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Old 12-28-2012, 02:26 PM   #1
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Thumbs up Smashwords: direct epub upload in alpha testing
From https://www.smashwords.com/about/beta

Quote:
December 28, 2012 - Smashwords Direct alpha testing underway. We're preparing to launch Smashwords Direct, our direct .epub upload option.
...
We're nearing completion of a beta version of SWD. The first iteration will enable those of you with professionally designed .epub files to replace your current Smashwords-generated .epub with another .epub. It'll also allow authors to upload .epub files instead of Word .doc files.
I've been waiting for this news since I first published with Smashwords in 2011
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Last edited by avantman42; 12-28-2012 at 02:27 PM. Reason: Got the year I first published with Smashwords wrong ;)
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Old 12-28-2012, 05:11 PM   #2
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Good news indeed. But would they then use the epub to convert to everything else?
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Old 12-28-2012, 05:22 PM   #3
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Good news indeed. But would they then use the epub to convert to everything else?
It doesn't specify, but I suspect so. They're asking for people to email them epub files for testing, which is hopefully so that they can test conversions. Also, it seems to say that you'll be able to upload an epub instead of a Word file.
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Old 12-28-2012, 07:10 PM   #4
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So maybe I will soon be able to get my book on Smashwords too, that would be good. Thanks for the news.

I was able to convert my epub to mobi here using Amazon supplied tools and it seemed to come out very well (albeit about three times bigger than the epub). Of course mine is a simple novel layout, I guess things may get more complicated in other situations. I never paid much attention to conversions, not many seem all that relevant any more.
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Old 12-29-2012, 09:34 AM   #5
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So maybe I will soon be able to get my book on Smashwords too, that would be good. Thanks for the news.
You probably won't get many direct sales from Smashwords, but they distribute to a lot of other sites. If you're not already on the other sites, the distribution will probably be the biggest benefit.

That said, some authors sell well on Smashwords, and you might become one of them.
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Old 12-29-2012, 09:57 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by avantman42 View Post
You probably won't get many direct sales from Smashwords, but they distribute to a lot of other sites. If you're not already on the other sites, the distribution will probably be the biggest benefit.

That said, some authors sell well on Smashwords, and you might become one of them.
I've gotten most places I wanted to be by going through BookBaby, the only issue/problem I have is that many of the places they distribute epubs to add their own DRM regardless of what I requested. Hence my thought that Smashwords would be a place I'd like to add to my list ... though it's not high on my list of priorities at this point in time.
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Old 12-30-2012, 11:18 AM   #7
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I haven't had any problems with the Word-to-ePub conversion, but my novels only have pretty basic formatting. It did take a while to learn all the ins and outs of the Smashwords Style Manual, so maybe this will make the learning curve easier for folks who got started in the ePub format.
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Old 12-30-2012, 05:33 PM   #8
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In all honesty I haven't had any problems submitting .doc files to Smashwords. And that's using .doc files that I create on a Linux netbook using OpenOffice Writer.

Of course, that's only short stories, so far.
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Old 12-30-2012, 05:45 PM   #9
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It could just be that I'm a bit overly obsessive. Some of the Smashwords epubs come out a bit messy looking, particularly things like the front-matter, as if the publisher didn't care. I also like things that are neat inside and outside, and the inside of Smashwords epubs can be quite ugly.
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Old 12-30-2012, 08:11 PM   #10
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So where's the guy who usually complains about Smashwords' lack of ePub uploading? I figure he'd be as on this as vultures on a dead cow.
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Old 12-30-2012, 08:46 PM   #11
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I'm glad they're doing this and I hope they put in back-end conversion to use epub as the basis for multi-format delivery so that authors have the option of doc or epub for authoring.
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Old 12-31-2012, 01:08 PM   #12
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So it's just going to be EPUB to EPUB? So it won't convert to other formats? This means I still need to upload a Word doc first to populate the other categories and then swap out the epub. It's nice to have the EPUB option but this just added another step to the process and another chance for error.
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Old 12-31-2012, 06:43 PM   #13
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I can't imagine they won't go epub to mobi - the Amazon tools work, so it's no cost or effort - what other formats are still relevant?
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Old 12-31-2012, 06:45 PM   #14
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Allowing ePub upload will make Smashwords a much more serious distribution channel. And not a moment too soon.
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Old 12-31-2012, 08:23 PM   #15
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So it's just going to be EPUB to EPUB? So it won't convert to other formats? This means I still need to upload a Word doc first to populate the other categories and then swap out the epub. It's nice to have the EPUB option but this just added another step to the process and another chance for error.

No one knows yet. It is only in Alpha, so everything can change between now and release. Lets just wait and see what they do.
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