First, let’s get one thing out of the way. A blog alone, no matter how popular, isn’t enough to score you a book contract. It’s not quite that simple.

In other words, it doesn’t quite work the way it does on television.

“Did you hear that Random House gave me a million dollars for a book based on my blog?” chirps the hipster starlet as she emerges from a crowded Starbucks, caramel macchiato in hand. “And we’re working on the movie rights. Hey, let’s go for a ride in my Jag.”

But you already knew that real life is more complicated than a sit-com. So let’s talk about the critical role a blog does play in securing a book deal.

Here’s how it went down for me.

A book deal is made up of several moving parts

First, any successful book proposal needs a credible, straight-line, value-promising connection to a hungry target audience.

In other words, exactly the same kind of well-defined niche expertise that makes most blogs work.

Remember our sit-com blogger with the book deal? She got there because she’s oh-so-witty and wise. Think Carrie Bradshaw.

That’s not the real world. Unless your book is about collecting Manolo Blahniks, real-life book deals are about having something valuable to offer a reader, not how fabulous you are.

And because of that, you don’t need huge numbers to make it happen. What you do need is cachet within the niche you’ve defined.

Before my own deal, I’d assumed I would need a subscriber base big enough to fill the Rose Bowl. Why else would a publisher be interested?

And sure, a massive Feedburner number helps.

But in my case, my subscriber base today would fill the conference room at your average Marriott. Not that I’m complaining — after only six months it’s growing just fine, thanks.

But it does illuminate the point: Raw numbers aren’t as important as making a solid connection with a well-defined audience around a valuable niche topic.

My own blog-to-book deal

Before my site launched I was just a crusty old copywriter and a mid-list novelist who had almost, but not quite, hit it big. Not John Grisham big, more like Kyle Mills or Lisa Jackson kind of big.

There are lots of us in that category. Fiction has more near-misses than an American Idol audition.

Lucky for me, though, hardly any of those writers are blogging about it.

While teaching writing on the workshop circuit, I developed a proprietary story development model called The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling.

My blog is about that well-defined niche, within the larger topic of writing. And without that angle, no matter how popular a blog I might build, there would be no book deal.

One quickly notices that my book deal isn’t about my brand as a fiction writer, which frankly has seen better days. It’s not even about my journey as a writing instructor.

It’s about my story development model. My niche expertise.

Neither my blog nor my forthcoming book are about me. Never have been. They’re about you, the writer with a dream.

In other words, people don’t come to my site (and they won’t read my book) because of my novels. They come because of their novels.

A platform is essential

Today, you need an “author platform” to successfully pitch a book to a publisher.

What’s an author platform? It’s how you’ll be doing the promotion for your book. Nine times out of ten, it means your blog.

No blog, no deal, unless you’ve got another great way to get the word out about your book. (For example, you’re a celebrity or a popular speaker.)

That wasn’t the case as little as two or three years ago.

These days, you don’t just pitch a detailed idea for a book. You also pitch the audience that’s going to buy that book. Not only does your platform provide a built-in group of buyers, it also shows the publisher that your ideas resonate with the audience you’ve defined.

The formula for a successful blog-to-book deal

Solid author platform plus unique value proposition equals marketable book. The formula is really that simple.

If both are in place, you don’t need to be a famous blogger with big numbers to score a book contract.

You just need to write a killer proposal, with a well-defined niche topic focusing on your audience, fortified by a successful author platform in the form of a growing blog.

This formula might not get a book publisher to throw sit-com dollars at you. But it gives you a much better chance than even the most fabulous designer wardrobe.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional resource for novelists and screenwriters. His book, The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling, will be published by Writers Digest Books in early 2011.

The countdown is on. The new FTC Guides go into effect on December 1st and you need to be totally prepared for the crackdown.

To help you out, here are 5 things you should give serious consideration as you continue forward with your online business…

First and foremost you should make sure that all of your blogs and websites are 100% compliant with the new FTC guides. Avoiding any trouble with the FTC in the first place is the best measure, of course…

But just in case you find yourself getting a notice in the mail, or worse – find the men in black knocking at your front door, you should make sure you (and your family) are prepared.

Nothing like being caught off guard!

So here’s your checklist. Print it out, tape it to your desk, and make sure you have all of these items covered by the time Dec 1st sneaks up on you:

1. Stash lots of cash under your mattress. You’re going to need it when they freeze your credit card, checking, savings and PayPal accounts. No sense missing your weekly massage or your Starbucks fix over a little paperwork!

