She notes that it’s currently possible for independent authors to get on the iBookstore through Smashwords, but the Apple program will be designed to give authors incentives to publish exclusively with Apple.

However, Smashwords’s Mark Coker is highly dubious about this rumor. He told eBookNewser that Apple already has a self-publishing program, and a system of carefully-vetted aggregators such as Smashwords who serve it.

According to Coker, there isn’t another retailer with such a rigorous qualification process for authorized aggregators. He said, “Unlike others, Apple actively encourages authors and publishers to deliver books through their aggregators. Apple realizes that they’re going to earn a 30% commission whether they source the book from an aggregator or from their own platform, and books sourced from aggregators are more profitable for Apple because they can be sourced at lower cost (no need to invest millions of long term dollars to maintain and staff their own platform) and greater scalability than from one’s own platform.”

What Coker says makes a lot of sense. Apple is the company that invented the 30% agency pricing cut, after all, and why would they want to spend big on setting up an infrastructure under which they’d earn exactly the same 30% they would if they let someone else do all the work?

Also, it seems unlikely that any right-thinking authors would want to publish exclusively with Apple, when they could publish with Amazon and Barnes & Noble who between them make up something like 90% of the e-book market. Why would anyone limit himself to Apple, by comparison a totally third-rate player in the field?

Whatever happens, I’m sure Apple will have a lot of surprises to unveil at the January event, its first post-Jobs show. The company always does. And perhaps some of them will have to do with e-publishing. We’ll just have to wait and see what they actually are.

When I started my “Cheap Reads” series, I expected I would be posting a number of entries. I never expected it to be limited to just two for all this time! Fortunately, I’ve found another inexpensive novel that is highly worthy of mention.

In recent weeks I became aware of a small-press-published novel that looked very interesting by one of my Facebook friends, Sara M. Harvey. It is called Seven Times a Woman, and is a tempestuous romance set in ancient Japan involving a kitsune woman named Rei-Rei, the god Inari, and a dragon Rei-Rei has to “tame”.

I’ve developed a fondness for stories about kitsune lately, and when I found the e-book was only 99 cents on Smashwords, DRM-free, I decided to buy two digital copies—one for myself and one for a friend who was also fond of kitsune. (Smashwords has a really great and sensible licensing feature for its e-books: if you want to send a copy to a friend, it lets you pay for that copy you’re sending right up front. Great way to legitimize e-book sharing, as well as make it easy for the author to get paid for the between-friends sharing you would probably be doing anyway.)

I was a bit wary of buying a 99-cent book, given the perception that “you get what you pay for”, but after reading it, for the first time ever I found myself wanting to go back to Smashwords and pay for several more “copies” of the book, because I enjoyed it so much that I think 99 cents is far too little to pay for such a thing!

(I should apologize to Ms. Harvey and her publisher for the little bit of censorship I did on the cover image I’m posting with this story. It’s a really beautiful painting, perfectly in keeping with the nature of the story, but there are just some things I don’t think I can get away with showing on a blog meant to be read by all ages. For that matter, I find it interesting that the publisher could get away with putting it on the front of a book that’s going to be listed in all-ages stores such as Amazon, but it’s gorgeous enough that I’m certainly not going to complain.)

The story follows Rei-Rei across her seven reincarnations as human girls or women, during which time she meets and marries the dragon Sha Tano (also in human guise), and meets him again and again through subsequent lives. Following after Sha Tano is his darker twin, Kage, who poses a danger and a mystery that Rei-Rei must solve to complete the task she has been given.

In a way, the novel is more a collection of stories—the stories of each separate life of Rei-Rei, including her birth and upbringing—than a single tale. Indeed, each of the stories works well enough by itself that I could easily see them being published separately in magazines as novellas. The stories are woven together by common elements, and each builds on what came before to invoke the mystery of Rei-Rei’s lives and how she can complete her task and return to the arms of Inari. The overall story becomes more compelling with every one of Rei-Rei’s lives, and by the end I was quite unable to put it down.

All that I know about Japanese history and culture I’ve picked up from anime, manga, and a bit of Wikipedia and book-reading, so I’m by no means an expert, but the book appeared to me from what I do know to be very well-researched, with all the mythological figures depicted completely in keeping with their traditional images and descriptions.

The non-agency publishers who sell to Apple are obliged to have both: their DRP is the price Apple will charge (until and unless they’re undercut) and the SRP is the price that forms the basis of discounts to wholesale customers. I haven’t studied this but I think most publishers set SRPs higher than the break-even point because they want wholesale customers to go agency and would trade less revenue to achieve that, as they did when they switched over in the first place. (The publishers could set the SRP at a point where 50% of it equals 70% of the DRP, so their take is the same either way.) Theoretically, the publisher can count on the wholesale-purchasing retailer to discount the book to match the DRP, reducing their own margin and being competitive with the DRP in the consumer’s eyes.

This pricing strategy depends on the retailer discounting from the SRP to keep the pricing of the ebook from looking ridiculous. Not discounting is a way for the retailer to push the publisher to lower the SRP, which could start a cascade of price-cutting. That discounting has usually started with Amazon; others then follow suit. There are anecdotal claims that Amazon is starting to foil this strategy by letting publishers who set high prices live with the prices they set more often than they once did, but nobody but Amazon knows that for sure.

He also discusses the prices charged by e-book distributors, such as BookBaby, BookMasters, Smashwords, and various literary agents, and also the percentage of royalties paid to authors by publishers (currently the standard is 25% of the 70% of revenue after the agency vendor takes its cut, or 17.5% of the cover price). Shatzkin notes that the services publishers offer, including advances against royalties and a print revenue stream, will still give authors ample reason to stay with them rather than self-publish for four times the royalty rate, but expects the royalty rate to go up as more books are sold as e-books.

Shatzkin predicts that over the next few years, the revenue structure may change to favor publshers and authors, and that publishers’ rates will become more competitive with self-publishing as the global e-book infrastructure gets more mature. Of course, we still have a way to go yet before that can happen.

Coker writes:

To accommodate the books from these ebook design pros, we’ll offer a Meatgrinder bypass option called Smashwords Direct by the end of 2012. That means it’s coming but it’s not immediately imminent. Even when we offer that service, I expect most authors will still choose the Meatgrinder route because it’s faster, cheaper and, well, simpler.

The announcement seems to be garnering some positive reactions so far, such as this one from The Passive Voice.

The announcement did not mention whether Smashwords Direct will have different pricing than Meatgrinder. The “cheaper” phrasing seems to suggest it might, but on the other hand it could just be talking about the expenses required for someone to create his own pre-formatted e-book (buying the formatting software, and so on). Regardless, it certainly does seem to give the “your ebook, your way” slogan from the logo a bit more of a ring of truth.

