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Smashwords shipping to Amazon by year end.
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message 51:
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Ted
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Jan 22, 2012 08:49AM
The only Smashwords forum is the unofficial Smashwords Forum.
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I'd like to see more communication between Smashwords Forum members, but don't forget that Goodreads has a whole lot more members because it was established in 2007 while Smashwords Forum was just established in 2011.I'm sure there'll be more engagement when SF reaches 7 million members too.
I want to add that if in this thread I've been critical of Smashwords, it does not mean that I do not respect them or plan to discontinue my relationship with them. Mark Coker has always been very kind and responsive. He's also one of the best evangelists for ebooks and indie authors on the scene.
Same thoughts for me about respect and relationship with Amazon.I agree with J.; Mark's done a terrific job evangelizing ebooks and indie authors.
I use both Amazon and Smashwords. I have found that most of my sales come from Amazon, but I'd still continue to use Smashwords to get my book listed with the other retailers they offer.Nothing is ever a perfect situation, especially with new authors who have yet to find an audience. Marketing your book is never easy and knowing where your audience will find you takes time. Since it doesn't cost you to be listed in as many places as possible and can only help you by finding potential readers, why not take advantage of every avenue you can?
This is a bit off topic, but since my ebook just became available on B&N after being approved for premium status on Smashwords, are B&N sales recorded to your Smashwords Dashboard or is there a way to check sales numbers on B&N???Thanks for your help!
Hi, Harriet. The sales are reported on your Dashboard. Click on the sales link on the left side of the page.
Damien, when you find out share with us. You are always so helpful. I will have to do that in a few days.
Damien wrote: "could someone hit me up and show me how to take it off of Goodreads?"Which book?
I just went in and deleted everything about the book manually. Goodreads and Amazon are fighting about something else any way. I got notice for some of my other books, "This book is in danger of being removed" and I had to change some stuff. The one I put on KDPSelect, I just backspaced over all the words.I think it is not visible now.
Barnes & Noble Stores Will Not Stock Books Published By Amazon http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/...
Hi. So glad I found this forum. I uploaded two weeks ago to Smashwords and just three days ago was accepted for the Premium catalogue. Still waiting to see my book, though I am starting see several sample downloads of the book from my dashboard (what's that all about?). I'm getting frustrated. I have my book on the Bookshelf at Amazon but terrified I have no option but to do KDP Direct with them, so I don't want to pull the trigger. First question, can you upload to Amazon these days without having to go through KDP? Second question, is there any way to determine when I will actually see my book distributed through Smashwords?
Ted wrote: "The only Smashwords forum is the unofficial Smashwords Forum."Thanks for the link... I was wondering if there was a Smashwords forum.
Was about to upload on Smashwords but I think I'll stick to Amazon for now. Dont need any more headaches right now - out of asprins Ha ha.
Hi Cheryl. #1) No. If you want your book available for Kindle devices you have to go through the Amazon KDP system. If you choose to enroll in the Amazon KDP Select program you will have to remove your ebook(s) from all other retailers. #2) On your Smashwords Dashboard click on the "Channel Manager" to see the status of your book(s) at different retailers.
Familiarize yourself with all the data and information available to you on your Dashboard. Read the FAQ's, and click on all the links on your Dashboard to learn more.
Thanks Ted. In reference to KDP I forgot to type select. It almost seems as if you don't have a choice but to do select. At least they make you think that. I will finish uploading to Amazon. In the meantime, in a disturbing turn of events, it would appear the SW site is down.
Cheryl- You can be on KDP without being in KDP Select. My KDP Select three month runs out at the beginning of August and I'm not choosing to renew. (I'd like to offer Nook again.) I don't think aside from being a part of the lending library, and doing the free days, that there's anything else you get with Select that you don't with plain KDP.
I am not with KDP Select. I wanted to be on Smashwords and Nook as well and didn't get anything out of Select.
Damien wrote: "Yeah, 2012 is supposed to be a huge year for all of us involved in eBookery. Check out my new blog post on the revolutionary new changes coming our way. A brave new world of ebooks."Your blog was deleted?
Ted wrote: " the Smashwords Forum now has 212 members."
Hi Ted,
I just joined the forum over there. Thanks for the link.
I like Amazon and KDP, but I don't like Select. I also like Smashwords and through them I am on a lot of other retailers. When will Page Foundary and Baker & Taylor come on stream do you think?
Hi Ted,
I just joined the forum over there. Thanks for the link.
I like Amazon and KDP, but I don't like Select. I also like Smashwords and through them I am on a lot of other retailers. When will Page Foundary and Baker & Taylor come on stream do you think?
