If you want me to send those posts to you, click here and subscribe (free is fine, nothing about BYOB will be behind the paywall) to The Write Brain, Ninja Writer’s Substack.

The Write Brain

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Is BYOB for me?

It is if you fit any of these criteria:

You want to develop a daily writing habit.
You want to learn how to be a better writer.
You are interested in trying out self-publishing.
You have an idea you want to explore.
You want to grow your audience.
You want to learn about blogging.
You want to learn about editing.
You want to learn how to prepare a manuscript for publishing.
You want to be part of a cool project!

It might not be for you if you feel like the pressure of writing every day for 31 days will make you unhappy or anxious.

It might not be for you if you really want to try to traditionally publish the exact work you’re going to blog (see a fuller discussion of this below.)

That’s about it. If you aren’t going to be upset by the pace of the project and the whole thing aligns with your goals — then yes, BYOB is for you!

Where do I sign up?

You can click here to let me know you want to join. That will add you to the list, so I can let you know when new posts about BYOB have been posted. There’s no other official sign-up spot or anything.

Is there a charge?

Nope. This is just a fun summer project. You’ll learn about blogging and about putting together a book, and you’ll build your writing habit. Hopefully, the end product will be something you can sell or use to build your audience.

How do I follow along?

I’ll be posting weekly with ideas and homework designed to help you have the best BYOB experience possible.

Every month in July, August, September, and October I’ll publish a weekly blog post designed to help you plan, write, edit, and publish your BYOB challenge. And I’ll do the challenge right along with you, so you’ll be able to see my process.

So, follow along by reading the blog posts and clicking the link to make sure you get notified when there’s a new one.

Where do I put my posts?

You can publish them where ever you blog. Your own website or on a platform (like Medium.) You could even publish them on Facebook, if you wanted to. Think about where you have an audience. That’s probably a good place, if it supports blog post-length work.

Can I use fiction/poetry/memoir for my BYOB Challenge project?

Sure. You can literally write anything you want. You’re going to pick a theme or topic and blog on it for 31 days in a row. If you want to write 31 limericks or 31 flash fiction stories all set in the same location or blog stories that will fit into your memoir for 31 days — do it!

Do I have to write all my posts on the same topic?

You do if you want to follow the rules. If you’re a rebel? Nah.

But the goal is to write a book in August via 31 blog posts. So you might want to at least give following the rules a shot this once. In July I’ll help you figure out what that looks like for you.

Can I blog something I’ve already written?

This project is designed in part to help you develop a writing habit. If you’ve already written your posts, you’ll miss out on the planning part and on writing every day. That said, you can do what you want. But I really suggest coming up with a new project for the BYOB Challenge.

I do think that what you learn in September and October will help you with your already completed projects, too.

What if I want to find a traditional publisher for my book eventually?

Here’s my take on this one. If you really want to have a traditional publisher for a project idea you have in mind, you probably shouldn’t chose it for BYOB. Because a traditional publisher might not want to take on your book if you’ve already published it on your blog.

What I suggest you do instead is come up with an idea that’s complementary to the book you want to write. Something where you can use the final product as a marketing tool.

Or, use the BYOB Challenge to explore your topic, but know that you’ll probably have to write more and expand quite a lot to write a book that a traditional publisher will want.

I would not blog a novel chapter-by-chapter, or any other book for that matter, if I wanted to try to use that book to sign a literary agent, for instance.

But if I wanted to write a book to self-publish, I would consider blogging on the topic of my book every day for 31 days. It would help me start to build my audience, gauge reader interest, and give me a marketing tool or the bulk of a completed manuscript at the end.

In the end, it’s up to you. Decide what your goal is and make a choice based on that. If you want to play along, but you want to be published by a traditional publisher, too — you could always just write a chapter a day for 31 days and not publish them.

I’m all about being a rebel. Do it your own way!

What will I do with my book in October?

There are several things you can do with your finished BYOB project.

You can self-publish it.
You can expand it into a longer, fuller book.
You can use your book as a lead magnet to help you grow your email list.
You can use the ideas that you developed to build an empire and plot world domination.

Whew. When you’re done with all that, you can take what you’ve learned and do it all over again.

Ready to do this thing?

I’m so excited about this. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Don’t forget to click this link to join (for free) so that you’ll get notified when new posts go up.

Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, and Center of Gravity. She is the original Ninja Writer.