Where Amazon has been opening separate stores for various different countries and languages (most recently a French store), Kobo makes all content for all languages available from the same store.

One example which shows why Kobo is ahead of iBookstore or Kindle Store – Smashwords. Books from Smashwords are theoretically available at Kindle Store, Kobo and iBookstore. The deal with Amazon doesn’t seem to work yet. There are over 40,000 Smashwords books in iBookstore US, but I can’t find a lot of them in iBookstore PL. So far, if I wanted to buy Polish books published at Smashwords, I could jump either to Smashwords or to Kobo.

He also points out that Kobo’s use of plain-vanilla Adobe DRM on EPUBs means that it is not restricted solely to Kobo’s own e-book store—it can read any e-books that are sold in Adobe-DRM’d EPUB (as well, of course, as the ones sold DRM-free).

namenick makes some interesting points. It could very well be that even as Kobo remains in third or fourth place in the US e-book market, it will still stay in the running by catering to the places the bigger US names aren’t touching.

We updated the Smashwords Style Guide today to include improved instructions for building linked Tables of Contents, controlling your NCX, building intra-book links for footnotes and endnotes, and troubleshooting. The new instructions are included in an expanded Step 20. Download the latest Style Guide here.

[...]

Separately today, we reached an exciting milestone. Today, the 100,000th copy of the Smashwords Style Guide was downloaded at Smashwords.com. Thousands of additional copies have been downloaded through our retail distribution network and Amazon.

Like so many other self-publishing writers, McIntyre went into self-publishing over disillusionment with the traditional publishing process after traditional publishers said they liked his books but admitted they could not figure out how to market them. When the iPad came out, McIntyre realized that he could reach readers directly, and started with Smashwords then added his works to Amazon’s Kindle and other major e-book sites.

McIntyre explains he puts a lot of effort into marketing his work:

The biggest thing I do for marketing is one-on-one communication with readers. I use Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads to connect with people I believe will have an interest in what I’m writing, then I offer discounted copies and discuss the books directly with them. After years of hearing other authors and agents and publishers telling me what I was doing wrong, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear directly from a reader who has had heart palpitations from reading a particularly engrossing scene or chapter. They are the audience. I believe in letting them decide what’s good and what isn’t. For the most part, I’ve found tremendous enjoyment in interacting on such a close level with these readers. They’ve made short stories better when I’ve offered them beta copies to read and told me that an idea sucks when it actually did. Generally, they get very excited over small discounts, free copies, and especially advanced access to a story as I’m working on it. You can’t pay for the kind of publicity you get from a genuinely interested reader who tweets or brags about a book they liked.

And also like many others, he sees books retreating into a niche market, much as vinyl records and record players have.

The interview has a pretty good basic explanation of what agency pricing is for someone who has been living under a rock for the last year or so and doesn’t understand it, and it includes an interesting point that Coker, sadly, doesn’t elaborate on in the rest of the review.

Of course, customers were concerned that it would mean book prices would go up, but that’s not really a concern of mine, because book prices are coming down, and they’re going to continue to go down.

He does mention later that he thinks non-fiction titles can support a higher price than fiction, since non-fiction works are usually meant to solve a problem whereas fiction is just read for escapism. And he thinks that free books are great loss leaders to get people interested in a series.

In regard to the printing cost matter, Coker points out that print titles still account for 90% of book sales, which means publishers would be having to pay for those costs anyway—so it would be just as well to let the print editions bear the burden.

The incremental cost to move your book to an eBook is really negligible.  You can use a platform like Smashwords and convert your book for free.  Realistically, for less than a hundred or two hundred dollars, a publisher can get that print book into eBook format so that their argument of production costs really doesn’t hold water.  There is some distribution cost, because managing the e-book supply chain is a completely different beast; something that we [at Smashwords] spend our days doing.  In the end, it is a much lower cost to publish and distribute an eBook than a print book.  And so, eBooks should be less than a print book, and they will be. At Smashwords, the average book is less than $5.

But still, he doesn’t say why he feels e-book prices are going to fall. (Which is especially odd given that EBookNewser headlines the interview with “Smashwords Founder Mark Coker Predicts Drop in eBook Prices” when the prediction of the price drop is just an aside and doesn’t even touch on the main points raised in the rest of the interview.)

Welcome to my annual Smashwords year in review where I report our progress and plans for the new year.

2010 was a breakout year for us. It was also a breakout year for our indie ebook authors and publishers.

Exactly two years ago we were publishing 140 books from 90 authors. We thought that was fantastic for our first year in business.

Last year at this time we hit 6,000 books from 2,600 authors and publishers. We were thrilled.

Today we’re listing 28,800 books from over 12,000 authors and publishers. We released 3,200 new ebooks in the last 30 days alone. We’re pinching ourselves now, not just because of how far we and our authors have come, but because we know we’ve barely scratched the surface of the possible.

Six years ago Smashwords was a jumble of simple ideas scribbled on a sketchpad. Today it’s a reality.

My original idea was simple: Create a free ebook publishing platform that would allow any author, anywhere in the world, to instantly publish an ebook at no cost. Authors, I believed, should have the right to publish whatever they want, and readers should have the freedom to decide what’s worth reading.

From the beginning, just about every conceivable odd was stacked against us. When we launched, ebooks accounted for about 1/2 of 1% of the overall book market; self-publishing was considered the option of last resort for failed authors who couldn’t find an agent or publisher; and self-published books weren’t selling. All the ingredients for a successful business, right? I thought so. I had a hunch all of this would change because it needed to change.

I believed traditional publishers were squandering the future of books. After decades of consolidation, big publishers began sucking the soul out of publishing. They began judging the merits of a book through the myopic prism of perceived commercial potential – a recipe for dumbing down publishing with more milquetoast celebrity books. Wanna buy a book from Justin Bieber, Snooki or the Kardashians?

The shift to this commercial filter meant that authors who otherwise deserved publication were denied the opportunity, therefore depriving readers of their ability to enjoy these books. If you value books, and if you believe as I believe that books are essential to the very future of mankind, then it’s time to rise up and do something about it. I’ve always had this higher purpose in mind with Smashwords. If you look at our logo, I call it “the power to the people fist.”

We’re also building a business as we try to change things for the better. In my 20+ years of technology entrepreneurship, I’ve always been drawn to startups that have the power to effect positive social change. This was certainly the case with my last startup, Bestcalls.com, where I helped level the playing field for small stock market investors.

