When I first started publishing books, believe it or not, ebooks had not come into existence. There was no Smashwords, no Nook, no Kindle. I published books the old-fashioned way, with a print run with a printer (not print on demand), and had stock of books in my garage until they were sold. Cut chase years later and this thing called Kindle came along. I was instantly intrigued.
Having grown up in Silicon Valley, technology was all around me and being on the forefront of the digital revolution was a thrill. When I started publishing ebooks on Kindle, most people had a confused look on their faces when I mentioned the word, “ebook.” My sister used to explain it to people that I was on the “cutting edge” of books. Still, most people hadn’t heard of ebooks and I must’ve explained a thousand times about ebooks and the new technology called e-readers.
I was publishing ebooks before most people knew what they were.
From the beginning, I loved the idea of having thousands of books at disposal in a portable device. And, people bought ebooks. I published a few books to start, and was wowed at the result. I bought a Kindle and took it with me everywhere. It was something that most people hadn’t seen and curiosity abounded.
Now as I look back since my entry into the digital world of ebooks, the many choices for readers are endless, not to mention reading books on our phones. I for one, usually start reading a book on my phone, then switch over to my Kindle. I download a sample book onto my cell and if I read straight to the end and want to buy the book, I can download to both my Kindle and cell phone for the price of one book. My husband can also download the book onto his cell phone, Kindle, or more likely iPad, since we are on the same account.
I started off mentioning Smashwords, and the reason I mention it is because if I were to give a new author advice about where to start, I would probably lean them toward Smashwords, for the simple reason that one can upload a single title and have it distributed to all the same places that otherwise you’d have to open accounts for and upload one by one.
When I started publishing ebooks, Amazon was the major, if only player. Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, none of the ebook retailers that are prevalent today, carried ebooks. So when I published an ebook, it was to Amazon. Then years later, came along the other venues. But now, with Smashwords, the process of publishing to distribution channels is streamlined.
I will admit, I have found the Smashwords “meat grinder” very unforgiving as far as formatting ebooks. You must follow the Smashwords guidelines exactly if your ebook is to be processed for their premium channels. The process can seem daunting, it is daunting, and when I was initially uploading to Smashwords, I had many frustrations, the way they want the books stripped of URL’s, ads for your other books, the list went on and on, as far as what you could have in the book and couldn’t. You had to have the copyright page exactly as they stated or face rejection.
But, the beauty of Smashwords, for all the pain, is that you only have to upload once and if your book passes their regiment, then it’s distributed to most of the same accounts that otherwise you would have to go in individually and upload, channel by channel.
I am aware that Amazon entices authors with their KDP Select program. Be aware, that you are making a commitment to a certain period of time to not have your book on other channels. KDP Select didn’t work for me because my books were already published on other channels when they came out with this program and so I do not have first hand knowledge of using it, but by Google searching, you can find others who have thoughts on the program.
Wherever you begin your ebook publishing journey, the resources and distribution channels extend around the world and bridges readers and authors like never before in this history of publishing.
About the Author: Catherine Burr is a bestselling romance novelist, inspirational blogger, and children’s author. Her books are sold in over 60 countries in both print and ebook formats. She lives in a small country town where she writes books on her cell phone.
Follow Catherine Burr on Twitter.
OMG, just like always, you are so informative. I was working on getting my books on Smashwords about a week ago, but haven’t finished doing it. As a matter of fact, I was working on my profile and thinking of doing one book at a time. After reading this blog, I may be in a heap of confusion by the time I get done….it sounds so complicated. I really must go back and read the details over again and again and again.
I’ve been using Smashwords for a year now, and have used it to publish 30+ short stories and a couple of anthologies. Doing the first story was pretty time consuming… but once I had the formatting just the way Smashwords wants it, I saved a base document in that formatting with placeholders: ‘TITLE’, ‘COPYRIGHT’, ‘BYLINE’, and so on, in the appropriate places.
Now, when I want to type up a new story, I just open the document, ‘save as’ my new title, and I’m ready to publish as soon as I’m finished.
