Steve Martin is cramming loads of tweets into a book for charity

If you dig social media and love to laugh, I’ve got some good news for you. Steve Martin, long-time actor and comedian, has announced on Twitter that he is compiling his tweets into a book with all profits set to go to charity. Included in his published piece will be tweets from his fans and followers as well, though he also states he’ll be editing out all of the “garbage” content.

True to his humorous style, the book is titled, The Ten, Make That Nine Habits, of Very Organized People. Make That Ten, and is due to release in the summer of 2012 by Grand Central Publishing. There has been no mention of which charity the proceeds will actually go towards, though I expect this will be revealed as the book comes closer to its actual release.

As for how funny or entertaining it will be, Martin’s followers seem to have urged a vague response from the 66-year old comedian. John Rabita asked, “Which are funnier? Your tweets or our replies?” To which Martin answered, “It’s a tossup.” Ah yes. Very informative indeed.

The interesting part here is that Martin, who currently has 1.7 million followers on Twitter, has actually found a way to monetize the 140-character-limited blurbs of content that most of us see as disposable or forgettable material. While perusing Martin’s Twitter stream, I managed to stumble onto a few gems that will most likely be getting some airtime in his soon-to-be-published tweet book.

Some personal favorites:

• “Can’t work with co-stars anymore because their names don’t fit on tweets. On Leno tonight talking about The Big Year with Jack Black and Ow”
• “Onward to Nashville for the IBMAs! (I abbreviated International Bluegrass Music Association to save space)”
• “Have decided to take up downhill swimming.”
• “Love to shake hands with the paparazzi when I have a bad cold.”

If you take a peek back far enough in his Twitter timeline — which I’ve done for you, since I know how impossible it is to surface the tweets you’re looking for on the platform –Martin actually revealed the title of his book on August 3, though there was no mention of whether or not it would comprise of tweets.

This makes me wonder whether he had originally set out to utilize Twitter as his main source of inspiration, or if his book first began with a different concept in mind.

A few of my followers on Google+ have suggested other books with Twitter content by authors like James Bridle, Kevin D. Hendricks and Justin Halpern — definitely worth checking out if you’re feeling much too impatient for Martin’s book release next year.

You tell me: Are Steve Martin’s tweets funny or interesting enough to fill an entire book? How do you feel about authors publishing their tweets into print media — is it just lazy, or is it modern and interesting? Weigh in below.