Smashwords, to me, is the startup of a lifetime. Every day I’m excited to be part of it. Smashwords will only ever be as great as the authors and publishers we enable. Considering the vast reservoir of creative talent we have yet to help unleash upon the world, I’m confident our best days are ahead of us.

Back to the business. What a difference a couple of years make. Today, ebooks account for nearly 10% of trade book sales. This number will probably double in 2011, and as I predicted over at GalleyCat earlier this week, I think on a unit volume basis, ebooks will account for one third or more of all book consumption come December 2011. I never imagined this would happen so fast, and it’s possible I’m underestimating the growth this market will experience in the coming year.

After 31 months of advocating the indie ebook gospel, I still wake up every morning invigorated by our possibilities and potential. We attack every day with the tenacity of a newborn startup. Like I said last year, and I’ll say it again, we’re just getting started.

Some of the highlights of the year in addition to the numbers I shared above:

Distribution highlights:

• Smashwords is now one of the largest distributors by title count of indie ebooks to retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Kobo
• I’m very pleased with the support these retailers have shown our indie authors and publishers. Retailers are starting to earn real profits from our indie ebooks. This is cause for celebration for all indie authors and publishers, because it means access to more distribution in the future.
• In April Smashwords became one of a small handful of global aggregators serving the Apple iBookstore. On launch day of the iPad, we had over 2,000 books in the Apple iBookstore. When Apple launched the iBookstore in Australia, we had nearly 10,000 books in the store.
• In December we successfully transitioned all of our retailers to agency, or agency-like pricing. This means authors and publishers set the price at retail, and earn 60% of the list price.
• Preliminary sales reports from Apple and B&N indicate that sales more than tripled in the couple of days following Christmas. It will be interesting to see how these numbers moderate over the coming weeks.

Traffic to Smashwords.com:

• In the past year, people visited Smashwords from 227 countries
• 59.6% of visits came from the U.S.; 40.4% came from outside the U.S.
• Top 5 countries accounted for 80% of visits
• Top 20 countries accounted for 90%
• Top 40 countries accounted for 95%
• Millions of people visited Smashwords.com this year for the first time
• Smashwords.com receives millions of page views each month, and our traffic continues to grow each and every month.

Business Highlights

• Way back on October 7, 2009, when we reached 150 million words published, I set a crazy goal to reach one billion words by December 31, 2010.
• On October 20, 2010, we reached one billion words nine weeks early.
• Today, December 31, 2010, we’ve beat the goal by over a quarter billion words.
• We redesigned our web site infrastructure this year to support faster performance and greater reliability. The site’s uptime and performance is excellent now, and has been scaling very well as we achieve record traffic each month.
• We made multiple enhancements to our Meatgrinder conversion system this year, and as a result the quality of our ebook outputs is better than ever.
• A few months ago we reached profitability. Nothing spectacular, and not enough to pay me a salary yet (I’ve always worked for free) because I’m reinvesting any excess cash back into the business. What this means is the business is now fully self-sustaining and we’re adding staff. We’re here for good. We accomplished this while also paying some of the highest royalty rates anywhere. Unlike other services that make much of their income by charging authors upfront fees for publishing packages, set-up, and other products of nebulous value, our services are free and accessible to any author. We believe our interests are aligned with our authors and publishers. The platform we created allows us to take a risk on every author. If we don’t sell anything, we don’t earn our commission.

What’s coming in 2011:

Competitive front: Fight to survive and thrive. Despite our initial traction in the marketplace, our future is by no means guaranteed. We will continue to pursue our business plan with vigor because there’s no room for complacency. We’ve already seen multiple upstart competitors try to launch Smashwords knockoffs. Good luck to them. They’ll soon learn how tough it is to make a buck in this business. Have I mentioned I’m competitive?

Distribution: We love ebook retailers because they’re expert at putting our ebooks in the hands of readers. Over the next 12 months we’ll continue to add more retailers to the Smashwords distribution network, while working to build broader and deeper relationships with our existing retail partners. We understand that authors and publishers often have the option to go direct to retailer. Our mission is to make it more profitable for authors and retailers to work through us. We think we add a lot of value to the ebook supply chain for authors, publishers and retailers alike. If we don’t add value, we don’t deserve to be here.

Meatgrinder: As I mentioned above, we made a lot of enhancements to Meatgrinder. We’ll continue to iterate and improve it in the months ahead, especially in the area of automated TOC detection. We’ll also add more error-correction.

Premium Catalog reviews: For most of the year, we managed to maintain one week or less turnaround times on Premium Catalog reviews, though a few times we got backlogged up to two weeks. We’re working on plans that should help accelerate Premium Catalog approval cycle times, so we can help you get your book in the catalog and distributed to retailers faster with less back and forth.

Surprises: We have several surprises planned for 2011. I can’t tell you what they are otherwise they wouldn’t be surprises.

Stretch Goal: Our goal is to hit 75,000 indie ebooks published at Smashwords by December 31, 2011. This means we need to add 47,000 books in 12 months. That works out to 130 new releases each day or one new book every 11 minutes.

Ongoing Education: While I sometimes criticize some of the practices of big publishers, I continue to have enormous respect for professional publishing and the people in publishing. Although we make it easy to self-publish an ebook (some have said “too easy”), we don’t make it easy to produce a book worth reading. That responsibility lies in the hands of the author who must now step up to the plate and become a professional publisher. They must adopt proven best-practices of publishing, such as professional editing, revision and proofing prior to publication, and professional cover design. We’ll do our best in the coming year to continue to help authors and publishers improve the practice of publishing so they honor their readers with books worth reading.

Smashwords Direct: Right before Christmas, we began working with a large publisher of public domain books to convert and distribute 10,000+ titles across the Smashwords distribution network. Since we don’t accept PD titles at our Smashwords.com retail site, these titles will only go to retailers. In the year ahead, we’ll look for additional opportunities to help other large publishers take advantage of our expanding distribution reach.

Smashwords.com Refresh: We’re noodling on multiple ideas to give the site a refresh so we can do a better job of showcasing the higher quality titles, as determined by real customer downloads, purchases and reviews. Ever since we launched in May 2008, it was important to me that every new Smashwords book receive its 15 minutes of fame on the home page as a new release. This gives every book a fair and equal chance to find its first readers, and if the book is truly wonderful, the readers can take it viral from there. The downside of this democratized feature process is that everything new hits the home page, and often the work isn’t ready for prime time. It might be missing a cover image, or the author didn’t properly format it to the Style Guide. Our current policy of showcasing all the latest releases – even the obviously poor ones – ultimately gives first time visitors a warped perspective of the true talent captured within the Smashwords catalog. Another issue I want to tackle is adult content. We’re big supporters of free speech, but we often receive complaints from visitors and authors shocked by some of the erotica images they see on the home page – images they’d never see on the home page of another bookstore. We also have kids who hit the home page for their first visit, and such content isn’t appropriate for them either. We’re working on ideas in this regard that can strike a fair balance, while still allowing our professional erotica authors and publishers to get their books exposed to more customers who are searching for that content. Stay tuned as we work to strike a good compromise that benefits all parties involved.

