Book Marketing Maven - How to Make Your Books Available in Multiple Ebook Formats – An Interview with Mark Coker of Smashwords

How to Make Your Books Available in Multiple Ebook Formats – An Interview with Mark Coker of Smashwords

Posted: 19 Apr 2010 04:19 AM PDT

Today I'm delighted to have Mark Coker, author and founder of ebook publisher Smashwords, visit The Savvy Book Marketer to talk about ebooks.

Welcome Mark. These are exciting times for independent authors, with so many ways to publish and distribute their work. Smashwords makes books available in a variety of ebook formats, including those compatible with popular ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Nook, and Sony eReader. Can you tell us briefly how Smashwords works and what the fees are?

Smashwords is an ebook publishing and distribution platform. Authors simply upload their finished manuscript as a Microsoft Word document, formatted to the requirements described in our Smashwords Style Guide, and then we convert it into multiple ebook formats and make it available for immediate online sale at a price set by the author. Since we publish multi-format, our books are readable on any e-reading device. All of our services are free. We earn our income by taking a 15% commission on the net. 85% of the net goes to the author.

I was excited to learn that some ebooks published through Smashwords are eligible for listing on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Apple's iBookstore, giving authors tremendous exposure. What does it take to get onto that distribution list?

Once a book is published at Smashwords, we evaluate it for inclusion in our Premium Catalog. The requirements are strictly mechanical to match what our retailers want, so we're looking for a good book cover image, good formatting, a clear copyright statement, and complete metadata. Once the book is accepted into the Premium Catalog, we distribute it to Apple's iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and soon, Amazon. Our books sit on the same virtual shelves as those by the major publishers.
What are some other reasons for authors to publish in ebook format?

READ MORE AT: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2010/04/how-to-make-your-books-available-in-multiple-ebook-formats-interview-with-mark-coker-of-smashwords.html

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides, has a degree in marketing and 15 years of publishing experience. See her media page for more information.

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