Love it or ignore it, the launch of the iPad is opening up a new era of publishing.

When Theodore Gray, author of “The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe,” heard about the iPad, he started work on an iPad version of his book, which was published in 2009. He also launched a new interactive publishing house, Touch Press.

In the article, “Future of publishing: Reinventing the concept of the book”, he says about Touch Press:

There are many companies that offer the service of taking thousands of back-list titles and putting them on a Kindle. But we’re really reconceptualizing books — new photography, new software development. Reimagining books in a super-interactive form. We look for books that would work well with interactives. For instance, a book about the solar system — you need to be able to look at the planets and turn them around.

Read the article, it’s fascinating.

In April, Touch Press is bringing out T.S. Elliot’s poem, “The Wasteland”, as an app.

Can your ebook function as an app?

In the light of what Touch Press is doing (no doubt other publishers will follow), it’s worth thinking about how you could use this kind of technology in writing your books.

Could one of your ebooks work as an app?

Ebook publisher Angela Booth is presenting a new series of tips on her Top Ebook Writer Blog. The ebook market exploded in 2010. Writers now have many new sales channels and options, and Angela will be exploring them in the series.

Now three years old, her popular blog is a resource for information product creators. It covers ebook writing, marketing, and strategies.

Angela says: “I originally created the blog to provide inspiration for anyone who wanted to write and sell an ebook, but had no idea how to do it. Creating information products is a perfect home business, because the startup costs are minimal, and the business can be bootstrapped easily. I’m launching the new series because there are now a bewildering number of sales channels available to ebook creators.”

The channels include Amazon, Apple iTunes/ iPad, Lulu, Smashwords and many more.

The series will look at the various channels, and what they offer, so that writers can choose the best channel for their ebooks in 2011. Writers need to be wary of distributing through too many channels however, because each new channel requires a different format, and marketing can become very complex.

For writers who want to do it themselves, Angela will be including posts on the technical aspects of ebooks: how to format ebooks for the various channels, and how to hire a graphic designer, and copyeditor.

Like many writers, Angela is surprised at how huge ebooks have become so quickly. She says: “I’m sure it’s taken traditional publishers by surprise. This ebook tsunami started with the Amazon Kindle, and received a huge boost with the launch of the Apple iPad and the bookstore ebook readers.”

It’s a very exciting time for writers and information product creators as they explore the many new options available.

The series, called “Ebook Revolution 2011″, will be available on the Top Ebook Writer blog soon.

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Do you love Alice in Wonderland – the book, rather than the movie? I do, so much so that I’ve got no intention of watching the current movie.

But I want to “read” Alice on an iPad. Watch this video to see why.

Isn’t it superb? Alice in Wonderland on the iPad is both a book, and a game.

If you’re currently writing a book, think “game”. How could your book become an integral part of an iPad game?

Get creative, and mention your ideas for an iPad game in your book proposal. Publishers are always looking for hot marketing ideas, so they’ll think that they’ve got themselves a truly savvy author.

IPad madness is here. Developers are creating applications for the platform, even though most haven’t even handled one of the devices. And Ars Technica believes that Apple sold 20,000 to 25,000 of the devices PER HOUR in pre-orders.

Apple will sell millions of iPads in the next couple of years.

Booksellers are getting ready.

The iPad App Derby Gets Under Way – NYTimes.com reports:

“Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble are working on apps for buying and reading electronic books, even though both companies sell their own e-reading devices and Apple will offer its own iBooks app. The expectation is that the iPad will give a big lift to the e-book market, benefiting the whole industry. “

What will the iPad mean to authors?

What does this frantic activity mean to you as an author?

Primarily, it means that ebooks will be big, and that includes self-published ebooks.

You can convert your word processor manuscript into ePub format (software to do this is available), and you can start selling your ebooks to be read on the iPad. You’ll have millions of potential readers, and endless ways to get your books in front of them.

It’s an exciting time. If you haven’t been tapping your fingers to the bone, get moving!