Responsible Adult Content Publishing: There have been reports that Amazon has clamped down on incest-related titles, and some authors and publishers worry this is the start of a trend toward increased retailer censorship. At Smashwords, we’ve always articulated a very clear policy in our Terms of Service regarding acceptable content, and we were probably one of the first to define a clear policy against publishing erotica that includes underage characters, even if those characters are bystanders in the story. If the story is intended to titillate, kids don’t belong in it. Simple. We’ve started encouraging our erotica authors and publishers to clearly state inside their books, if not in the book description, that all characters are 18 years of age or older. I think it’s important that responsible erotica authors and publishers self-enforce these reasonable guidelines, otherwise retailers will be forced to think twice about carrying such content. Smashwords was founded with a fierce belief in free speech and no censorship, and our conviction on this issue remains true, but that doesn’t mean anything goes.

For those concerned about censorship in the retail channel, I can happily report that I’m aware of fewer than a dozen titles that have been outright rejected by our retailers, and in some of those cases the content violated our Terms of Service anyway. In other cases, the authors were able to make minor modifications to cover images to satisfy retailer requirements. This works out to less than one thousandth of one percent of our titles. I think the small number reflects not only the responsibility shown by erotica authors and publishers to comply with our Terms of Service, but also the benefit of our manual vetting process at Smashwords for Premium Catalog distribution. I know our retailers appreciate we self-police. We’re also thankful to Smashwords readers and customers who report potential violations to us, so we can work with the author/publisher to proactively remove or fix the content.

My New Year’s Thanks to All

To the 12,000+ authors and publishers who entrusted your precious books to Smashwords over the last 2.5 years, and to those of you who stood by us despite our many inevitable growing pains, and who always believed in our commitment to do right by you, thank you for believing in us. We will continue to run our business with the highest ethical standards and transparency as we always have, and will work to earn and deserve your continued trust every day. Happy New Year!

Via Mark Coker’s Smashwords blog

It’s annual prognostication time when folks like me stick out their necks and try to predict the future. I invite you to join in the fun. Brush up your crystal ball and share your publishing predictions for 2011 in the comments field below.

Earlier today, Jeff Rivera over at MediaBistro interviewed me for my ten book publishing predictions for 2011.

I’ll list five below, and then I encourage you to click over to Mediabistro for the full ten in his interview, Publishing Predictions for 2011 from Smashwords.

If 2010 was the year ebooks went mainstream in the U.S., 2011 will be the year indie ebook authors go mainstream. We’ve already seen this start to happen with some tremendous indie ebook author breakouts in 2010. I wrote about Smashwords author Brian S. Pratt a few weeks ago.

So here are five predictions for 2011:

1. Ebook sales rise, unit consumption surprises – Ebooks sales will approach 20% of trade book revenues on a monthly basis by the end of 2011 in the US, yet the bigger surprise is that ebooks will account for one third or more of unit consumption. Why? Ebooks cost less and early ebook adopters read more.

2. Agents write the next chapter of the ebook revolution – Agents, serving the economic best interests of the best-selling authors, will bring new credibility to self publishing by encouraging authors to proactively bypass publishers and work directly with ebook distribution platforms. Agents will use these publishing platforms for negotiating leverage against large publishers. The conversation will go something like this: “You’re offering my author only 15-20% list on ebooks when I can get them 60-70% list working direct with an ebook distributor likeSmashwords or a retailer like Amazon?”

3. More big authors reluctant to part with digital rights – Indie ebook publishing offers compelling advantages to the author. The economics are better (see #2) and the publishing cycle times are faster (an ebook manuscript can be uploaded today and achieve worldwide distribution in minutes or days, not years). Ebooks also offer greater publishing flexibility (shorts, full length, bundles, free books), and the opportunity to reach more readers with lower cost (yet still higher-profit) books. The advantages will entice more professional authors to self-publish some or all of their future catalog, and all of their reverted-rights catalog.

4. Self Publishing goes from option of last resort to option of first resort among unpublished authors – Most unpublished authors today still aspire to achieve the perceived credibility and blessing that comes with a professional book deal. Yet the cachet of traditional publishing is fading fast. Authors with finished manuscripts will grow impatient and resentful as they wait to be discovered by big publishers otherwise preoccupied with publishing celebrity drivel from Snooki, Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. Meanwhile, the break-out success of multiple indie author stars will grab headlines in 2011, forcing many unpublished authors off the sidelines. As unpublished authors bypass the slush pile, publishers lose first dibs on tomorrow’s future stars.

5. Ebook prices to fall – It’s all about supply and demand. Demand is surging, but supply will overwhelm demand. Average ebook prices will decline, despite attempts by Agency 5 publishers to hold the line. The drop will be fueled by the oversupply of books, abundance of low-cost or free non-book content, influx of ultra-price-sensitive readers who read free first, fierce competition for readership, and digitization of reverted-rights and out-of-print books. Indie authors, since they earn 60-70% retail price, can compete at price points big publishers can’t touch.

Read all ten of my predictions in the full interview over at Mediabistro, and please share your own predictions in the comments below.

Via the Smashwords blog

Pratt began publishing with Smashwords in early 2009. His first quarterly royalty payment was $7.82. While most authors would find that number discouraging, Pratt was encouraged. It was a start.

In the quarters since, Pratt’s earnings have grown, and in recent quarters he’s become a veritable breakout success. Last quarter, he earned over $18,000 from sales across the Smashwords retail distribution network. This quarter, with three weeks to go, he’s on track to break $25,000. He’s on track to earn over $100,000 in 2011 at Smashwords, and up to $200,000 total when he includes his projected Amazon sales. Not one to count his eggs before they’re hatched, though, he’s fast at work on a next series.

The road to here was anything but easy. At age 43, he’s held a number of eclectic jobs, ranging from an U.S. Air Force avionics technician to a taxi driver. Until recently, as he shares in the interview below, he was living below poverty level.

