If you’ve been building a WordPress site for any length of time and researching how to create an eBook in WordPress, you probably have strong opinions about the Gutenberg interface that comes with default installations. When it launched in December 2018 as part of WordPress 5.0, the reception was mixed. Some users loved the fresh approach. Others installed the Classic Editor plugin the same day and preferred to retain the classic look and feel of WordPress.
Seven years later, the block editor has quietly matured into something worth a second look, especially if you’re sitting on years of blog content that deserves a fresh lease of life. It can help you as a WordPress creator build content and transform it into eBooks with zero design skills. The intuitiveness is impossible to miss, and it is only going to get better from this point onwards.
A Quick History for Context
The Gutenberg project takes its name from Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press who transformed how information spread across the world. WordPress chose this name because the new editor follows the concept of movable blocks where every piece of content becomes a discrete unit you can manipulate, rearrange and reuse.
Before Gutenberg, the Classic Editor worked like a basic word processor. It was fine for writing posts, but creating anything more complex meant dealing with shortcodes or hiring someone who knew their way around PHP.
Gutenberg follows a four-phase roadmap. Phase 1 focused on the block editor itself, shipping with WordPress 5.0. Phase 2 introduced Full Site Editing, wrapping up with WordPress 6.3. We’re now in Phase 3, which focuses on collaboration features like block-level comments and real-time notifications. This block-based architecture is also how Gutenberg simplifies eBook creation in WordPress, the same flexibility that powers modern site building now extends to content repurposing.
According to the official WordPress roadmap, the goal is to broaden access to web presence by making it easier for non-technical users to create fully-featured websites without touching code and without needing design skills.
The Block-Based Approach Actually Makes Sense
WIth Gutenberg, every element in your content has become a block. Each paragraph, image or heading is a block. This might sound tedious, but it creates a structured foundation that the Classic Editor never provided.
Third-party developers can create custom blocks, which has largely replaced the old shortcode system. Instead of remembering [your-shortcode] and hoping it renders correctly without you missing the closing square brace, you drop in a block from your form plugin and see exactly what it looks like.
The benefit is evident when you want to do something with your content beyond publishing it once and forgetting about it. This is possible because blocks have semantic meaning. In other words, a heading block knows it’s a heading, a list block knows it’s a list, and so on. Extracting and reorganising content becomes far more practical than parsing through unstructured HTML. This also means your content will have a greater likelihood of being interpreted correctly by search engines and LLMs.
Patterns Changed the Game for Reusability
WordPress 6.3 renamed “reusable blocks” to “synced patterns,” which better describes what they do. You create a pattern once, and any edit you make updates it everywhere it appears across your site. This works brilliantly for elements like calls-to-action, author bios, or pricing tables.
But patterns also come in an unsynced variety. These let you keep the same layout while changing the content on each page. So you might have a consistent testimonial structure that you populate with different quotes depending on the context.
These features mean you’re already organising content in ways that translate well to other formats. If you’ve been using headings, lists and blocks consistently, you’re already halfway toward repurposing WordPress posts into eBooks.
When Content Fades into the Past
Most WordPress sites accumulate years of blog posts that gradually become invisible. Each article represents hours of research and writing, but after the initial traffic spike, it sits in your archive earning diminishing returns.
Blog posts that get good search traffic or engagement have already proven they solve real problems. People searched for that information, found your article useful, and possibly shared it. That’s validation you don’t get when creating something from scratch.
The challenge is that blog posts weren’t written to work together. Pulling them into a cohesive format requires editing, which brings up the core challenge of wanting to create something new without breaking what already works or even modifying something that was relevant to a past date.
Why Editing for Export Matters
Typically, content editing tools scrape your posts and dump them into a PDF.
However, you need the ability to edit content specifically for the exported format while keeping your original posts intact. The blog version continues earning search traffic and serving readers who find it through Google and Bing. The eBook version tells a different story, tailored for someone reading it as a complete document, away from the distractions of 12 browser tabs and notification popups.
Consider a travel blogger with three years of posts about Southeast Asia. The blog versions might reference seasonal events, include booking links for specific hotels, or mention prices that have changed. An eBook called “Your First Week in Vietnam” needs those details updated or removed entirely. The introduction should frame the journey, not explain why you started a travel blog.
Practical Examples of Repurposing Content with Zero Skills
Invoice Consolidation for Audits
If you run a WooCommerce store with plugins that generate PDF invoices as custom post types, you can combine multiple invoices into a single document for year-end reviews. An accountant doesn’t want to open 47 separate files. They want one consolidated PDF with a table of contents.
Raw invoice data needs context. You might add summary sections explaining unusual transactions, remove test orders that slipped through, or group invoices by quarter with totals. The original invoices stay exactly as they were for record-keeping.
Travel Guides from Blog Archives
A travel writer with 30 posts about different regions in Italy could compile them into a guide organised by geography rather than publication date. The post about Rome from 2019 needs updated restaurant recommendations. The Gold Coast article could lose the paragraph about COVID restrictions because they are no longer relevant.
More importantly, you can add transitional content that links chapters together
Lead Magnets from Marketing Content
Marketing consultants who blog about SEO, content strategy, and analytics could bundle related posts into a downloadable guide. However, some blog posts may look awkward for direct inclusion in an eBook. This could require repurposing.
The eBook version strips out the irrelevant content and presents the same expertise in a format designed for someone who’s already opted in. The eBook content is no longer written to rank high in search engine positions because you’ve already captured an audience. You’re writing to deliver value that will be evergreen.
Why the Block Editor Suits This Workflow
The structured nature of blocks makes gathering and editing content more intuitive than copying text between documents. You can see your chapters as discrete units, drag them into different sequences, and expand or collapse sections as you work.
Since you’re editing within WordPress rather than exporting to Google Docs and importing back, you maintain access to all your blocks. This is the advantage of creating eBooks directly inside WordPress. Your content stays connected to the same system you use to write, publish, and manage everything else.
The Table of Contents generates automatically based on your heading structure, which block content already provides. If you’ve been writing well-structured posts with proper heading hierarchy, that organisation transfers directly.
New Upcoming Updates to the Gutenberg System
Phase 3 of Gutenberg brings collaboration features that will matter for teams creating longer content. Block-level comments let editors leave notes directly on specific sections. Notification systems alert you when something needs attention.
At State of the Word 2024, Matías Ventura, Gutenberg’s lead architect demonstrated improvements to the writing experience, including a refined distraction-free mode and better drag-and-drop for images. These features that might seem minor for blog posts become significant when you’re assembling something longer.
WordPress powers over 43% of the web. Over 1,000 block themes were created in the past year alone. The investment in this ecosystem isn’t slowing down.
The Opportunity Hidden in Your Archive
You’ve probably written enough content for multiple eBooks. The question is whether you have a practical way to gather it, edit it for the new format, and export something professional without starting over from scratch.
The block editor provides the raw materials. If you’ve been using it for a while, your content already has a manageable structure.
eBook Crafter was built specifically for this workflow. It is a straightforward way to create an eBook in WordPress without leaving your dashboard or learning how to use new software. It adds a Book Section block that lets you search through your published posts, select content from across your site, while giving you full editing control within the WordPress editor. You can update outdated statistics, remove blog-specific references, add transitional paragraphs, all while ensuring the original posts stay exactly as they were.
The eBook Crafter features are a simple set. Take a look at them if your archive has been gathering dust.
