Before you endeavor to recycle the words from your book, you need to make sure:
- Make sure you own your own copy. For example, if you did not do all phases of publishing your work, you might not. If you used a publishing company, even the print-on-demand ones, check out who really owns your copy. It would be a good idea to have checked that before publishing!
- If you have published any part of your copy in other publications, those publications may own those parts.
- If your copy is from an academic source, even if you wrote it, you don’t own it. For example, if you published a paper or thesis or any other work while you were a student, your published paper or thesis or some other work is not owned by you.
While you may not own that copy, the ideas are not copyrighted. You can quote yourself from that paper with all the correct references.
Blogs
Blogs are a good place to start your book, or recycle your book copy into shorter pieces to use for blogs. Blog posts can give your clients or customers knowledge and reinforces their belief that you are the Knowledgeable Expert for whom they are searching!
Classes
Depending on what your business is about, teaching your book makes an excellent choice in recycling your book. You can even charge more for the class than you do for the book. And the good part is that you don’t have to leave your office or home to teach the class. Conference services offer inexpensive choices for doing a Webinar. Many of the voice conference services allow you to present your Microsoft® PowerPoint and live voice over. Creating a video of your PowerPoint Presentation can be as easy as using Camtasia®, a video software that easily pairs with PowerPoint.
Classes give your clients or customers an opportunity to really interact with the material and you, the author and expert. All classes, however, do not have to be a PowerPoint® Presentation with voice over. In fact, the PowerPoint® can be turned into a .pdf file and e-mailed. So, the whole class can be scheduled out and e-mailed by using your favorite e-mail marketing tool, such as AWeber, Constant Contact, or MailChimp.
Mini-Books
Turn a chapter or two into mini-books that talk about certain aspects of the book you’ve written. You can use these a sales tools or sell them for a less than your big book. One of the advantages of turning your mini-books into sales tools is that you have something to give prospective clients or customers. In giving them the mini-book, you instantly prove you are knowledgeable about the topics you are covering in the mini-book. The best Mini-Books covers one topic at a time. If the original book only covers one topic, think of how you broke it down into chapters, which were sub-topics. One of those sub-topics will likely make a great Mini-Book!
Another Book
I know that this raises a BIG question. How can I turn my book copy into another book? Well, there is a great explanation. Take your current book that you’ve written for a particular audience and rework it for a different audience. For example, if you’ve written a book on online marketing for the medical industry. This same book can be reworked for another audience, such as the real estate industry. There will be parts of the book that might change entirely, but there will also be parts that will stay the same.
Other Options
While there are always pitfalls in re-using copy, being creative in its uses can leave you the most options. From brochures to another book are always possibilities, because it is only limited by your own imagination.