Hi David. Thanks for joining the Smashwords Forum. Take a moment or two and promote your works in the Members Ebooks forums.Baker and Taylor has been online for a few months now. All but my latest works are with them, and I've even had a few sales.
I'm not sure when Page Foundry will be on stream. Mark will likely announce it on the Site Update page on your Dashboard when it happens.
Well, that is nice to know. How do you check if your books are on Baker & Taylor? Is it possible to link to them like you can for Sony and the rest?
David, B&T is a closed shop for libraries. I'm not aware that authors have access B&T data. You can find out more on the B&T web site.To link to your B&T ebook I imagine you'd have to find it at a library web site and use that url. Sounds cumbersome to me considering the number of libraries.
To see how many ebooks you have at B&T, look on your Dashboard sales report.
I've been earning 60% royalty on my ebooks sold by B&T.
The thing I don't like about Smashwords is the way the final product looks. I format and convert for Kindle and it comes out exactly how I want to look. I format and upload to Smashwords and everything runs in together when they do their conversions. They need to perfect their conversion process.
Michael, the reason Amazon conversions look better on Amazon devices than conversions by third-parties is that Amazon has proprietary intellectual property regarding display on their devices, and to share that with third-parties would not be in their commercial best interest. Last year when Amazon released the source code for their devices they didn't include code for their ereader, which infuriated more than one developer. The source code released was all GPL software and nothing Kindle specific. This issue was discussed on Slashdot when Amazon made a big to-do about releasing their source code.
Smashwords, as well as Calibre and other conversion software providers, are working on improving conversion output for all ebook formats.
Hi there, Any idea when Smashwords will be accepting mobi and ePub files for distribution? With so many professional formatting tools out there I feel that SW's MS word document requirement is incredibly cumbersome and impractical.
Mark said epub files would be accepted by year end. We will have to wait and see. He's going to have to do something if he wants to remain competitive.
Maybe I'm Smashwords' biggest cheerleader. I don't see any downside there. My conversions have been seamless and the results are perfect. I have never had to redo italics and the section breaks are as I intended. The same Word documents that convert at Smashwords convert at Amazon and look fine on a Kindle. What are people complaining about? I suspect a great many just like to bitch.A Smashwords forum might be worthwhile, but really, what good are all the other forums doing for us?
Cynical, Scott, but spot on. I have yet to have anything negative to say about Smashwords. I think the people who say, "Pay for this. Pay for that." have another agenda. And, as I have said before, we do not need to reach authors. We need to reach readers. Some of the goodreads forums do that.But it is kind of synergistic. A mention of my blog on twitter brings readers to the blog that see my books. I noticed this last promo that people were retweeting that I wasn't even too sure who they were. Still, the "trickle down" is a tiny trickle, and the long tail theory works but it is a very long and very skinny tail. Anything, even if I comment on someone else's blog, if it says link to twitter, I do it. I read something about Instagram knocking the stuffing out of twitter. I cannot see how they are even in competition. It is nice to see specific results, but there are still spikes and sales every now and then that I cannot explain. Kind of a crap shoot, if a crap shoot can even be synergistic. . .
I recognize that this thread is about Smashwords, so go ahead and flay me and move on because I need to ask Virginia about Goodreads. I think it might have value as a promotional tool but I find it the most obtuse site possibly next to Amazon. How do you use it effectively?
@Scott. There are self-promo forums. You have to be sure you are in a forum like "Introduce yourself" that allows self-promo. Then within those forums you usually have to start a new discussion about your work. Most forums have clearly labeled instructions before you post. There are specific forums for give aways. Listopia allows you to put your book in a specific list like "love-triangle" or "paranormal". The only way to get on the list is to "vote" for your book, so it seems a little weird. I don't know what kind of traffic that generates. I like "Editio". Seems kind of on top of the latest. Haresh Deswani is cool, but busy.
There is a place to list your works, I think on your profile page. They allow a synopsis, cover pic, etc. People can rate your work or review and it shows up there, I think click "my books". There is a bunch of weirdness because it is so big, like you have to have I think "administrative" status or something to edit your own profile, but it is not hard to do. Just seems kind of fascist.
Almost always, if someone asks to be your friend, accept and put their books on your to-read list. Professional courtesy. I have only had to unfriend one person that kind of turned into a snake.
The whole thing has particularly helped me garner UK support. KDP promos are very effective but it is up to you to find the right place to tell about it, or your new release, etc. You can ask for reviews in some forums but personally, I have a little trouble in that area. Hidden agendas, etc. Controversial issue.
Goodreads is not an Amazon affiliate so you can post Smashwords links, etc. "Ask David.com" is a good promo site also. It is a tedious process but will produce results. I went to a five figure rating today in cash sales for the first time, on my fifth book. It is already back in the hundred thousands tho. That somtimes means the person behind me sold a single book.