I find that the formatting works fine for submitting the title to Amazon as well, and looks good on the Kindle previewer.
I’m just starting out, so I haven’t had tons of sales. But I have sold titles Amazon and the multiple outlets that Smashwords distributes to without complaint.
One thing I haven’t been pleased with is how the Smashwords software auto-generates a table of contents. I have discovered the free Sigil software for working with .epub files is great for creating those if you find the Word method too much of a pain. In Sigil, it is as easy as clicking two icons, and it works great.
I hope this is helpful.
That is helpful, thank you for your input. I learned something! I didn’t know that Smashwords auto-generates a TOC (using Sigil), that’s a fantastic upgrade. That was one of the things that is time-consuming, especially with a novel–with a lot of chapter headings.
Definitely not my intention to confuse or steer anyone way from Smashwords. In my case, I was uploading books that had been formatted for Kindle so I kept having to go back and change the formatting to match Smashword’s specifications. Basically if you follow exactly what they say (I had to re-write their instructions to fit my brain, and kept the instructions posted on my bulletin board by my desk), then you shouldn’t have any issues. It’s trial and error.
No question, in my mind, it’s easier to format for Amazon Kindle than it is for Smashwords or Apple iTunes, but with Smashwords, once you get their file requirements down, the ebook will be uploaded to all the different sites, like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Apple iTunes, so it’s worth the learning curve.
Let me know if I can help along the way!
Catherine, you are a gem, I most likely will be calling upon you with this techie stuff. LOL.
Anytime! Like Tao23 suggested too, making a template is a great idea, it can be used for each book. Smashwords has pretty good examples of how to lay out the books, Mark Coker (the guru behind SW) has a free book on there with instructions.
Hey Catherine, I just had a thought and It is making me ask a few questions.
Does smashwords actually publish ebooks and if so, do the authors have to supply their on cover art, or if they have a picture book that needs images, do they do that as well? Do they have a gallery of images or something, or a gallery of book covers to go with these files?
What you might be thinking of is Amazon’s CreateSpace. They have (free) images that you can use for covers for print books published (printed) through them. You still have to provide the interior images.
Smashwords is not a publisher per se, rather a distributor, so they do not provide images that I am aware of. An author uploads their book and cover, then Smashwords makes it available on their site, and if your book passes the “premium” formatting requirements, then SW makes it available for the other channels, like Sony, B&N, Apple, Amazon.
So, yes, for Smashwords, you have to provide your own cover art and interior art (if any).
Thanks for the reply. Now that has cleared a lot of things in my head.
Reblogged this on Self Publishing Advocate.
Thank you selfpublishingadvocate for the reblog!
I am honored to meet you! Consider me a fan!
Thank you so much, pleasure is all mine!
I never thought about it that way! Yes! In fact, my dad died, let’s see, it will be 13 years ago…wow…that went by fast. The funny thing is that with each passing year, I can hear his words more and more. He was a tough cookie; not always easy to live with when he was alive!…oddly enough, I find myself in some incredible conversations (in my mind) with him as I grow older–and understand him better! I don’t think we’ve ever been closer! Funny, how time changes everything. He, among many others, is my own personal angel who watches over me like a wolf! I am so proud that I had him as a father on earth–
and now I am so proud to have him as a father in heaven!
Our father’s bring us blessings that we carry with us as we move into the future, standing on our own, but with the qualities we have learned from them.
Amen to that! Our fathers are watching over us and when we do something that’s idiotic, we hear their voices in our heads. I can truly say thank God for blessing me with two awesome parents.
Your comment reminds me of the country/western song “Voices” by Chris Young!
One of the lines is:
“Sometimes I try to ignore ‘em
But I thank God for ‘em
‘Cause they made me who I am.”
So very true!
[...] Smashwords Streamlines Publishing [...]
A really stimulating conversation. Many thanks for some very useful information. It’s served to reinforce what I used to tell my students – many years ago, “what you learn with pleasure, you’ll remember forever.”. The hints and tips delivered above are surely in that category.