I asked whether you should publish your book on your blog, yes or no? It’s definitely a viable option, if you want to get known quickly.

Now here’s someone who’s taken online publication about as far as it can go.

In Tweeting an Ebook: “Take Control of Your Paperless Office” , Joe Kissell describes publishing an entire ebook on Twitter, tweet by tweet:

“But how do you shred an ebook? It’s easy: rip it into 140-character strips and feed it to Twitter! “

I can’t imagine doing that manually (or even at all); he’s using a script.

It’s a fascinating experiment. You may not want to go to such an extreme, but you certainly could post excerpts of your book to Twitter to build your readership.

Way back in 2007, I wrote a blog post about publishing your book online, and getting sales, before you go the traditional publishing route.

In this article, Does publishing your book on the Web help sales? | Write a Book: Just Write A Book Blog, I concluded:

“You get these benefits:

* a readership

* publisher interest once the readership is big enough

* confidence in yourself – readers tend to give you confidence

* motivation to continue writing, because of the interaction with readers.”

So, four years on, is that still a viable route?

My answer: yes, definitely.

The above benefits still apply.

However, these days, you have more options.

My own preferred option would be to self-publish for the Kindle and similar e-readers, as well as publishing some of the material online (site or blog) purely for promotion.

These days, as Amanda Hocking shows, you can build a readership and make money on your own, you don’t need a publisher. Traditional publishing takes years. Self-publishing takes weeks — which do you prefer?

Tip: your options are moot — first and last, you’ve got to write a book. So focus on that. You’ll find that as you write, you’ll get a sense of what’s right for your circumstances. Writing comes first, last and always.

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?

2010 was an amazing year for digital books. The iPad joined the Kindle, and the age of the ebook finally arrived.

Judging from this article in Publishers Weekly, Digital Book World: Publishing CEOs Optimistic About the Future publishers are gearing up to seize the day:

“‘It’s the end of the beginning’of the digital transition, Friedman said. Macmillan’s COO said publishing is entering a ‘golden age,’ but added that the question is will it be a golden age for publishers.”

The question is, what does this mean for authors — for YOU?

There are no easy answers. It depends on what you want to achieve.

If you’re a new author, the world’s your oyster. Go ahead and publish your book on the Amazon Kindle. You don’t need technical expertise, and you have a market of millions.

That said, you’ll still need to promote your book. Taken as a group, writers are fearful of marketing. You’ll give your books the best chance of success if you accept that you need to promote. I created a promotions guide to help you along the path.

If you’re a published author, you have a decision to make too: will you go the traditional publishing route, and try to get a publishing contract? Or will you self-publish?

Either way, you need to focus on promotions too, and build your platform.

Authors have more opportunities than they’ve ever had. You no longer need a publisher. Nor do you need anyone’s permission to publish your books, and sell them. Even if you’re a technophobe, you can publish on the Kindle.

If take advantage of the tools you have available to you, you can be successful beyond your dreams. It may well be the down of a golden age for authors.

It’s up to you to take advantage of the myriad opportunities.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.

I’ve had several questions from readers this week asking for the “names of publishers that pay”.

The simple answer is: all of them.

However they don’t “pay” you in the sense of an employer paying you for a job (although some book packagers do operate this way…)

Publishers license rights to your book for a certain time. The book remains your intellectual property. You own the copyright to it. You can get rights back, and you should stipulate that if a book goes out of print, the rights revert to you.

Publishing contracts vary, and it’s sensible to look for an agent if you’ve been offered a contract.

You’ll get a better deal from a publisher when you use an agent, because agents know which of your rights to offer in a deal, and which to withhold.

Publishing is a business, and any publisher will aim to get the most rights for the lowest possible royalties.

Don’t try to negotiate a deal on your own, and always read the contract CAREFULLY several times before you sign, even if you do have an agent.

Publishers will try to get as much as they can.

I’ll never forget one memorable publisher who tried to claim the copyright to one of my books in the contract. I laughed, and slashed a red line though that clause. I know that other authors fell for that trick, because I found many of that publisher’s books which were copyrighted to them, rather than to the authors.

The moral is — never be too eager to sign a contract. I felt immensely sorry for those authors. I’ve no doubt that they found out eventually that they’d been tricked and were shattered.

Be careful out there.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.