For those of you Indie authors out there who are seeking to self-publish, I want to share a website with you called Smashwords.
Smashwords is a site where you can publish your eBook or other content to multiple retail outlets at once. Smashwords allows you to distribute your work to the Apple iBookstore which serves over 50 countries, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (which powers other retailers as well), Sony, Baker & Taylor (which serves Blio.com and the Axis360 public library platform), and the Diesel eBook Store.
Smashwords offers many tools and opportunities for those wishing to self-publish their work. Among the tools offered are:
- We make it fast, free and easy to publish an ebook!
- World’s largest indie ebook distributor
- 185,000+ titles published by 50,000+ authors and publishers
- 85% net back to the author/publisher/agent
- Upload your book once and enjoy distribution to multiple retailers. Spend more time writing and less time managing multiple retailer platforms.
- We provide simple, step-by-step instructions that make it free and easy for anyone to create, publish and distribute an ebook.
- Distribution to libraries
- FREE ISBNs
- FREE ebook conversion to nine formats from a Word .doc
- FREE unlimited anytime-updates to book and metadata
- FREE consolidated sales reporting simplifies year-end tax reporting
- FREE centralized metadata management
- FREE exclusive marketing and selling tools such as our Smashwords Coupon Manager!
Smashwords allows any genre and the following formats:
- Personal Memoirs
- Short Fiction
- Long Fiction
- Essays
- Poetry
- Screenplays
- Anything else you can write in a word processor!
Registering for a Smashwords account and publishing with them is free, so you don’t have to worry about being charged. You keep all the rights to your material and the publishing option with Smashwords is non-exclusive.
You can publish in Amazon and Smashwords both provided you are not using the Direct option with Amazon which has specific requirements.
Read more about Smashwords here: Smashwords Q & A
They have a Smashwords Style Guide which you can download free: Smashwords Style Guide
Smashwords also offers free books on:
The Secrets to ePublishing Success
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide
and more! Sign up for a free Smashwords account to gain access to their free tools and tips as well as publish your work.
Eileen Maki 