Ebooknewser has an interview with Mark Coker of Smashwords in which he talks about some of the distribution deals Smashwords has in place, and his predictions for the future. He discusses agency pricing, and whether printing costs should come out of e-book pricing. 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...

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...

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...

At first glance, Brian S. Pratt of Boswell, Oklahoma doesn't fit the stereotypical profile of a best-selling author. Yet he, and others Smashwords authors like him, represent the future of publishing. 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...

I’ve been distracted for the last few days. A story idea got into my head for one of the Internet fiction series I contribute to occasionally, and it’s been hard to concentrate on anything else until I could get it out of my head. Unfortunately, I’m still not happy with the end results. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world, as a writer, when the idea that seemed so awesome in your head comes out on the page like, well, a steaming pile of words. Perhaps in a few days I’ll have a better perspective and can...

This is great news for Smashwords authors and publishers, who now gain access to the fast-growing Australian ebook market. In addition to Australia, Smashwords is an authorized Apple aggregator supplying Apple iBookstores in Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. 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,...

The Bad Seed is a paranormal-themed small press title by a veteran Australian author. It is set in Australia, at a spooky run-down house in a 'spa' town which is purchased by a gardening columnist seeking an escape from a life in tatters after the disappearance of her daughter several years before. 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...

 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...

On October 2 in New York, I'm giving a talk at the Self Publishing Expo Conference titled, "The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success."While preparing the presentation, I started thinking about how it's possible to succeed as an author yet still fail to achieve your full potential.Every author is the CEO of their own budding publishing empire, full of unrealized potential. Decisions you make today will determine your success in the future.We all make multiple decisions every day, and some of our decisions will inevitably prove incorrect or ill-conceived. The secret...

I released a new revision to the Smashwords Style Guide that makes it easier to produce, publish and distribute a great-looking multi-format ebook with Smashwords.In parallel, in the last 30 days we developed, tested and introduced new EPUB and MOBI Meatgrinder conversion blades that give authors and publishers more control than ever over the final look and feel of their ebooks.The new Style Guide marks the 42nd and most significant update to the Style Guide since we first released it in November 2008. Our last major revision was in April, which is when...

Neil Crab has started a Smashwords book review site called, appropriately, Smashwords Books Reviewed. Neil is a Smashwords author himself, with a book of short stories, Believable Lies, and is about ready to publish a novel and has a second novel on the way. His first review is The Storm Killer, by Mike Jastrzebski....

Several weeks ago, Greg McQueen released a 100 Stories for Haiti Podcast focused on ebooks, offering an insightful and well-balanced look at the state of ebooks. He interviewed multiple authors and even yours truly to explore what ebooks mean to authors, readers and the future of publishing. For me, the highlight of Greg's excellent podcast was Smashwords author David Robinson, a 60-year Yorkshireman who presented an audio essay on indie ebook publishing. This is a must-listen. Mr. Robinson is a gifted orator, and he has created one of the best-articulated manifestos on e-publishing I've heard. One comment that struck me as...