The Internet gives writers the power to be their own publisher and distributor by
selling their work directly to readers. Many writers are already taking advantage of
the possibilities. Judy Cullins, who's building an online reputation as "The Book
Coach", says of selling her ebooks online directly to readers: "The first months, I had
no idea at the time how powerful this method was. My income bolted to over $3000 a
month in less than a year."
The new rule for writers in the Internet age is: "Create, promote, sell". What's
amazing is that writers can do all this in one day, even in hours. When I write a report,
I can format it in PDF (Portable Document Format) at the click of a key. That's the
publishing done. I can then add the report to the online store at my Web site in
minutes --- distribution done. Then I can send an announcement out to my subscribers
(promotion done) and watch the sales rolling in. Best of all I don't have to be
anywhere in particular to do this. I can do it as easily on a sun-drenched beach on the
Great Barrier Reef off northern Australia as I can in my home office in Sydney.
Are these capabilities within the reach of non-technically-inclined writers?
Yes! Although I've been writing about software, computers and the Internet for many
years, I'm by no means a geek. The writers who shared their anecdotes and success
stories for this book aren't geeks either. They're writers who've seen opportunities and
grabbed at them. Many of these writer/ publisher/ entrepreneurs didn’t come to
writing via traditional publishing routes. Many started out as marketers, or
entrepreneurs. They looked at the Internet, saw how relatively easy it is to make
money selling information online, and worked out ways to do it. The Internet is the
answer to writers' prayers. It puts writers in control of their own destinies.
We see what we expect to see, so writers have seen the Internet as a magazine-
style "content" market. But because of the unlimited free content online, few sites buy
content. (This may change, as more sites with good content change to a reader-pays
business model.) Writers haven't yet seen that the Internet is a completely new
environment, where they can write what they want to write, and can, without too
much effort, make a good living.A^ how-to^ plus^ a^ how-they-did-it^
Writing To Sell In The Internet Age is a how-to for writers to access their new
opportunities, but it's also a how-they-did-it. I'll be describing the avenues that writer-