Use a Blog to Beta Test Your Book.

It's easy: I've been trying to sell would-be and existing book authors on using blogs for years. You can use a blog in a variety of ways as an author. 

• You can build an audience on your chosen topic before you officially publish. 
• You can test out characters, concepts, approaches, and ideas before committing them between book covers. 
• You can share chapter drafts with your friends, family, and fans--and get the bugs out.

I'm trying the last approach with my new memoir. Using my blogging tool's ability to create pages, I've set up a "Contents" page that will allow visitors to step through the book chapter by chapter if they want and make whatever comments they'd like. Within reason. If they're inappropriate--perhaps selling real estate instead of saying anything relevant to the topic--they'll get bounced. Other than that, I'm expecting a little help in eliminating typos, booboos, memory errors and the like. Check out From Rome to Jerusalem. See you there. The Publishing Pro.