Summary

The web content provides guidance on transforming a collection of Medium articles into a manuscript for a book.

Abstract

The article suggests that many writers may already have the beginnings of a book in the form of their Medium articles. It outlines a five-step process for repurposing these articles into a cohesive manuscript. The process includes collecting and organizing stories into a logical sequence, removing platform-specific language, confirming and adhering to a central theme, adding transitions for better flow, and formatting the manuscript. The author emphasizes that this approach can be straightforward and cost-effective, potentially leading to a published book and the transition from writer to author.

Opinions

The author believes that writers often overlook the potential of their existing content as the foundation for a book.
It is implied that a collection of articles on a single topic can be repurposed into a book with some editing and organization.
The article conveys that the process of turning articles into a book is not overly laborious but does require attention to detail and thematic consistency.
The author suggests that removing Medium-specific elements, such as calls to action and links, is crucial for the integrity of the book.
There is an emphasis on the importance of transitions to connect chapters and encourage continuous reading.
The author promotes their own book as a resource for further guidance on the process, indicating confidence in its value to readers.

It’s Time To Start Writing Your Book

And maybe you already have

Chance are you have already written the first draft of a book and don’t even know it yet. I know that was true for me. I had written dozens of articles over a few months and didn't realize the gold I was sitting on at the time.

Yet, it was true.

It simply took a few people to open my eyes to this reality. The funny thing is that I see this all the time. Great writers producing a ton of great content. All with a dream of publishing a book. Yet, they don’t realize that their first draft is right under their noses.

Want to know where that first draft is?

It’s right here on Medium. If you have written 20 or more stories of at least 500 words, you could have your first draft. Now, that’s not to say that every story would fit into a book, but if you have written about a single topic enough in the 20 stories, you likely have enough content for a book.

The great thing is, it doesn't take a ton of work to put that book together. It does take some time, and it might cost a little money, but ultimately, it is fairly easy to do.

Create Your Manuscript

Step #1: Collect and Organize

In this step, you place every story into your manuscript. Starting with your introduction, then your chapters, finally your conclusion. Simply copy and paste your articles into this document.

Once you have them pasted into your document, arrange them into the tentative order that you want your chapters to flow. This is completely up to you, though there are a few different ways you might organize things.

For my first book, I broke my book down into three parts and organized my different chapters according to these parts. For my second book, this wasn’t needed because it followed a book of the Bible.

Step #2: Remove Medium Specific Language

In this step, you are going through each chapter and taking out extra photos, lines pertaining to writing specifically on Medium, removing calls to action, etc. I also remove links that download with my stories so I can start fresh.

You can leave these backlinks, but I have found this extremely confusing and it can sometimes lead people to put your book down because it shows you have clearly copy and pasted posts into a book format.

Once all of these are removed, it will have cut down your word count a little and you will be able to move onto the next important step.

Step #3: Confirm your Theme and Update Accordingly

Now, most of us have a theme for our book. My first one was Productivity. My second one was specific to the book of the Bible I was referencing. Our individual posts sometimes stray from a main, overarching theme.

This can be a problem because a book needs to stay on point.

In this step, make sure you nail down the theme of your book in one to two sentences. Once you do that, you need to read through each chapter and make updates to make sure that you are on point with your theme.

Step #4: Add in Transitions to Help Your Book Flow

When we write blog posts, each one has a clear and definite stopping point. This is great and what is excepted. However, when you write a chapter to a book, it’s okay to have these stopping points, but they need to encourage your reader to continue on to the next chapter.

In this step, you need to write in transition points at the end of each chapter.

Once these are put into place, it will help your book flow. Sometimes this is a couple of sentences. Other times, it is an entire section. It is up to you, however, I have found that it makes your book more like a book and less like a collection.

Step #5: Create Initial Formatting

This is actually pretty easy. This is where you put your chapter number at the top of each chapter with a title and/or quote. Then you space out the ned of your chapter and add in your page breaks.

This step gives a clear conclusion to the first part of creating your book manuscript.

Once these things are in order, you will be ready for the next part of publishing your book. It will help everything work more smoothly for you and help make editing a lot easier.

You have a manuscript!

You did it! A complete manuscript. This is huge because a significant portion of the work is done. Most writers never make it to author status because they cannot get to this point.

But you did. And now, you will be able to move into the next big part of the process. This part is hard, but it will help you really nail down a few things before you put other eyes on the completed manuscript.

Now, this is only the beginning! There is still a lot more work to do. If you want to learn more about turning your Medium stories or blog posts into a book, check out my short read today: Transform Your Medium Stories

In this short book, I will walk you through the entire process of turning your Medium stories into a money-making book. And, you will get further insights into how to price and promote it!

Check it out today!

If you were to write a book from articles you have on Medium, what would it be about? Share in the responses below!