Smashwords is the world largest distributor of self published ebooks, having published. Last week i published a short ebook i titled, hopscotch challenges. Lenore skomal told us about her ebook formatting calamity. Nov 18, 20 id like to distribute this free ebook resource as widely as possible, however, so this weekend i spent some time trying to publish it on other sites including amazon, apple, and smashwords. How to check your ebook formatting before pushing the publish.
Secrets to ebook publishing success smashwords guides 3. Click publish and follow the simple steps to upload your book and cover image. Kindle direct publishing and smashwords direct are two parts of a threepronged approach to indie publishing. Publishing takes less than 5 minutes and your book appears on kindle stores worldwide within 2448 hours. Publish your ebook with smashwords sallyhanans blog. Publishing your book to smashwords a quick tutorial. Smashwords will suit some authors looking at releasing an ebook. If you want to be an independent author and make money, you should try presspad store.
Smashwords is one of the worlds largest distributors of independent and selfpublished ebooks with over 200,000 titles in its retail catalogue worldwide. I know, i know, youre excited, and you want to get your book out into the world. As an ebook publishing and distribution platform, smashwords will distribute your ebooks via multiple online channels, including but not limited to the web site, major. Smashwords is the world largest distributor of self published ebooks, having published more than 360,000. I created smashwords to give writers the freedom to publish what they want, and give readers the freedom to read what they want. We go over important points about formatting your ebook for uploading to smashword. My childrens chapter book has been on smashwords for a while. Part 2 how to publish your ebooks with smashwords how. Ebook publishing using guest author laura nunn well, i took the plunge and published my first ebook as a publisher on. Reputation smashwords is the worlds largest and most trusted indie ebook distributor. How to selfpublish an ebook in this article, ill go through why self publishing an ebook is a good idea, how to format an ebook for publication, exclusivity vs going wide on multiple platforms, the specific sites available for self publishing ebooks and what information you need, thoughts on pricing, and piracy. In many ways, smashwords falls between different stools. The other week, i invited smashwords authors and publishers to help their fellow authors by writing a how to publish an ebook on smashwords blog post.
The official blog for smashwords, a distributor of indie ebooks. Jan 21, 2014 ebook formatting catastrophes are avoidable one just has to take the extra steps to check the files before pushing the publish button. Ebook publishing is an easy, inexpensive and quick way to produce a book, and its an even more interesting option for authors who are blogging books. The simplest way to get your ebook distributed as widely as possible and looking pretty good is to. You have the option to make your book permanently free on smashwords. A catchall board of tips on what a member uses, has used, or stopped doing when it comes to marketing, promoting, ebook distributors, ebook publishers, etc. Smashwords aims to make it fast, free and easy for authors to distribute ebooks to the worlds largest ebook retailers. How to selfpublish an ebook with smashwords smashwords blog. Download free ebooks on smashwords smashwords read an ebook week promotions between march 410.
With smashwords, your book must be created or saved in word 972003 format in order for it to pass the test of conversion. Dec, 2010 smashwords ebook template for free books sami salkosuo. Its list of online distributors is pretty extensive, meaning that your book is. Jun 06, 2014 this way i receive payment directly from both sites and dont have to pay a commission on those sales to smashwords. You can do this on smashwords or draft2digital well in advance. Dec 05, 2015 kindle direct publishing and smashwords direct are two parts of a threepronged approach to indie publishing. It was founded by the author mark coker and launched in 2008. Self publish ebooks and paperbacks for free with kindle direct publishing, and reach millions of readers on amazon.
If you wrote your book in the later versions of microsoft word, then. How to check your ebook formatting before pushing the. Smashwords continues to negotiate with various online retail outlets to ensure the best possible distribution potential for your book. Others authors prefer the convenience of doing it all through smashwords and just having one distributor. For faster answers, check these links before you email us authorspublishers.
