Smashwords - What You Like and Don't Like

[ereadingdotcom]

We're currently developing Ereading.com and our social networking site for readers, MyEreading.com. However, one of the next projects up for development is our publishing platform, which will be at LaunchWords.com.

I'm sure many indie authors are using Smashwords. We're wondering if you'd be willing to share what you like (and don't like) about the Smashwords platform?

Our goal is to build the best publishing and distribution platform out there. We know that's a bold claim. But with the help of the indie author community, we're hoping to make that happen.

Thanks for any input you'd like to share!

Best,
Richard Starr
[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[crich70]

Well one thing that has been a bit unpleasant is when a book has been free when I add it to my library and then suddenly it isn't though I don't know that there is any way to fix something like that.

[ereadingdotcom]

Thanks for the comment.

So just to be clear:

When you download the book, it's free. No purchase price. Then it appears with a price in your library immediately, or down the road?

Assuming it is down the road when the price appears, is that because the author started charging for the book? If so, does that mean you can no longer access the book without now paying for it?

Best,
Richard Starr
[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[crich70]

Yes. An example in point is Blackbird by David Crookes. At one point it was listed as a free book (at smashwords) and could be downloaded freely but now it costs $4.99 to get it. I know it was free because I have a copy burned to a disk somewhere. I do respect that the author does have the right to change price on a given book, but it would be nice if there was some sort of programming so that if a person had downloaded a book while it was free that is still remains so for them. Kobo and B&N have some such I think and Amazon does. I've bought books that were offered as free at that time which later registered as not being free if you didn't buy it during the free period, but they were still able to be downloaded without having to re-purchase the book at what price the author set it at later.

[gmw]

One thing of particular interesting to me, being in Australia, is how these distribution companies deal with tax for international publishers. Both Amazon and Smashwords find it necessary to have you submit a U.S. tax file number, if you don't they will withhold tax. For some reason BookBaby did not find it necessary to do this. (My guess - and it is only a guess - is that Amazon and Smashwords both work as if they're publishers* (even though they're not), while BookBaby work purely a distributor.)

It's not a huge issue, both Amazon and Smashwords offer relevant details for getting your own number and so on. But the inconsistency seems strange (and so potentially unnecessary). It would be good if it wasn't required.

* Smashwords even goes to the extent of insisting you use "Smashwords Edition" on your copyright page - unless you submit and epub and then convince them that it's the same epub you use everywhere else so it's obviously not a "Smashwords Edition". They've been very good and quite fast about this each time, but it is a little annoying that it should be necessary.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ereadingdotcom

We're currently developing Ereading.com and our social networking site for readers, MyEreading.com. However, one of the next projects up for development is our publishing platform, which will be at LaunchWords.com.

I'm sure many indie authors are using Smashwords. We're wondering if you'd be willing to share what you like (and don't like) about the Smashwords platform?

Our goal is to build the best publishing and distribution platform out there. We know that's a bold claim. But with the help of the indie author community, we're hoping to make that happen.

Thanks for any input you'd like to share!

Best,
Richard Starr
Co-Founder & CEO,
eRead Technologies, Inc.
www.Ereading.com

I suggest you look at Draft 2 Digital. They have been rising up and are the first successful challenger to Smashwords that I have seen.

But what both of them have that is need to compete:

1) WIDE distribution. Smashwords and D2D are both in all the major stores (Apple, B&N, Kobo, ScribD, etc) but only Smashwords is in the Libraries (Via OverDrive) and many smaller outlets.

2) Speed. D2D is hands down faster in publishing and customer service then Smashwords, this is one area where they have really worked thier advantage of being smaller and nimbler on the way up.

3) Payments. Smash pays quarterly, D2D pays monthly. Monthly is preferred by all.

4) Reporting. Both offer daily reporting of sales and free downloads

5) Coupons. ONLY Smashwords offers coupons.

6) Pre-Orders: Both offer pre-orders - this is a big deal for authors trying to get on best sellers lists. It is also helpful for organizing and timing releases

7) Direct Sales. ONLY Smashwords offers a store for direct sales of all file formats

8) Advocacy. Mark @ Smashwords has been a major champion of the self published movement. D2D has been only been riding on the coattails of his victories (to the best of my knowledge).

9) Royalty. Smash takes 10%, and gives 60% to the author and 30% goes to the retailer. Those numbers fluctuate a bit but are close enough for this discussion. D2D I believe is about the same.

10) Smash and D2D both accept EPUB uploads for distribution. This is important. The author should have the option to submit the final product and not depend on some converter.

11) Both have a converter for Word docs, but only Smashwords converts to all major and minor ereader platforms. D2D does only EPUB (to the best of my knowledge).

Disclosure: I am a long time client of Smashwords, but have never used D2D.


Good luck. Competition is a good thing!

[gmw]

My next little grumble with Smashwords is the necessity of using the meatgrinder if you want access to all their features, specifically the alternate formats and preview.