He writes fast-paced, can’t-put-it-down fantasy. Pratt started writing because the series authors he enjoyed reading weren’t completing their series fast enough. So he started writing books he’d like to read. Unlike some ebook series writers who carve up books into short serialized chunks, Pratt’s books are full-length, with most clocking in around 150,000 words.

His writing style is completely his own, and any New York editor would surely bristle at the rules Brian breaks. His most popular series, The Morcyth Saga, is written in the present tense (though he changed to past tense for subsequent series). It’s no wonder that after years trying to land an agent and a publisher, he faced unanimous rejection from publishing experts.

Yet readers had other plans for Pratt, as we learn today in this interview.

Lacking a traditional outlet for his work, Pratt self published in 2005, first in print and later ebooks. Today, his ebook sales far outpace his print sales by a factor of more than 100:1.

Today, Pratt has 17 books at Smashwords, and we distribute the books to Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo and Diesel, as well as to online mobile app catalogs of Stanza and Aldiko.

His Morcyth Saga, a seven-book fantasy adventure series, is by far his most popular collection.

Below in this exclusive interview, Brian S. Pratt recounts the long road to his overnight breakout success.

[Mark Coker] Brian, tell us about your books

[Brian S. Pratt] I have 17 books completed spread across several series. Most are full length, epic fantasy type novels, each anywhere from 120,000-190,000 words. I have a few I call my mini’s that are just plain fun and get the reader into the adventure from the get-go. These range from 60,000-90,000 words.

[MC] How did you get started as a writer?

[BSP] Back in 2005, I found myself waiting for several of the main authors to get around to finishing their next novel. The biggest one that annoyed me was The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved the series up to around book 6; then it lost me. Action grew infrequent and far between. It got bogged down in mundane details. Jordan wasn’t the only one I was impatiently waiting for. So, on March 1, 2005, I sat down at my computer and decided to write The Morcyth Saga. Figured I could do a good job and write the kind of book I wanted to read. One that had action in every chapter, you followed the main character throughout, and descriptions were down to a minimum. That is exactly what you get in The Unsuspecting Mage; Book One of The Morcyth Saga.

[MC] What training do you have as a writer?

[BSP] Training??? Not a bit. All I started with was the drive to write a story and everything else followed. I ended up writing a seven book series in Present Tense, rife with errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Most of the errors have been fixed in subsequent editions. My word usage was not what one would find in the traditionally produced books, some said it was too simple. I don’t know about that, but at least you don’t need a dictionary at hand when you read my books. Some have liked it, others less so. My books feel different than others for that reason.

[MC] Tell us about some of the first customer reviews you received, and how you reacted?

[BSP] Reviews, yes there have been some dillies. Here’s the first one-star I ever received. It was at Amazon.com less than a month after I first published The Unsuspecting Mage.

1.0 out of 5 stars – January 15, 2006
Present tense is an amateurish way to write…..,
…..and this book reads like it was written for a high school English class. Worst book I’ve read in a long time. I like lots of books, especially ones written by Robin Hobb, George Martin, and Stephen Donaldson to name but three. These books were well written. This one was not. Just wondering – how many of you are still in high school yourselves?

The last line was directed at the other reviewers who said they liked my book.

Needless to say, this devastated me and I stopped writing for a few weeks. Of course, I’ve had much worse ones since. But then, my books kept selling. And I always told myself that as long as my books keep selling, even if it is marginally, then it would be worth it to continue. I’ve come to realize that there will always be those that do not like my books, and so what? They simply are not in my target audience. And my target audience is me. I write what I would like to read. And it looks like there are many “me’s” out there for I’ve sold lots of books. If you want to see what may be in your future, check out The Unsuspecting Mage at Amazon.

[MC] You joined Smashwords March 27, 2009 10:26pm (I checked!). Can you take us back to that moment in time, and recall what was going through your mind

[BSP] Let’s see. I was a single dad living with three kids and boy, was I poor (under the poverty level). Up until then, I hadn’t really thought much about eBooks. I tried Mobipocket for a while and had great sales for three months, then it died off. Sales for my paperbacks, which I had published through iUniverse had fallen off dramatically. Where I had been breaking 4 figures a quarter, I was now less than 600 per quarter and bleeding red. I typed in “self publishing” and saw a quirky little site called Smashwords. It said, Your eBook, Your way. Didn’t cost a thing so what did I have to lose? First quarter sales at Smashwords were dismal, 2009-04-07 — $7.92 As it happened, April 7th is my birthday. That was cool. But I wasn’t deterred. Books were selling. Sometimes, one or two a week, but they sold. I stayed with it and refused to allow all the naysayers (and there were those by the droves) to stifle my dream. Sales gradually improved and, well, here we are. Can’t give up on your dream, EVER!

[MC] Your first quarter at Smashwords you earned $7.92. I’ve seen some new Smashwords authors jump for glee over a number like that, and others have unpublished their books and quit Smashwords in disgust. What was your reaction?

[BSP] My reaction was “I’m ahead, $7.92” By this time I had been published for a little over 3 years and had seen sales go up and down. Can’t make any kind of decision based on just one quarter. Plus, I was getting the hang of how to make Smashwords work for me. You can’t just publish your book, sit back and think, “Okay, the money is going to roll in now.” It ain’t gonna happen. The industry is stacked against anyone who is just starting out. You have to get out there and grab readers by the collar and shout, “Here I am!” They won’t find you or care about you until you do.

[MC] Your sales started small but then grew steadily, and in more recent months you’ve broken out into the best-seller lists at some of our retailers. What was the secret?

[BSP] After receiving my second royalty check which was only $183.60, I figured I needed to get busy and get creative. So I first looked around for a good place to advertise and found Project Wonderful. They suited my needs perfectly; ads would run on websites for pennies a day. I then created a coupon code that would discount my first book for free. I then created a series of ads stating that a free copy was available, all they had to do was copy down the code and go to Smashwords for their free copy. Well, that bombed and bombed badly. Came to realize that I was asking way too much of customer. In order to get my book, they had to go to Smashwords, create an account, put in the code, then download.

People are inherently lazy about shopping, especially in this world where everything is a click away. I pondered on the lack of success with my coupon code, then realized that if I just made the book free, they would only have to click the link in the ad, then download a free copy. Simple. (Keep it Simple-Stupid) I made it so easy for people to download my book, that downloads jumped. Subsequently, sales for books 2-7 jumped as well.

If it’s free and downloading is just a click away, people will do it. Very few can walk away from a free deal. Unknown authors are risky to readers and few wish to risk money, or time, to try a book they are not sure they will even like.

