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Johanes Gutenberg, the 15th century German who invented the
printing press died a poor man and failed as a businessman. Yet
his invention revolutionized publishing and made untold fortunes
for publishers all over the world. The penniless German was
responsible for the birth of mass media as we have always known
it, where a handful of publishers have been able to reach
audiences of millions.
Thanks to the increasingly powerful World Wide Web that
"Gutenberg model" which has survived a number of centuries is in
the process of being replaced and already we are seeing a
glimpse of things to come as real panic starts to penetrate
traditional mainstream media like newspapers. It is no longer
necessary to have vast resources and plenty of cash to reach
hundreds of thousands of readers with your publication. The cost
of publishing online is close to zero allowing anybody anywhere
to publish and anybody with the necessary skills to quickly
become successful at it.
There is no stopping the rapidly increasing number of ordinary
people (as well as serious, organized businesses) who are
increasingly making tons of cash from online publishing
activities. They are proving to themselves and to the rest of
the world that indeed the future of publishing is already here
and that there is no doubt the future is on the net. Here are 8
different ways in which online publishers have made some serious
cash in recent times.
1. Tip Jars Tip The Scales The first time I heard about
this idea of generating cash from online publishing, I laughed
out loud and doubted whether it would amount to anything.
Looking at some of the six-figure amounts that have come to some
online publishers (bloggers) I've long stopped laughing.
In one recent amazing case readers feverishly tipped a writer
who attacked an unpopular court verdict in his blog post,
echoing the general feeling of the public. When the tips were
tallied at the end of the day, they amounted to a staggering
$30,000. This happened at the popular blog, Ohmynews. Numerous
other bloggers have given up their jobs and gone into full-time
blogging (online publishing) from the generous tips of their
readers.
While everybody knows that a good publication is supposed to be
answerable only to its' readers, the real world does not quite
work like that. In offline publishing powerful businesses have
always bribed, bullied and cajoled the press to keep certain
embarrassing stories from seeing the light of day. And because
somebody has to pay the bills, newspapers and other media have
lost many battles over the years to more powerful forces. Even
big advertisers have been able to kill popular stories by just
threatening to withdraw their huge advertising contracts from a
publication.
This kind of bullying becomes a lot more difficult to execute
online, more so with a tip jar system in place. It keeps the
publisher and the writers sharply focused on where their
loyalties should firmly be.
Still, tip jars are tricky and to benefit from them, you will
need to understand how they work and what needs to be done to
encourage a flood of tips.
2. Pay-Per-Click Advertising Saves The Day
In the early net days, banner ads ruled and were responsible for
many online business failures. Conventional advertising just
doesn't work online. But relevant, text PPC (pay-per-click) ads
are another story. They're responsible for the huge profits
search engines like Google are now pulling in. PPC ads are also
responsible for the massive shift of advertising dollars from
offline media to online outlets.
The Google Adsense PPC affiliate program is helping many small
publishers all over the world to earn thousands of dollars.
Google recently profiled one of their Adsense affiliates in one
of their blogs whom they say makes an average of $42,000 every
month. There have been claims of even higher figures on various
sites all over the net.
There are however numerous other less known ways in which
ordinary online publishers are making their money. The following
example is a case in point.
About the author:
Christopher Kyalo is a successful online publisher. Read the
rest of this article in a free sample of his best-selling email
course. To get it send a blank email now to
InternetinfoPublishsecrets-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. You can
also visit his Online writing blog
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