Michael Ashley

What's happening in the publishing industry is not just natural evolution - it really is a revolution. The pendulum is swinging back toward the author and the iPad is just one more milestone along the way. Here are four reasons why the iPad is an AuthoREvolution: 1. It's not just a book on a computer screen. The whole concept of "Book" is finally changing and the idea that a book is a bunch of chapters packaged between two covers is fading. The iPad is a true multi-media device. That means the author can use all available means to convey content. It's not just a better book, it's changing the nature of books and giving the author more tools to connect. We will soon see eBooks with meta data, annotations, multimedia, links and social connections. 2. It's not just another distribution channel. The iPad brings iTunes simplicity to book purchases. With the integrated iBookstore authors will be able to reach out to an audience already downloading and reading eB...

Technology is great if it really makes your life easier. That's what the AuthoREvolution is all about: discovering and using technology that makes your job easier... and more fun! After I created my book project on FastPencil for AuthoREvolution, I immediately started setting up my community and networks. That included the following: 1. @AuthoREvolution twitter account 2. Facebook page for AuthoREvolution 3. Wordpress blog for AuthoREvolution Then I made sure my personal accounts were in order: 1. Mashley.com blogger account 2. Tumblr blog 3. LinkedIN 4. Misc other communities I participate in NOW, if I had to manage every single account I would go crazy - so I setup a ping.fm account. Ping.fm will allow you to post to all of your accounts from one place. It's the slickest interface and time-savings tool you will use. Plus, they make it dead-simple to post different content to different containers. So you can post a blog to your blogging accounts, and status updates to your soc...

Just setup my Ping.fm account for @AuthoREvolution

When the muse comes calling, you have to start writing. Today that means more than just a pencil and paper. If you are a writer it means mobile book authoring, editing and publishing. Here are four new technologies that will forever transform your workflow as an author: SaaS Applications SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It means the software you use to write your book (your word processor, for example), isn’t actually installed on your computer. It’s a service you subscribe to over the Internet. One popular book authoring SaaS option today is FastPencil.com, which is a writing and collaboration service powering thousands of authors. SaaS word processors transform the way you write your book because they can do much more than just store content and perform spell checks. A good SaaS writing tool will connect you in a meaningful way with the people helping you write, publish and market your book. It may be a co-author, an editor, or just some friends who read and comment on your b...