When Smashwords signed the deal with Barnes and Noble, my sales jumped 300% that quarter. Barnes and Noble have one of the best “Free eBook” sections and now people could find my book without having to see a small ad. Without Smashwords free copy of book one at Barnes and Noble, I would hardly be doing the sales I am today. That was the one act that set into motion sales the likes I never thought possible for an Indie without agent, editor, or publisher.

[MC] Prior to publishing at Smashwords, multiple agents and publishers rejected you. Tell us about your most memorable rejections.

[BSP] No one wanted me. All the rejection letters were worded very politely, but you can’t help but adding phrases to them like “You suck as a writer” or “Your book would be good to keep my table level but as for making money, it has a better chance to spontaneously combust.” When I published it through iUniverse, I opted for an editorial review ($300 at the time). They basically said the manuscript would need a serious overhaul before it would become commercially viable. And oh by the way, we do have many such services available…for a price. At the time I thought it was a complete waste of time. But now looking back with five years experience under my belt, many of their comments had merit. Although one must keep in mind, had I continued working with my first book to get it right, I’d still be working on it to this day and all subsequent ones never having seen publication. There comes a point when a writer has to say, “It’s ready. Good or bad, let’s see what happens.” What happened in this case was that there were many people out there who enjoy a good adventure and have since traveled with James through 8 books and are patiently (impatiently might be a better word) waiting for the second installment of the follow-up series, Travail of The Dark Mage.

[MC] What does it mean to you to be described as a self-published author, or an Indie author?

[BSP] The biggest worry a writer had back in 2005 was whether or not they wanted to be stigmatized as “self-published.” Once stigmatized, I was told, never again would a traditional publisher take you on. Unless you sold over 50,000 copies. But then, I thought, if I sold 50,000 copies, what would I need a publisher for?

Now, I think of it as a badge of pride. My success is mine, no one else’s. Everything that comes from my books, comes because of the hard work I, and I alone, put into it. Others have helped, but I spearheaded it and got it done. Even if today I was to get a publisher, from what I’ve heard of other author’s experiences, they still do most of their own publicity and get tied into restrictive contracts and unrealistic demands. Case in point, the movie Back to the Future. The head of the studio sent the producers a memo in which he stated that “Frogman from Mars” would be a better title. What a nightmare to have to deal with that. As a self-published author I don’t have to worry about another’s “taste” or “ideas.”

Of course, if you fail, again you have no one else to blame. But the only failure you will have, is if you quit. Try new ideas, talk to those who have succeeded, most of all don’t give up.

[MC] What’s your view of the future of indie authorship, and where do you think traditional publishers fit into your plans, if at all?

[BSP] Indie authorship is here to stay and the traditional publishing houses better get used to it. They also better not discount the effectiveness of its appeal or they’re going to regret it. I think they are going to wake up one morning and wonder where all their profits have gone. The better authors will do it themselves because they are going to make more money at it. Also, as the Indie Revolution continues, more and more authors being sought by publishers will be taking hard looks at their contracts. True, if you only have a single book, traditional publishers may be the best route. I make money because I have a series, a completed series, and give the first one away free. Can’t beat free for advertising.

As of today, I no longer send query letters (what a waste of time that was) to agents. No longer submit to publishers or even enter contests. My books are not award winners. They are merely fun books. I’ve tracked winners in the past and they don’t always do well.

What would happen if I got an email from a publisher asking for publishing rights? I’d listen to what they have to say. I’d carefully scrutinize any contract for how future books would be affected and so forth. I feel the restriction and demands made by them would far outweigh any increased royalties. But I could be wrong. Never say never to anything where money is concerned.

[MC] Where does print fit into your publishing strategy going forward?

[BSP] Print goes hand in hand with eBooks. You have to have a print copy of your book. I sell maybe 2 or 3 books per 1000 eBooks. Not much, right? Keep this in mind. eBook readers tell their book reader friends about your books. If you want them to buy it, it needs to be available. My biggest hurdle with print has always been pricing. Not much you can do about that, self-publishing print books is expensive no matter where you do it. I’d suggest Lightning Source Inc. they’re the best and will put your books before the most customers.

[MC] Imagine you’re mentoring a new author today. What three secrets to success would you share, and why?

[BSP] Actually, I’ve already helped over a dozen authors with getting started. I take the time to answer questions and give advice freely.

1. First thing I advise is to be approachable. Have an email address solely for those contacting you as an author and post it everywhere. If someone sees your book, that email address had better be there too. And remove the spam filter. About a year after I published my first book, I happened to check my spam folder and found 3 emails from readers. Made me mad. Also made me wonder how many others couldn’t get hold of me due to my (censored) spam filter. There was this one author, forgot who, but I saw his profile on Amazon. It basically said that he didn’t want to be bothered with questions from readers, nor did he want to hear from other authors. And oh by the way, won’t you buy my book? –Not word for word, but that was the gist of it. Needless to say, I didn’t even look as his book and have since forgotten the guy. I’ve earned many steadfast fans simply because I responded to them in a personal and friendly manner.
2. Get a website. They’re pretty cheap and are absolutely invaluable. Your readers need a place they can go to learn more about the books, and about you.
3. Listen to your heart, not reviewers. If you can’t stand criticism, find something else to do. Also, when you get your book first published, friends and family always like to post reviews. Well, there are certain things you need to explain to these reviewers before they post.
   

   
   A. One line reviews are worthless. Saying, “This is greatest book I’ve ever read!!!” is a waste of time. It means nothing to no one.
   
   B. Tell potential customers about the book. Why is it great? Why did you love it? Why should they spend time and money to read it? Give an example from the book. If you use an example, it gives your review more weight for it lends credence that you actually read the book.
   
   C. Don’t talk about just the good. Pick something negative and write about that too. A balanced review is more helpful, and more believable than one that just gushes praise. No matter the book, there has to be something that bugged them. If the book is self-published, there will be something to criticize. I received an email from one reader that said he read a review in which a previous customer complained that my book read like a D&D game transcript. The reader, a gamer by the way, checked it out on that basis alone and ended up buying the entire series. So never assume that a negative review will be negative to all readers.