Ive now selfpublished some reasonably successful books and i have more. If the ebook is flawed in some way or has serious formatting problems, surely you could go through. Smashwords also accepts direct uploads of professionally designed epub files. Smashwords operates its own ebook store, where authors earn 85 percent of the net sale whats left after credit card fees are deducted. Writers from all over the world can publish their books with smashwords. Ebook provider overdrive will distribute titles from self publishing platform smashwords, reports publishers weekly. If youre a blogger, writer, andor an entrepreneur, you might be thinking about. Smashwords selfpublished bestselling ebooks of 2014. How to publish an ebook smashwords wealthy affiliate. Make smashwords your greatest sales tool, your finest book distributor, a friend who works 247 to get your book into as many hands as possible. Publish your ebook in a few short steps just create a kobo writing life account, upload your manuscript, and set the price. According to the 2015 smashwords survey, free ebooks get 41 times more downloads on average than other ebooks. For indie selfpublished authors, theres never been a better time to publish an ebook.
Be a great product leader amplify, oct 2019 adam nash. For example, the kindle ereader is the amazon platform. In the process, i hired an editor and much of the book has changed. That works out to between 60 and 80 percent of the list price, depending on the books price for more info on author earnings and payment schedules, see smashwords faq. You and smashwords become great friends with self publish with smashwords. As an ebook publishing and distribution platform, smashwords will distribute your ebooks via multiple online channels, including but not limited to the smashwords. Jan 14, 20 i chose to self publish my nonfiction ebook for middle grade girls, girls succeed. Smashwords was created by an author mark coker to make it fast, free and easy for any writer, anywhere in the world, to publish an ebook click here to read the profile on smashwords in forbes magazine. Memoirs, early childhood 19291943 was written by my mother, bette james. This tutorial will help you learn how to publish your own books, in digital formats, on the smashwords. Converts your ebook into every file type for any possible ereading device.
Thanks kathy and i use sw also, great idea bout using their goodtogotopremium file to convert to mobi. Its list of online distributors is pretty extensive, meaning that your book is likely to reach a wider audience. I created smashwords to give writers the freedom to publish what. The problem is that smashwords is an aggregator, and their feeds dont go immediately, plus they are at the whim of the online store to take action. Jun 07, 2012 apples biggest unknown supplier of ebooks. Stories behind the careers of successful women, with smashwords because the ebook is published online in many different formats and available to readers all over the world. It is a strong option for distribution premium catalog if you have completed and formatted files interior and cover.
Well add it to the kobo catalogue within 72 hours and keep it there as long as you want. Selfpublishing with smashwords skokie public library. The smashwords style guide has helped indie authors produce and publish over,000 highquality ebooks. It has obviously been put together from various blog posts and presentations. Stories behind the careers of successful women, with smashwords because the ebook is. The authors publish guide to childrens publishing by djmills dec 30, 2019 12. If you order ebook cover formatting, please attach your cover to this form in the attach file box below. The workshops were presented in logical order and designed to take writers from introduction to expertise over the course of six hours. Daily sales reports consolidated sales reporting and tax accounting. From my own experience, when i unpublish a title on smashwords in readiness to enroll in kdp select, i have had no problem at all with smashwords three leading retailers.
Smashwords how to publish an ebook with smashwords. As part of a new deal, overdrive will distribute more than 200,000 smashwords titles from around 80,000. For others, and for some of the reasons touched on above, they may be put off. I decided that i needed to offer the book in print so i went to.
The story hasnt but there were lots of edits and rewriting that has. Learn the 30 secrets of the bestselling selfpublished ebook authors. Smashwords only takes a 15% fee and you get to keep the rest and you can change the price as often as you want to. If you had your ebook cover designed by us, then it does not. But if you submitted a book through smashwords, their autovetter requires you to put in. The third and a very important part is createspace, which is. Smashwords only takes a percentage of ebooks sold, there is no cost to publish your ebook why smashwords. Allows you to establish your preorder listing up to 12 months in advance which enables more sales participate in exclusive.
