Amazon vs Smashwords
If you're a self-published author, or maybe even a traditionally published author who has control of their backlist and wants to get into the self-published market, sooner or later you're going to have to get your books listed somewhere. Luckily for you there are idiots people like me who learned the hard way have been there already, so you can benefit from our mistakes experience.
The truth is, the title is misleading. You don't want to pick one or the other--Amazon or Smashwords--you want to go with both. You want your book out there in every possible listing. More listings mean more people will see it which hopefully means more sales.
I won't bother going into the whole Amazon "stolen book" tale. You can skip back and read that later if you want. Besides, it's not fair because I don't have that experience with Smashwords so I can't compare how well they would have handled the same situation. I will note, however, that Smashwords doesn't do any more to verify that you have the rights to the book you're uploading than Amazon does as far as I can tell.
Uploading your book to Amazon is fairly easy--or at least as easy as filling out most forms are, and most of what they want is explained quite clearly. Same goes for Smashwords.
What Amazon doesn't really explain well is how to properly format your manuscript so that it makes for an easy read. I first uploaded my books in .pdf format, which I later learned is a really bad idea not ideal. If you dredge deep enough, and use a divining rod Amazon actually does have a section that explains poorly how to format your manuscript for Kindle. For instance, it prefers .doc, among other things.
Smashwords, on the other hand, has a handy-dandy guide that explains step by step how to best format your manuscript. It took me a couple of hours to format Darkside, but by the time I got to formatting the sequel I was a pro and finished it in about an hour.
And here's the other thing: At Amazon, once published, if you want to check out your book's formatting you actually have to buy them from Amazon--although you can preview it before publication, and it will let you download a sample for free. If you do, and find out the formatting is atrocious (like I did) you can upload a new version, but it takes a day or so before that new version takes effect.
At Smashwords you can download your book as often as you like in any format for free. It's your book after all. You can also upload newer versions, but I can't tell you how long it takes because I haven't had to do it yet. What I can tell you is that the Smashwords version came out formatted cleanly the very first time. (Maybe that hand-dandy formatting guide isn’t such a bad idea after all, eh Amazon?)
And that's the other thing:
Amazon formats your book to be read on Kindle.
Smashwords formats your book to be read in just about every electronic format out there--including Kindle.
That's right, Smashwords formats for the Nook, Sony Reader etc. and did a better job formatting for the Kindle reader than Amazon did! The Smashword's Kindle ebook formatted cleanly the very first time, with chapter breaks and a working table of contents and everything. At Amazon, I'm on my third version of Darkside and I'm still not sure if I've got it right yet.
Smashwords will even help you get an ISBN number. Why is that important? Because Apple, Sony, and Borders will not sell your book without one, and Smashwords will list and sell your books at all of these locations and more, whereas Amazon only sells your book at Amazon.
Having said that, even Smashwords admits that the Amazon market is about 2000 times bigger than theirs is. (However, if I'm not mistaken I believe Smashwords is in talks to cross market with Amazon, so this point could become irrelevant.)
Amazon pays you by monthly check once your sales top $100, or by deposit to a bank account. (Apparently if you set up for payment into your bank, they'll pay out even if you've made under $100.) It makes me wonder how much money Amazon makes on people who opted for the check, but never made sales over $100?
Smashwords offers payment by quarterly check (once your sales top $75) and PayPal (once sales top $10). All authors outside the U.S. are paid via PayPal.
Smashwords tells you upfront that if you reside outside the US, your Smashwords earnings are subject to a 30% tax withholding, mandated by the United States IRS. They also tell you countries have special tax treaties with the US, and these tax treaties can allow you to claim full or partial exemptions. They even provide you with the form you have to fill out.
To be truthful, I'm sure Amazon says the same thing somewhere written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics but I haven't come across it yet.
As for how much you get paid, as a general rule, Smashwords pays higher royalties. Remember, though, that they're dealing across several sellers, and not all pay the same.
And how do you keep track of all this?
Smashwords has a wonderful link called "Dashboard" which puts everything at your fingertips: the status of your books, statistics as to how many people downloaded it and/or browsed it, sales, royalties, favorite sexual position, the ability to apply discount coupons and so on. Oh, and they'll email you whenever you sell a copy or two. (I'm sure you can opt out of this if you're Amanda Hocking and sell a gazillion books at a time.)
Amazon has a link that basically lists status, sales, and royalties, and allows you to upload new versions.