4. Here’s the biggie. Write. Seems simple doesn’t it? You’d be surprised how often we come up with excuses why we can’t write. If you’re a writer, then you better be writing. Finished a book? When’s the next one going to be published? Don’t stand still and see if the first one sells well before starting the second. Do you believe in what you are doing? Then for heaven’s sake, write. Set a goal. In the beginning, my goal was 20,000 words a week, or an equivalent time editing. I met that and in fact wrote Shepherd’s Quest, a 130,000 word book in 5 weeks. I was on roll.
5. Don’t go to your family with your manuscript and ask, “How is it?” If you want an honest answer, go to Fanstory.com and join. You’ll find out fast just how good/bad your manuscript is. Friends and family are biased and will have a hard time seeing your work for what it truly is. If you ask for an opinion from someone who knows you, the person answering you knows that they’ll have to deal with you afterward so will say “it’s great” or give some other affirmative response. They don’t want to crush your spirit. I watched this one show once where a guy wore this t-shirt that said, “My mom thinks I’m cool.” Enough said.
6. I have posted lots of useful info for self-published authors, or those thinking of going that route on my website. If you’re interested, check out my site, Brian Pratt Books. It’s a year old, but most of the info should still be fairly current. It will definitely give you some things to think about.
7. We’re all in this together. Email me should you have questions or anything.

[MC] Every author must compete against hundreds of thousands of other books. What’s the secret to breaking out?

[BSP] Write, keep writing, and when your fingers are sore, write some more. The more books you have out, available through the most channels, the better your exposure. Never cancel a channel unless you know another will fill the void. Best channels right now are Smashwords and Kindle. Neither costs you anything but time. From the first sale, you’re making a profit. If you give up, it’s over. Until then, anything can happen. I’m a prime example of that.

Find ways to get your book in front of people. Don’t expect glowing reviews to sell your book. After all, if readers don’t find your book in the first place, no amount of “good” reviews will help.

[MC] Now that you’ve achieved success as a writer, how might your writing change, if at all?

[BSP] I now understand why some authors take a long time in getting out the next book. The more books you have, the more time ends up being devoted to previous titles and other things (this Q&A is a prime example). Editing has always been a sore point with [my] readers, or rather, the lack of it. My books have never seen a professional editor and could use a touch of polishing. I’ll be looking into that with the new year.

[MC] Now that you’re able to devote full time to your writing, what’s your typical day like. What’s your process?

[BSP] I spend far too much time on the internet checking sales, answering emails (I love that part) and seeing what’s going on in the world of publishing. Smashwords is usually the first page I visit in the hopes that sales have posted. Most days, I’m disappointed. There have been times when I thought, “What the heck is going on? Where are my sales?” But you know, they all come in before the quarter payout, and I’ve never had a problem with getting my money from Smashwords. [Note from MC: We hear you Brian! Faster reporting is one of our top priorities for 2011]

After that, I try to get some editing done on my newer works, then an hour or so of computer gaming. I write some, check emails again, and so forth. The longer a series goes, the more complex it becomes. You need to take into account all that has gone before, keep your characters consistent, and make it all seem flawless.

[MC] What’s coming next?

[BSP] Finish Travail of The Dark Mage. I’m on book 2 and figure the series will be around 5 books. Never know for sure until I’m done. The initial plan for The Morcyth Saga was 10 books. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had contracted for 10 books with a publisher and instead came through with 7? Love being an Indie.

I do have ideas for another 2 series after Travail, as well as off-shoots like The Improbable Adventures of Scar and Potbelly, a series of short adventure books based on the duo from the series. One thing I do know for sure. I will not release another series unless I have it already completed. I hate making readers wait.

[MC] Thanks for sharing, Brian!

Via the Smashwords blog

The story idea I had was inspired in part by a number of works I’d read over the years, including half-remembered stories that just popped into my head at odd moments. I actually had to ask rec.arts.sf.written for help identifying a couple of them, since I realized I wanted to read them again. And I thought the fastest way to find them might be as e-books. Funnily enough, these two stories have ended up being a study in e-book contrasts.

One of them was a really short (only 2059 words) story by Stephen Goldin called “The Last Ghost”. It was a Nebula finalist for Best Short Story of 1971—one of the shorter pieces of SF I’d read in my youth, but one of the more (pardon the pun) haunting ones, to live in my memory all this time. It’s available in a story collection by Goldin that can be found as an e-book at the usual places for $9.99…everywhere. (Except at Sony, apparently. Amusingly enough, the E-Reads buy link for Sony links to an expired domain placeholder page.) So much for bargain-hunting!

Even Fictionwise has it. Adding insult to injury, they list a “club price” of $8.49 for it—but my club membership expired last year and can never be renewed. (But I guess they’re going to have to keep on showing the club price until multi-year memberships expire.)

I didn’t want to pay $9.99 for a whole book when I just wanted to read the one story again. While I expect the other stories are all great, I simply didn’t want them right now. But fortunately, a little more research led me to discover that Smashwords has that short story available by itself for 99 cents. That was cheap enough I could buy two copies and send one to the fellow whose shared universe my story idea was set in. (In contrast to Kobo’s and Amazon’s, Smashword’s “gifting” system is rather straightforward, and works not unlike a “coffee money” jar: they simply trust you to put money in for every copy you’re going to email to someone else.) This really helped me out, and is exemplary of what I want e-books to be.

But on the other hand, there’s a book by renowned SF editor and novelist Donald A. Wollheim, writing under the pseudonym David Grinnell, called Edge of Time. Written in 1958, about a team of scientists who manage to create their own universe in microcosm, it really captured my imagination, and has held onto it to this day. But it’s not available electronically anywhere.

Even Google Books doesn’t have it (or much else by Wollheim either), suggesting that either the libraries they’ve scanned so far haven’t had much in the way of SF, or (more likely) Wollheim’s estate or publisher requested the titles be pulled. Even though it’s written by one of the most famous SF editors, a man who helped shaped the course of modern SF and fantasy fandom to a remarkable extent (including being arguably responsible for the popularity of Lord of the Rings exploding due to his unauthorized paperback republication of the trilogy), the book isn’t available electronically—or even in a new print edition—at all.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s unavailable. Not as a pirated e-book (I did look, out of curiosity, but apparently it’s too obscure for any pirate scanners to bother with), but in another Internet marketing innovation: the Internet-ordered, snail-mail-shipped used paperback. I could (and in fact, just did) go into Amazon right now and order a “Used – Very Good” paperback copy for one penny plus $3.99 shipping—about the same amount as I paid for an Amazon mp3 download of Daft Punk’s new Tron: Legacy soundtrack last night. It won’t put it on my iPad, but it will at least let me read it again.

And Wollheim’s estate won’t see a penny of that…penny. Whereas if it were a $9.99 e-book on Amazon, which I would have been willing to buy, they’d have gotten $7. Like so many other orphan or backlist titles, the book is a Manx cat in a “long tail” world.