I create my own epubs and submit those, but until I get around to stripping all the carefully managed formatting to let it go through the meatgrinder (which I still haven't done), my books are up there with no preview (important) and no alternative formats (worries me less than the preview). They have been quite slow to address this shortcoming, mostly - I suppose - because most of their publishers submit Word documents.

It seems to me (as a programmer), that extracting previews and html formats from an epub should not be too hard. I know there are issues with generating Kindle formats - you can't use the Amazon kindlegen for commercial purposes - which means you would have to find another way.

The main reason why I would like to have the Kindle version available is a grumble against Amazon and a big plus for Smashwords. Amazon won't give me access to discounting unless I go exclusive with KDP Select - which I would rather not do. Smashwords has an excellent coupon system, so it would be better for me if a Kindle edition was available from Smashwords (at the moment I rely on people to know that they can do their own conversions with Calibre or kindlegen).

[ApK]

Originally Posted by gmw

One thing of particular interesting to me, being in Australia, is how these distribution companies deal with tax for international publishers. Both Amazon and Smashwords find it necessary to have you submit a U.S. tax file number, if you don't they will withhold tax. For some reason BookBaby did not find it necessary to do this. (My guess - and it is only a guess - is that Amazon and Smashwords both work as if they're publishers* (even though they're not), while BookBaby work purely a distributor.)

I am certain this has absolutely nothing to do with "publishers" or publishing at all and has everything to do with the the tax and accounting policies of the various businesses and their locations.

Perhaps a tax lawyer or accountant can comment.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by ApK

I am certain this has absolutely nothing to do with "publishers" or publishing at all and has everything to do with the the tax and accounting policies of the various businesses and their locations.

Perhaps a tax lawyer or accountant can comment.

I found this:

http://kdp.amazon.com/community/thre...ssageID=707358

It contains a response that someone received from Bookbaby about this issue, quoted in part below.

Because you are essentially selling your ebooks on consignment through us we do not require any tax or employment documents. We neither withhold from nor report your earnings to any agency of any government. You are responsible for reporting your income in accordance with any tax regulation to which you are subject, and we encourage you to consult a local tax professional for assistance in determining how much and how to file your taxes.

[Suzanna]

I second the fact that you should look at Draft2Digital. Many indie authors have switched from Smashwords to D2D for third party distribution, myself included.

The following is what convinced me to make that switch:

- no meatgrinder
- you don't have to wait for your books to be approved for premium distribution before they're distributed to 3rd party sites
- fast distribution to 3rd party sites
- monthly payments
- up-to-date sales numbers
- excellent customer service
- you have to opt in to new distribution channels (with Smashwords, they opt you in automatically and you have to opt out if you don't want your books distributed to that channel.)

[JSWolf]

What I would like to see is ePub as the format to upload and any other format made from the ePub as the source. No Word as the source A lot of Smahswords eBooks are filled with some very poor code under the hood.

The idea is to have ePub uploaded with clean code. If the author does use Word to write the book and then converts it to ePub, the author must them make sure that the code is clean and not filled with some of the garbage one can get using Word as the source.

As a customer, I might want to edit the format and if the code is a mess, it's that much harder for me.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I found this:

http://kdp.amazon.com/community/thre...ssageID=707358

It contains a response that someone received from Bookbaby about this issue, quoted in part below.

I got something similar from BookBaby when I was dealing with them, but what that doesn't explain is why Amazon and Smashwords see it differently. Aren't they, too, just selling the book on consignment? My interactions with all of them are effectively identical, so why isn't the tax aspect identical? That's what always puzzled me.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by gmw

I got something similar from BookBaby when I was dealing with them, but what that doesn't explain is why Amazon and Smashwords see it differently. Aren't they, too, just selling the book on consignment? My interactions with all of them are effectively identical, so why isn't the tax aspect identical? That's what always puzzled me.

I've been thinking, and this just occurred to me:

In the US, payments from product consignments don't require 1099s (reported payments), but that refers to merchandise, NOT services.

Digital goods sales usually are handled as a service rather than a product.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I've been thinking, and this just occurred to me:

In the US, payments from product consignments don't require 1099s (reported payments), but that refers to merchandise, NOT services.

Digital goods sales usually are handled as a service rather than a product.

That doesn't make a lot of sense in some ways. I mean if I buy a music CD or a DVD movie I'm buying a digital product that just happens to be stored on physical media that I can touch.

[ApK]

Crich, no.
1. Any physical item is pretty much the definition of merchandise. As people here love to point out even when it's inappropriate, you are buying that media along with a licence to the content.
2. The operative word wasn't 'digital,' it was 'service,' meaning not physical goods, not merchandise.
If she had said 'marraige counseling is handled as a service' then you'd have been similarly and equally wrong to try to argue 'but if I buy a book or DVD about marriage counseling.....'