So there you have it. I would say that other than Amazon's much larger market (which, let's face it, is one heck of a selling point) Smashwords is the much better platform.
But as I said, it really doesn't matter, because you should list with both anyway.
The truth is, the title is misleading. You don't want to pick one or the other--Amazon or Smashwords--you want to go with both. You want your book out there in every possible listing. More listings mean more people will see it which hopefully means more sales.
I won't bother going into the whole Amazon "stolen book" tale. You can skip back and read that later if you want. Besides, it's not fair because I don't have that experience with Smashwords so I can't compare how well they would have handled the same situation. I will note, however, that Smashwords doesn't do any more to verify that you have the rights to the book you're uploading than Amazon does as far as I can tell.
Uploading your book to Amazon is fairly easy--or at least as easy as filling out most forms are, and most of what they want is explained quite clearly. Same goes for Smashwords.
What Amazon doesn't really explain well is how to properly format your manuscript so that it makes for an easy read. I first uploaded my books in .pdf format, which I later learned is a really bad idea not ideal. If you dredge deep enough, and use a divining rod Amazon actually does have a section that explains poorly how to format your manuscript for Kindle. For instance, it prefers .doc, among other things.
Smashwords, on the other hand, has a handy-dandy guide that explains step by step how to best format your manuscript. It took me a couple of hours to format Darkside, but by the time I got to formatting the sequel I was a pro and finished it in about an hour.
And here's the other thing: At Amazon, once published, if you want to check out your book's formatting you actually have to buy them from Amazon--although you can preview it before publication, and it will let you download a sample for free. If you do, and find out the formatting is atrocious (like I did) you can upload a new version, but it takes a day or so before that new version takes effect.
At Smashwords you can download your book as often as you like in any format for free. It's your book after all. You can also upload newer versions, but I can't tell you how long it takes because I haven't had to do it yet. What I can tell you is that the Smashwords version came out formatted cleanly the very first time. (Maybe that hand-dandy formatting guide isn’t such a bad idea after all, eh Amazon?)
And that's the other thing:
Amazon formats your book to be read on Kindle.
Smashwords formats your book to be read in just about every electronic format out there--including Kindle.
That's right, Smashwords formats for the Nook, Sony Reader etc. and did a better job formatting for the Kindle reader than Amazon did! The Smashword's Kindle ebook formatted cleanly the very first time, with chapter breaks and a working table of contents and everything. At Amazon, I'm on my third version of Darkside and I'm still not sure if I've got it right yet.
Smashwords will even help you get an ISBN number. Why is that important? Because Apple, Sony, and Borders will not sell your book without one, and Smashwords will list and sell your books at all of these locations and more, whereas Amazon only sells your book at Amazon.
Having said that, even Smashwords admits that the Amazon market is about 2000 times bigger than theirs is. (However, if I'm not mistaken I believe Smashwords is in talks to cross market with Amazon, so this point could become irrelevant.)
Amazon pays you by monthly check once your sales top $100, or by deposit to a bank account. (Apparently if you set up for payment into your bank, they'll pay out even if you've made under $100.) It makes me wonder how much money Amazon makes on people who opted for the check, but never made sales over $100?
Smashwords offers payment by quarterly check (once your sales top $75) and PayPal (once sales top $10). All authors outside the U.S. are paid via PayPal.
Smashwords tells you upfront that if you reside outside the US, your Smashwords earnings are subject to a 30% tax withholding, mandated by the United States IRS. They also tell you countries have special tax treaties with the US, and these tax treaties can allow you to claim full or partial exemptions. They even provide you with the form you have to fill out.
To be truthful, I'm sure Amazon says the same thing somewhere written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics but I haven't come across it yet.
As for how much you get paid, as a general rule, Smashwords pays higher royalties. Remember, though, that they're dealing across several sellers, and not all pay the same.
And how do you keep track of all this?
Smashwords has a wonderful link called "Dashboard" which puts everything at your fingertips: the status of your books, statistics as to how many people downloaded it and/or browsed it, sales, royalties, favorite sexual position, the ability to apply discount coupons and so on. Oh, and they'll email you whenever you sell a copy or two. (I'm sure you can opt out of this if you're Amanda Hocking and sell a gazillion books at a time.)
Amazon has a link that basically lists status, sales, and royalties, and allows you to upload new versions.
So there you have it. I would say that other than Amazon's much larger market (which, let's face it, is one heck of a selling point) Smashwords is the much better platform.
But as I said, it really doesn't matter, because you should list with both anyway.
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