The fullest potential of e-books is to create a “celestial library” equivalent to the oft-touted “celestial jukebox” of the digital music revolution. That’s what Amazon has been trying to do with its Kindle. And when it works, it works: I was able to find a relatively obscure short story I wanted to read, at a price I found reasonable, with just a few minutes of Googling. But just as often it doesn’t, and Edge of Time is a frustrating reminder of just how far the library’s shelves are from being filled.

Just yesterday I returned from a five week speaking tour to Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. Unlike in the U.S., where ebooks now account for nearly 10 percent of the overall trade book market (and a greater percentage of unit volume), ebooks account for probably under percent of the book markets in Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. In other words, these markets are where the U.S. market was at a mere two years ago. These markets are poised for similar or faster growth, especially as device makers such as Apple open ebook stores and expand the availability and selection of affordable ebooks.

The ebook market in Australia, as it is in Brazil and New Zealand, may grow even faster in than in the U.S. because the consumer economics are so much more compelling. Based on my visits to brick and mortar bookstores in Australia, print books routinely cost 50 percent more in Australia than they do in the U.S. With the advent of ebooks, book-hungry consumers can purchase ebooks at a fraction of the cost of print. The average Smashwords ebook costs only $4.75, for example.

The first authors and publishers who get their books listed in the store will gain a head start at building readership, sales, reviews, reader buzz and sales rank.

If you’re a Smashwords Premium Catalog author and we already distribute your book to other Apple iBookstores, your books will automatically ship to the Australian iBookstore. Our first batch of over 9,300 ebooks has already started appearing on Australian iBookstore shelves today, and in the next couple weeks we’ll add hundreds more.

If you’re not yet a Smashwords author or publisher, learn how to distribute ebooks to international Apple iBookstores by reading our iPad Ebook Publishing Checklist. As an authorized Apple iBookstore aggregrator, Smashwords makes makes it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to quickly reach global readers through the iBookstore. Authors and publishers who distribute through Smashwords earn 60 percent of the retail price.

In addition to distributing ebooks to international Apple iBookstores, Smashwords also distributes to Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store, as well as to important mobile ebook apps including Aldiko for Android devices, and Stanza for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. We’ll announce additional retail distribution outlets in the months ahead. Learn how to earn free access to our Smashwords Premium Catalog at our Smashwords Distribution Information Page.

Via the Smashwords blog

The writing is top-quality and the atmosphere and mood of a small tourist town is captured very well. But I found the plot tended to wander a little. Agatha’s job as a magazine columnist is very prominent as the novel begins, then fades away and comes back again several times. It was also not portrayed completely realistically. I doubt, for example, that an editor would be pestering her to run tours of a garden he himself has never seen. And the supernatural lore of the local village could have been woven in a bit more smoothly rather than just being dumped in all in a lump at a convenient juncture.
This is my third read from indie publisher BeWrite Books and I while I respect the kind of business they seem to be running, I have to confess that I have been a bit disappointed with the books I’ve actually finished. In addition to the above-mentioned issues with this one, there were some sub-plots that would have benefited from better pacing, and there was a glaringly obvious error in a Wizard of Oz reference that never should have made it through the first editing pass. It’s disappointing because they seem to choose to choose interesting novels from authors who clearly have the chops, but then it never seems to come together so that the book realizes its full potential.

If this were a first draft, I would give it top marks and be eager to read the final version. But as a finished product, I rate this one a 3.5 at best. More subtlety on the supernatural aspects, a better-paced narrative and a clean-up of some of the obvious inaccuracies would up it to a 4 or higher. But it’s not there yet.

Via Joanna’s E-Finds blog

Smashwords author Charlene Bays Rothenberger yesterday published the 20,000th book at Smashwords at 8:23pm Pacific time.

Two months ago we reached 15,000 books and five months ago we hit 10,000.

To put the growth in context, we published 140 books in 2008, our first year of operation. By the end of 2009, we reached 6,000. We’re on track to surpass 25,000 by the end of the year.

Do numbers matter? Yes. Each new author at Smashwords brings more books, and more books bring more readers and more readers bring more authors who bring more books. It’s a virtuous flywheel, catalyzed by the word of mouth of authors and readers who mutually benefit from the dynamic.

The strength of numbers helps Smashwords open up new distribution opportunities for all authors participating in the Smashwords collective (Btw, we signed a new retailer yesterday. We’ll announce them in a few weeks after we complete the technical integrations).

Our catalog features many strong sellers including Brian S. Pratt, Ruth Ann Nordin, Randolph Lalonde, J.A. Konrath, P.B. Ryan, Shayne Parkinson, Rebecca Forster, Janice Daugharty, Jack Gregory, Ann Somerville, Lynn Flewelling and Carl East. I could list dozens more showing promise to become tomorrow’s big indie names. In the months ahead, we’ll work to showcase some of these authors at Smashwords by introducing new lists and ranking filters.

A growing number of our authors, including some on the short list above, have been previously published – or are currently published – by large traditional publishers.

Until recently, most authors aspired to land a traditional book deal. That sentiment is changing, judging from the emails I receive each week from authors who are done waiting months or years for a publisher to discover them. These authors have decided to turn their back on traditional publishing because they recognize the creative, economic and time-to-market advantages of indie ebook publishing.

Self-publishing is shedding the negative stigma it once held as successful indie authors bring new credibility and respect to self publishing.

The Magic of Distribution

Although we’ve seen traffic and sales climb each month at our small Smashwords.com retail operation, the greatest sales growth is coming from our distribution network. The growth is driven by the addition of new retailers, the organic growth at retailers as they grow their businesses, and the sales rank effect as our books build sales, readership and reviews at each retailer.

Our distribution network includes the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo (in addition to operating its own retail store, Kobo also powers Borders in the US and Australia, Whitcoulls in New Zealand, Samsung and others), the Diesel eBook Store, and more on the way. On the moblile apps front, our books are in the native catalogs of Stanza on the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, and in Aldiko for Android devices.

To keep your salivary glands in check, it’s important to note that not all Smashwords authors are participating in this growth. We create the opportunity for discovery, sales and readership, though it’s the author’s responsibility to write and market a great book that resonates with readers, and then they must have the patience it takes to plant and cultivate seeds for the future harvest.

As I blogged earlier this week in The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Failure post, authors must also be careful to avoid poor decisions that might limit their success.

Success Comes in Multiple Forms

Success isn’t measured by financial performance alone. For some authors, success is defined not by monetary gain, but by reaching readers with their words. Smashwords authors now publish over 2,000 free ebooks, and some of these books reach thousands of readers. They too are successes.

Congrats to all 8,798 pioneering Smashwords authors and publishers who inspire us every day.

Via Smashwords blog