smashwords_logo As I’ve watched Barnes & Noble’s troubles in getting their Smashwords content to properly display on the B&N store (what can I say?  They obviously missed some bugs before their big rollout, but these things do happen), it occurred to me: Suppose I liked my content on Smashwords, but for some reason didn’t want it to be available on Barnes & Noble’s site?  Should it be easy for me to do one without the other?

I realize not that many authors would necessarily want to exclude their content from the B&N site.  But I can think of a few reasons to do so: Concern about security, for one; or a displeasure with the B&N eReader’s display of my books, for another.  For people like that, there should be a way to keep your material out of B&N’s site if they wish.  But does Smashwords make that easy to do?  Can you do it at all?  Should it be considered okay for them to do it without my express permission?  Or should they have to formally ask?

I think Smashwords should have an “opt-in” (or “opt-out”) button prominently displayed on its publishing or dashboard pages, giving authors the clear choice of  having their material forwarded to Barnes & Noble.

According to Smashwords’ legalese, you can do a few things to keep your e-book out of B&N’s catalog.  Some of those things are the exclusion of certain material they are looking for (like copyright info).  Another thing you can do is to not select the ePub format to convert your e-book (apparently B&N will use the ePub file to do their own conversion, as opposed to using the eReader format you may have already converted your e-book into… interesting).  But I had to dig down into the Premium Content pages to find these tips.  And for those of us who happen to like the idea of our books being available in ePub, having to de-select one of the fastest-growing formats to keep it out of the B&N store doesn’t seem very right.

There could be a clear “opt-in” on the publishing page the Smashwords member uses to build their e-book offering, or possibly on the member dashboard.  Right there, along with pricing and selecting of formats, tag-words, etc, should be a button to check that gives permission to have your material forwarded to B&N (assuming it passes muster otherwise).   That would allow users to prepare their Smashwords e-books as they desired, and not worry about how they will appear in the B&N site.

I realize that my very use of Smashwords could be considered a de-facto agreement to allow my material to be uploaded to B&N (though that obviously wasn’t an option when I put them in, but applied after the fact).  But I wonder if that’s good enough, legally.  I wonder if there shouldn’t be a more obvious “opt-in” choice for Smashwords users.  My feeling is yes.  What do you think?

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Steve, there’s a clear opt-out in every author’s Dashboard via the Channel Manager link, where you can easily opt out of either of our two major retail partners (B&N and Sony), and this link is also documented via the Smashwords Distribution Information page at http://www.smashwords.com/distribution

    From a policy and process perspective, we provide authors at least two days advance notice via email before we activate a new retail channel partner.

    Re: B&N, when we first announced the relationship, we informed all Smashwords authors they should expect glitches along the way. You should expect to see more glitches as we add additional retail partners.

  2. @Mark,
    First, I didn’t ask this because of the glitches… I understand how those things happen, my office is having similar issues. Second, I’m not criticizing or expressing any dissatisfaction… just playing devil’s advocate here (so you don’t misunderstand my intentions.)

    I’d looked at the Distribution Information page more than once, and I haven’t seen anywhere that it tells me to go to the Distribution Channel Manager page to be able to do an opt-out. (It does describe “Channel Manager,” but honestly, I did not make the connection, and I agree I should have been more observant there.) This is obviously why I missed seeing it before.

    Although that certainly does the job, I just felt having that option on the publishing page as you enter your book, allowing you to opt-in, makes more sense, and is easier to find, than navigating to another page to find it after the fact and opt-out. But maybe that’s just me.

  3. Not only is there an opt-out, there are great reasons for doing so…like you have the books on BN or Fictionwise already. I opt out of those two but for now am opting into Sony as I haven’t been able to close the loop with them on publishing directly through the Sony store.

    Rob Preece
    Publisher

  5. Hi,
    Because of copyright violations at Amazon where my book is now, The Grass Sweeper God has to be taken down @ BN. I published through Smashwords orginally & my book went out to BN through Smashwords distribution channels. Now I need to take my book down @ BN. When I run marketing specials at Amzaon, they threaten me with copyright violation to take my book down. I cannot get through BN to take my down. Any ideas?
    Thank you,
    Doug Howery
    Author: The Grass Sweeper God

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