Once you have your new cover image, click to your smashwords dashboard, then click settings, and then upload your new cover image. Smashwords suggests that you enter no more than 10 tags. Smashwords was set up by author mark coker in 2008 and allows you to distribute. This is a great tutorial for indie authors, who love to learn how to make their works available to millions of. We go over important points about formatting your ebook.
I decided that i needed to offer the book in print so i went to createspace to self publish my book in print. The ebook is currently available on amazon and smashwords. Secrets to ebook publishing success smashwords guides 3 kindle edition by coker. Smashwords was created by an author mark coker to make it fast, free and easy for any writer, anywhere in the world, to publish an ebook click here to read the profile on smashwords in.
What are some good independent ebook publishers besides. Ebook publishing gets more difficult from here smashwords blog. If the ebook is flawed in some way or has serious formatting problems, surely you could go through a complains procedure to receive a refund. Smashwords how to publish an ebook with smashwords ebooks. A compromise has been worked out for smashwords to publish titles in bulk through amazons selfpublishing system, though. This puts smashwords in the lead and it has grown to become the worlds leading ebook publishing platform for indie authors and small independent presses. Nov 19, 2012 an ebook platform is a word for the device that you read your ebooks on.
The largest ebook distributor of selfpublished titles thats been around the longest and has the widest reach, particularly to the. An ebook platform is a word for the device that you read your ebooks on. The pricing and sampling section is different than on amazon. I created smashwords to open doors, not close doors. Sws ability for the author to download the file in various. Im using the ebook this month with my 4th and 5th grade stem students, as i. How to publish your ebooks with smashwords publish an ebook. Do you have a suggestion for making the smashwords. If you had your ebook cover designed by us, then it does not need to be formatted. Last week i presented a series of four 90minute workshops on ebook publishing at the pacific northwest writers conference in seattle. Join over 140,000 authors and small independent presses that publish and distribute with smashwords. Books sold on smashwords earn approximately 85% of the retail price books sold on affiliate sites, like a publisher, author or blogger, receive.
A podcast series for writers intending to selfpublish ebooks. Mar 25, 2016 according to the 2015 smashwords survey, free ebooks get 41 times more downloads on average than other ebooks. This digital publishing software let you create online bookstore, quick and easy. Allows you to establish your preorder listing up to 12 months in advance which enables more sales participate in exclusive smashwords promotions such a read an ebook week and the smashwords summerwinter sale free isbns. We empower you to reach more readers with our professional publishing and distribution tools. Crowned by forbes magazine as one of america most promising companies in 2014. How to publish your book through smashwords click here to get great self publishing content via email. Romance titles ruled at smashwords in 2014, grabbing 16 of 25 spots on the annual list of bestselling titles published on the companys platform, with natasha prestons. Selfpublishing on kdp select, smashwords and draft2digital. Your information about shipping delays with smashwords is somewhat correct.
Smashwords aligns its business practices to serve both authors and publishers. Ebook provider overdrive will distribute titles from selfpublishing platform smashwords, reports publishers weekly. You can now try self publish with smashwords for less than dinner out with the family. A compromise has been worked out for smashwords to publish titles in bulk through amazons selfpublishing system, though plans are over a year. Ideally, youll know which keywords to target based on the initial keyword research you performed before writing your book. I chose to selfpublish my nonfiction ebook for middle grade girls, girls succeed. Smashwords does convert and display uploads on smashwords in minutes, not days like at amazon. Youll notice that smashwords selfpublishing platform allows for two descriptions. Publish success network blogging with humour, ideas and opinions. Publish assetless preorders metadataonly preorders. In this section, you should fill in your attentiongrabbing title, as well as your ebooks blurb. See my free ebook, the secrets to ebook publishing success, for comments on why a professional ebook cover image is so critical to a books success. How to publish your book through smashwords self publish a. If you wrote your book in the later versions of microsoft word, then you must read the smashwords style guide by mark coker the founder and president of smashwords.