Comedian Steven Wright once dryly noted, “I’m writing a book. I have the page numbers done.”
Writing is something that takes time and effort. In fact, it can take several years to produce a manuscript ready for publication. But that doesn’t mean your writing has to sit on your hard drive collecting digital dust. Using your written material more than once can be a great way to stay motivated and market your writing to readers.
This advice holds true whether you are writing a book, a poem, or a blog entry. Some may find this concept to be similar to recycling—diluting to the original work.
I tend to dislike the term “recycle” too (unless it has to do with conservationism), but recycling your writing is absolutely necessary. There is no other way to keep up with all the self-marketing and promotion you will be doing.
Once your book is published, consider repackaging your chapters into articles. Obviously, this is much more applicable to non-fiction than fiction—but even fiction chapters can be repackaged or modified into short stories or “excerpts” for duplicate use.
Give this a try: When you are finished with a chapter of your book, repackage it into a stand-alone article or excerpt by adding a beginning and ending paragraph to it. Now you have a stand-alone product that you can use to promote your whole book when it is published!
Again, one of the many benefits of self-publishing is the exclusive ownership rights you retain that allows you to use your work, however you see fit and for your benefit.
I hope that helps. Keep writing!
Karl Schroeder
Self Publishing Advisor 