2. Stockpile the bare essentials – camping gear, a secret laptop, printer paper, a prepaid mobile device, amazon gift cards, etc. All the things necessary to continue tweeting at the very least… because we’ll want updates!

3. Create a treasure map to the cash stashed under your mattress, and hide it in a safe place (like buried in your neighbor’s yard). In the case that you get one phone call, you can point them to the map so they can find the cash and bond you out.

4. Create off-site backups of all your data. They’ll likely confiscate your computers and any additional discs or hard drives, so use Mozy or something similar so that you can access your data from the secret laptop. They may take everything that isn’t nailed down, but they can’t take passwords that are in your head.

5. Wake up early every day and dress your best – or at least get out of your bathrobe. When they show up to take you away, it’s a “come as you are” type of party. You don’t want to get carried off in your fuzzy slippers, now do you??

Imagine what the neighbors would say then…

“I knew they were doing something weird on the internet over there!”

Plus – you want to look good for your mug shot.

Things like matching socks, a fresh haircut and clean underwear should definitely become a higher priority when the new FTC Guides officially go into effect.

Don’t be scared – be prepared!

Best,

The FTC Update – In Plain English
New FTC Guides Go Into Effect Dec 1st…
FTC Compliant Endorsements & Testimonials
How FTC Guides Affect Social Media Marketing

If you’re anything like most bloggers, there comes a certain point when you simply run out of inspiration for your blog.

You’ve been writing blog posts about web design, or cooking, or whale-watching off the coast of Norway for way too long.

You’ve exhausted the topic, and yourself.

You just don’t know what to write anymore.

Not that you’re one to give up easily. You work on unblocking your creativity. You start going back over old topics, reworking them, trying to find new angles and new ways of talking about the same old thing.

We all know it. There’s nothing new under the sun. Every story in the world has been told a thousand times before you got to it. There’s nothing wrong with making what’s old new again.

Until the day that well runs dry too.

You’ve talked about everything you know how to talk about four times over, from every conceivable angle. You’ve reworked all the posts you can. You are done. Finished. Finito. Really freakin’ tired.

Time to hang up your blogging hat and become a Starbucks barista, right?

Wrong.

It’s time to start cross-dressing

Now, you may think this post comes from a man going through a mid-life crisis. You would be dead wrong. I am not advocating cross-dressing because I can’t think of anything more exciting to do with my Friday evening. I’m not even suggesting it because I have a secret curiosity about high-heeled shoes.

I’m suggesting it because it will make you a better blogger.

Let’s go back to those high-heeled shoes for a minute. Try walking a mile in them. (Ladies, go find yourselves some nice wing-tips and do the same.)

If you were a woman, or a man, whichever you currently aren’t, how would you write about your favorite topic?

Don’t get stereotypical here

I’m not suggesting that you’d suddenly start blogging with your pinky in the air (if you’re a guy) or with a beer at your elbow (if you’re a woman).

I’m offering the theory that maybe, just maybe, the opposite sex knows something you don’t.

The opposite sex knows how to revamp that topic you’re trying to write about.

A thousand relationship self-help books tell us that men and women think differently. Recent studies suggest a discovery that male and female brains aren’t even built the same. That’s a good thing when you’re stuck for blogging ideas, because thinking differently gives you insight into a new angle.

Try it for yourself

Go ahead. Pretend you’re the opposite sex. Toss around that topic of yours. How would you write it if you weren’t who you are?

If your imagination doesn’t stretch that far, talk to some members of the opposite sex. See what they’re interested in. See what they talk about.

Ask people of the opposite sex their opinion on your worn-out topic. “When you think of writing or marketing or design, what’s the first thing that crosses your mind?”

Don’t try to drive the conversation. Just listen. And for Pete’s sake, take notes. These people are giving you gold.

When the cross-dressing well runs dry, you can try this tactic in all sorts of ways.

Go talk to someone older or younger than you are. Go talk to someone who isn’t as cool as you are, or who is way cooler. Go talk to someone who has a completely different lifestyle, who lives in the city if you live in the country, who has more or less money than you do, who has a dog or a parakeet.

Long story short? When you run out of new ways to look at your world, go steal someone else’s eyes.

Don’t steal their shoes, though. Women hate that.

About the Author: James Chartrand is the man who embraces his feminine side over at Men with Pens (go figure). Check out his book, The Unlimited Freelancer. It’s your ticket to unleashing your freelance business.