The Smashwords catalog of original indie ebooks surpassed 10,000 yesterday. With your help, I think we can hit 25,000 by the end of the year. And hey, if we fall short and hit 20,000, it’ll still blow a lot of people away, myself included.
10K is a huge milestone, not only for us as a business but also for the entire indie movement. Indie authors and publishers will inherit the future of publishing. I’m convinced of it.
What was once called the slush pile – the unpublished manuscripts languishing on the desks of literary agents and acquisition editors – is now moving online. Authors are bypassing the slo-mo business practices of the past in favor of instant publishing.
In the next couple years, I think we’ll see more traditionally published authors step their toes into the indie waters as well. It’s in their economic best interest to do so.
As I’ve often said in the past, we make ebook publishing fast, free and easy. But it’s up to you to create and market a great book.
It’s only a matter of time before some talented Smashwords authors become break-out commercial surprise hits – authors that were previously denied any chance to reach their audience. I think that’s exciting.
I’m even more excited, however, by how we provide you, the author or indie publisher, the freedom to publish. The value of your work no longer need be judged by some Manhattan high rise publisher, or even by your commercial success. Instead, the value of your work is affirmed the moment you reach that first satisfied reader.
One author the other day told me how excited he was to receive his first Smashwords review – 5 stars – and he told me he was even more thrilled that the review came from someone he didn’t know. Cool beans.
Thank you to each of you who took a chance on this dinky little ebook publishing startup and entrusted a small piece of your book’s future to us. We’re only getting started.
As a Smashwords author, I’m very excited to see the growth of this fine enterprise. Smashwords has given me, and many others, an opportunity I really thought would never come: my too-short, too-strange, too-unclassifiable, too-unmarketable (all “traditional” publisher complaints) little novels are now free to find their own audiences and are doing so. Congratulations, Mark, and many thanks!