It is short, sharp and offers an immediate hit. It can be intensely satisfying but it can also be something that you might regret doing later, if you haven't thought it through beforehand.

In certain circumstances, you might even feel some guilt about it. But the fact that you can be anonymous while you're at it, means that you don't have to take any flak in the long run. I am not talking about any any illicit, nocturnal or extra-marital activities -- but blogging. Sometimes it seems as though the world is divided into those who know and love blogs, and those whose lives have been untroubled by them. What are they? The short version is that they are a virtual soapbox; an easy-to-maintain website to rhapsodise and moan to your heart's content.

You're not required to use your real name, so with that kind of freedom it's not hard to see their appeal. It also is immediate and spontaneous, which can sometimes lead to problems if a piece is written in haste but can also provides much of its appeal. Posts can overflow with enthusiasm or vitriol, depending on the circumstances. I used to write a blog, which I retired from last year. It won Best Arts & Culture blog at the Irish Blogging Awards (IBAs) three years in a row before I hung up my computer mouse.

Another big blog award winner and Ireland's best-known blogger is the anonymous Twenty Major, who began his blog in 2004. Consisting of Twenty and his gaggle of bowsie mates, it quickly got noticed -- and last year he became the first Irish blogger to land a book deal. "My publishers approached me to do a book about blogging. I chanced my arm and pitched them the idea of a novel based on the characters in the blog. After sending them a synopsis and about three sample chapters they offered me the deal. It was a two-book deal from the start."

Twenty Major and the Order of the Phoenix Park was published last year, and its follow-up Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder has just hit the shops. It centres on a fictional character, which sidesteps the genre tendencies of many blogs, while offering another level of anonymity.

"Writing in character gives you a chance to be more creative and it allows you to express opinions more vehemently than you might if you were using your real name, but that doesn't mean I don't stand behind what I say."

It is often difficult to convince publishers to take on unknown fiction writers, but in the case of many bloggers, they're not unknown and, unlike Twenty, not writing fiction. Their online audiences are sometimes huge and the structure of a blog encourages interaction between author and reader, in a way that many websites don't.

Another blogger with a large audience is Fiona McPhillips, who started a blog called The Waiting Game after her first miscarriage. There, she detailed her painful journey through pregnancy loss and failed IVF cycles, gaining a large and supportive readership.

"Many readers were interested because the blog gave a personal insight into a subject that is not often discussed. But it was also read by many people who weren't interested in infertility, but were there because of the soap opera nature of the posts -- people wanted to see what happened next and if there was a happy ending."

She pitched an idea to Liberties Press and her book, Trying to Conceive, was published last year. Mercier Press has taken a punt on two bloggers, publishing The Murphy's Ice Cream Book of Sweet Things by Kerry-based brothers Sean and Kieran Murphy, with another book in the pipeline by the curmudgeonly persona 'Grandad' created by Richard O'Connor. The only thing that connects these writers is the quality of their writing and the fact that they all first appeared on blogs.

Anyone reading this might think that publishers can't write cheques quick enough for the blogging community, but since last year, there has been a slowdown in the number of bloggers announcing their entry into book form. One exception is beaut.ie -- sisters Aisling and Kirstie McDermott, who combined their love of products with savvy knowledge to create one of Ireland's most trafficked blogs.

"We were always cosmetic junkies and read a lot of beauty blogs but they were all US- or UK-based. It was frustrating because we couldn't get our paws on some of the things being discussed. Basically we set up a blog that we'd like to read ourselves. We never dreamed it would be as popular as it is," says Aisling. Beaut.ie has built up a loyal fanbase of regular commenters and runs a daily post inviting readers to talk about non-beauty related gossip or dilemmas. "Our commentators are fantastic, and the blather post has become one of the reasons people visit the blog. We can get up to 500 comments a day on this post and we get 300,000 visitors a month."

With that kind of interest, it wasn't long before the girls were offered TV, radio and print work -- and a book deal. Is having a large, loyal audience important to publishers? "Yes," says Aisling, "publishers need to feel assured that the book will be a commercial success and when you already have a lot of people interested in what you're writing about, it's a good indicator for them." Twenty Major agrees: "Many bloggers come with a built-in audience and some of them will buy the book, whereas a first-time author with no online presence is starting from scratch."

The economic downturn probably accounts for the fall-off this year in books by bloggers but, in the future, we'll see more from writers who were once considered subversive by virtue of their online medium. HQ

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder, by Twenty Major (Hachette, €8.99); The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous by Aisling and Kirstie McDermott (Gill & MacMillan, due September); Trying To Conceive: the Irish Couples' Guide, by Fiona McPhillips (Liberties Press, €16.99)

- sinead gleeson