Someone said we self-publishers (not vanity publishers) need the "long-tail" school of marketing. Mine is a very long skinny tail but it still wags.
Oh. Your blog. Put all your new blog posts on twitter. When things go slow, I post a "risque" chapter and tweet it. Brings lots of blog hits where my books are evident. Whorish, I know. That is one of my posts: "Blog Whore".
I am a pretty typical Kindle publisher. They say they average two hundred sales life time and I am just creeping past that. More publications and word of mouth are the keys. I have trouble with the word of mouth. I am unfriendly. Wordy tho don't you see. . .
I finally had an issue with Smashwords; it was small, however. My latest is told as a series of vignettes, each having a heading describing place and date. Many are only a couple of paragraphs. The book is short and because of that and all the headings I thought it conducive to omitting a table of contents. Apparently Smashwords conversion software requires a table of contents or chapter heading from which it creates a table of contents. For a time I was peeved but recognized that software cannot make an artistic decision, so I created some arbitrary chapters. That solved the problem and I don't think I lost anything because of it.
Virginia,All that information sounds very helpful and informed.
I also have a problem with being sociable. I wish I had started with a pen name so I could create some kind of personable alter ego who didn't shun social media.
@Scott I never had a TOC issue. Never did one. Thought it was a choice. Five books up and counting. They called me on extra space between paragraphs and cover size. Once copyright page I think. Outside plumbing the chapters did have names.
Smashwords' software, Coker affectionately calls it the Meatgrinder, creates a table of contents on its own when it encounters the word 'chapter' in headings. If you create your own table of contents, the Meatgrinder bypasses that step. At least that's how I understood it when I reread the formatting guide. My other novel length works had hyperlinked tables within them.My short stories don't, though. I wonder how that worked. Maybe it has to find some minimum word count.
Anyway they rock when it comes to ePub. I know it will soon be easier to add illustrations, etc. Funny, I sell few books from actual Smashwords ( best royalty, best reviewers) but do consistently well on B&n. Oh, I think I said that before. Well, this week the process was "fun". Next week, we will see.Outside Plumbing by Virginia Llorca
Virginia wrote: "@Scott. There are self-promo forums. You have to be sure you are in a forum like "Introduce yourself" that allows self-promo. Then within those forums you usually have to start a new discussion a..."Wow. Thanks Virginia. You are a mine of information. I published my debut memoir a couple of weeks ago and sales have been slow. Smashwords and Mark Coker have been amazing! Any help you or anyone else can offer me would be gratefully received. I am also willing to do reciprocal reviews - especially in the Non Fiction and adventure Genres. I look forward to meeting you all as we "converse"
Oh, one last thing, it is rather fun having an alias or pen name. Its very liberating when you are writing memoirs. Its a lot of fun on the social forums too. You have no idea how many friends swore they went to school with my alter ego.
I know of and experienced good sales on Amazon. I also know of two authors who wrote that they sold almost nothing on Smashwords. One dropped smashwords due to lack of sales there and better sales on Amazon. Has anyone sold on smashwords the way authors sell on Amazon? Is there any real advantage to smashwords if you want book sales? Also experienced formatting problems on smashwords
Smashwords is more than a retailer, they are a distributor. If you are with Smashwords, you are sold by a long list of retailers, Apple, Sony, Barnes&Noble, Diesel, and more. Smashwords can download e-books in all formats to all types of readers. A friend of my just tried it for the first time and wrote me the following:"I finally got your book ordered and downloaded - very, very easy - don't know why I was so intimidated. Have been getting books only from library which uses Overdrive and didn't know whether Smashbooks did too. Turns out they do, so purchase couldn't have been easier. I am so thrilled."
On Formatting for Smashwords, I use a woman recommenced by them. She is fast, good and reasonable.
Grayson wrote: "This thread is a bit old, but I wanted to add one reason to use Smashwords to distribute to Amazon instead of going straight through Amazon: if you don't live in the US. Unlike Smashwords, Amazon..."
You are so right! I told Amazon to shove it for exactly those reasons!
Joan -- Smashwords is an important tool in my writing kit. With the help documents the site offers, plus links to free ePub checking software, I've made Smashwords my first publishing step for my last three books, forward. I also use Kobo and Amazon DP, of course, as I don't want to side-step any distribution channel. SW also offers me complete freedom as far as setting up discount coupons and freebies according to my own schedule. Their royalty rates are competitive. Once my books are formatted correctly for SW, they will work for anyone else, and a conversion to Kindle's mobi format goes much easier once any bugs are rooted out.
