Media-Savvy Author: Make Your Content Multiply Without Burning Out

Do you want to create more content to engage with your audience? I’ll cut to the chase: repurposing your content is a surefire way to put more out there. You know those writers and experts who are always posting content, publishing blogs, and sharing videos? Repurposing content is how they do it! I’m an author myself and I media train authors, and this is what I do myself and what I suggest my clients do too.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just have to find creative ways of repurposing your content to make it fresh and engaging for your audience. I love this trick because it’s simple, proven, and helps you fill in your content calendar all at the same time. 

I love this quote from author and marketing expert Seth Godin: “Just because you’re hearing something for the 100th time doesn’t mean your customer has heard it once.” This is the mindset shift you need to make when you reuse content. It’s not lazy and it’s not going to be repetitive—it’s smart, cuts down on unnecessary work, and it’s sharing an important message with people who need to hear it. Reusing content is efficient and it helps your message reach people. The world is noisy and being consistent matters.  
 

Basically anything!

Social media posts, newsletters, blog posts, book chapters, blog posts, short form and long form video, pitches, media interviews, courses, podcasts—you name it! These can all shapeshift and turn into new forms of content based on the same ideas. Here’s one example of repurposing content across different media.

Record a video interview, then turn it into a blog post. From the video, create short form video and audio clips for social media. Create graphics with tips or quotes from the video and share those too. After you’ve done multiple video interviews on related topics, turn those into a “round-up” blog that you can share on social media. This is just one example of how video interviews can spawn so much content.

The key to keeping things fresh is translating your content for new formats and platforms.

Sharing across multiple forms of media doesn’t just make it easier on you (though that’s true, too!). It also helps your audience connect with your content on their favorite platform. Some people love video, while other people find it easier to catch up with podcasts. Repurposing your content across various media makes it more accessible.

Wondering how this translates for you? Blog posts can be repurposed into videos, and vice versa. Podcasts can be released as both audio and video. That can then turn into social media content that links out to your podcasts, videos, and blog posts.

I often do this myself. I might turn a blog or a LinkedIn Learning course into an episode of my live-streaming show or use a media appearance as a jumping off point for a blog. It all gets repurposed! Don’t forget, you can also work in the other direction and pull media pitches from your content.

If you tie your content explicitly to something timely, it’ll be hard to repurpose it without significant edits. Instead, focus on what’s evergreen about the topic at hand. What about your advice or idea will stay relevant? That should be the main idea. Focusing on evergreen content means that you can pull from your back catalog of material at any time. It makes things a lot easier on you and helps you home in on the most relevant and grounded things you have to share. I’ve written a lot about moving tips and it’s consistently relevant (with some freshening up) because people are always moving.

This seems contradictory, but it’s really not. The base of your content should be evergreen, but then you can time when you share content to tie in directly with the here and now.

For example, as a productivity expert, I’ve written many times over the years how to organize gift giving. I often share versions of this idea around the holidays since that’s when it’s likely to resonate with people. The content itself is easy to repurpose and update to make sure it’s relevant. But it’s an idea that I don’t have to come up with from scratch—I can repurpose it every year and it’s timely each time I use it.

This is the same idea that goes into a perfect media pitch—the “why now?” question. Your content should answer this question too. For example, I often share tips for travel productivity. People travel throughout the year, so this content is evergreen, but I can also tweak it for specific situations, such as summer vacations, holiday travel, or travel for conferences. That answers the “why now?” question.

For authors, you have a whole load of content waiting to be repurposed: your book! For example, you can take quotes or excerpts from your book and turn them into short-form videos or podcast episodes. 

You can also read aloud a quote from your book and then offer further insights, or use that as a starting point to talk about specific themes and ideas in depth. Your book is a rich source of material—don’tforget about it! If you’re feeling stuck, your book is a great place to get some ideas.  

Creating an editorial calendar will help you keep track of what content you’ve repurposed. This helps you stay accountable to a schedule and also clues you into what you’ve already reused and what you haven’t. I like to mark things (Idea, Draft, Live, Repurposed) because it helps me keep track.  

It’s also important to take feedback into account. If people are really engaging with a particular topic, use that to guide how you repurpose it next! For example, I wrote a blog post about using tarot cards for creativity and it really resonated with people. I made a mental note that this topic was something I wanted to come back to and create more content with. Check your views, comments, and email replies to see where you want to focus your energy.  

Repurposing your content can be a game changer for authors building their platforms. It makes a big difference—not just in cutting down on “new ideas” stress, but also creating consistency and growing your audience. When people know they can rely on you for tips, ideas, and inspiration, they’re more likely to follow along and become part of your readership.