How to publish an e-book with Smashwords

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Bowman on February 10, 2011 at 11:25pm

Great information (as always)

 

Here's an article that my colleague put together on prepping a manuscript for e-book conversion, whether on Smashwords or Amazon's Digital Text Platform.

http://preciseedit.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/create-a-well-formatted...

 

She's the one who does Smashwords conversions of clients' (and my) books.

 

By the way: The books that we have on Smashwords have done pretty well. We've only sold 2 directly from Smashwords, but we have sold bunches through their retailers, such as Barnes and Noble.

Permalink Reply by Sally Pomeroy on March 6, 2011 at 8:40pm

I just published my book on smashwords and found the process quite simple.  We sold a book in the first hour it was up, and had 4 other downloads of the first half.  Since then nothing has happened, so I am eagerly awaiting the day it gets approved for their other retailers.

Permalink Reply by Matthew Davenport on August 9, 2013 at 8:44pm

Hi Tanya,

I've been working with Smashwords for a while now, and I can vouch for its advantages and disadvantages in regards to my works. I have had days in which I sing its praise and others in which I can't hate anything quite as much as Smashwords. Essentially, they require very specific formatting for their works. The formatting is a result of making it available for every store out there and following the guidelines therein. If you're alright with only selling in Smashwords' store and not on the iPad, Kobo, Sony, or Nook stores, than by all means ignore their style guide. Another problem that I found was that while Kindle is looking to embrace the Serialized fiction model of yonder days long past, Smashwords is very much so against it. My serialized fiction was rejected once they realized what I had been doing. On the positive side, if you have anything else, they are the best resource for getting your works out to as many people as possible.

 

Smashwords conversion is a fun thing to work through if you already know it, but learning it takes some time. I'm thinking of taking orders to do it for people. If you're interested you can be my first customer.