Self Publishing with Smashwords By Kathy Sexton Readers Services Supervisor

Today’s Agenda What is Smashwords? Why use Smashwords? How do I use Smashwords? How do I track my ebook sales? How do I market my ebook?

What is Smashwords?

Why Smashwords? Rights - You retain ownership rights and are able to publish your book with any other source at any time in the future Exposure - Smashwords partners with several ebook distributors Free! – Smashwords only takes a percentage of ebooks sold, there is no cost to publish your ebook

Compensation Books sold on Smashwords earn approximately 85% of the retail price Books sold on affiliate sites, like a publisher, author or blogger, receive approximately 70% Books sold through distributors, like iBooks, Barnes and Noble or Overdrive, receive approximately 60%

So am I going to sell tons of books and make big money??? Probably not Think of it as a long term investment in your writing career and as a way to get exposure

Getting Paid If you do not reach the threshold, your balance will carry over to the next quarter.

Distributors Apple – iBook stores in 51 countries Barnes & Noble Scribd, Oyster, Kobo, Yuzu, Blio Overdrive – World’s largest library ebook platform Baker & Taylor Axis 360   

How do I get started? Sign up for Smashwords – it’s free and easy Use the Smashwords Style Guide – it is a must if you want Smashwords to widely distribute your ebook Follow the simple steps on the “Publish” page to publish your Microsoft Word document

Smashwords Style Guide

Smashwords Style Guide

Need Help?

Source Formats Microsoft Word – preferred format EPUB – can be uploaded with Smashwords Direct Adobe InDesign – not accepted but the Style Guide gives instructions on transferring to Word PDF – not accepted but can be converted HTML Source File – not accepted but can be converted

Formats

EPUB – the most common format that works with a majority of ereaders and apps PDF – readable by most devices, good for books with lots of charts, graphs or a complex layout; not reflowable MOBI – Amazon Kindle format HTML – allows reading in a browser PDB – PalmDoc primarily used for Palm Pilot devices LRF – only for older Sony Readers Plain Text – most widely supported file format but does not work well with images for fancy formatting

Don’t Forget the ISBN! An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique identifier associated with your book If your book is in print as well, you will still need a different ISBN Your ebook cannot be accepted by certain sales channels if it does not have an ISBN So how do you get an ISBN?

What is Bowker? The world’s leading provider of bibliographic information

Once you have created a Smashwords account and formatted your document according to the Style Guide, it’s time to PUBLISH! https://www.smashwords.com/upload

Managing Your ebook(s)

Where’s My Money?!?

Marketing Your ebook

A Few Marketing Tips Have a great cover Local Libraries Social Media Free Press Release Wire Services Encourage your fans to write reviews on Smashwords and other outlets Connect with other authors

More Resources

Even More Resources Use Smashwords FAQ page – it’s pretty great Smashwords Video Workshops on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/Smashwords  Check out the Smashwords blog - http://blog.smashwords.com

Thank You! Questions you think of later? ksexton@skokielibrary.info