Why my book isn't on Smashwords - Page 3

neilmarr · 06-20-2010, 06:20 AM

***I believe the poor signal-to-noise ratio of self-published books is really detrimental to that 2%. People aren't willing to wade through 98% crap to find the 2% gems***

Exactly, Marcy. Until self-published PoD and ebook garbage flooded the net, this filtering process was handled by professional acquisitions editors (of course errors were made -- but hardly 98% of the time). Many self-published works are an insult to the reader, serving only to make good books like needles in an ever-growing haystack. Nel

mr ploppy · 06-20-2010, 06:40 AM

I find 5 minutes worth of reading is enough to know if it is something I want to read the rest of or not. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to only being able to read books that someone thought they could make a big profit on.

J. Strnad · 06-21-2010, 02:16 AM

Mark Coker, thanks for the invitation. I've taken you up on it and have uploaded Risen to Smashwords. I read and followed the style guide and the conversion worked first time out.

I checked it out on my Kobo and the teeny-non-sizeable type problem afflicts it, but I'm confident that Kobo's firmware upgrade will take care of that. If not, I'll want to take advantage of the future opportunity to upload an epub file directly, which I might do anyway to give readers a clickable table of contents.

About editing:

Absolutely agree about the need for copyediting, and I deeply value the contribution of a good editor. (Bad editors exist, too, and they can ruin an otherwise good story.) Unfortunately, even at the professional houses, editing ain't what it used to be. Your book has to be virtually ready to go or they aren't interested.

I well understand the reluctance people have to sample self-published work, having self-published Risen initially. Eventually, Time-Warner picked it up for their short-lived ebook venture, iPublish, which was not a self-publishing house (the "i" stood for "internet") but you can see from the name how astute their business plan was. Later I obtained an agent and he sold Risen to Kensington Publishing in NY, who issued it under their Pinnacle Books imprint.

Risen has been optioned for films five times without a film ever being made. The last producer to option it was Ralph Singleton, who has made three Stephen King movies. I've now made more on film options than I made from book publication (which, all together, still total less than $10,000). Considering all the time I've put into Risen, I'd have made more money per hour flipping burgers...but that's okay. I'd rather write than flip.

What just killed me was that my book wasn't available at any price for about six years. Now, it's out there and I'm grateful to everyone who is making that possible.

nomesque · 06-21-2010, 02:24 AM

Great to hear that it's out, now - and good luck with it!

cbell · 06-21-2010, 02:29 AM

Smashwords is one of my favourite sites. I wouldn't read your (self-published) book if you didn't upload it there, Jan.

I've had no problems with the ePubs I've purchased/downloaded from Smashwords (and there's a lot of them!).

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/17214

AlaricAdair · 07-16-2010, 03:57 AM

Sadly, I too have given up on Smashwords. Their meatgrinder interface seems so clunky. Yesterday it rejected a genuine MS Word .doc file with some obscure unrelated report about pdf files. I'd previously managed a few months ago to get one file converted.
I've turned instead to Amazon's Kindle. Their interface is a breeze in comparison and it accepts multiple formats.

GeoffC · 07-16-2010, 04:04 AM

AlaricAdair

Welcome to mobileread ....

Marcy · 07-16-2010, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I find 5 minutes worth of reading is enough to know if it is something I want to read the rest of or not. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to only being able to read books that someone thought they could make a big profit on.

Books from indie publishers are still good. They don't need a traditional publisher. However the indie publishers still ensure decent editing.

I find that's one of the best uses of my former fave, Fictionwise. I look at all the new indie books and check their publishers. If the publisher has an external website, Fictionwise links to it—something no other online bookstore I've encountered does. I've found other good ebooks that way.

-Marcy

J. Strnad · 07-16-2010, 09:35 PM

Agree totally with Marcy, though I don't have any experience with Fictionwise.

My Smashwords edition of Risen seems to work just fine, although the nicety of a clickable table of contents isn't there. Also, the HTML preview, for some reason, presents each line as centered, which is NOT the case in the actual ePub, and without proper breaks between sections. Since I followed the style guide to the letter, I have no idea what to change. I hope people go the extra step of downloading the sample to see that the text is, indeed, formatted properly.

I'll be happy to send my "refined" ePub version, which includes a clickable table of contents, to anyone who buys it on Smashwords and emails me with the request. But I would MUCH RATHER be able to download my tweaked ePub to Smashwords. This is the feature I would most like to see implemented at Smashwords!

nomesque · 07-17-2010, 08:17 AM

Clickable TOC is possible, you just need to create it using bookmarks rather than the automatic heading-reference used by Word. Counter-intuitive, but it does work.

Valmore Daniels · 07-18-2010, 02:59 PM

I use the PC versions of the different readers, and I've checked each version of the Smashwords edition of my novel. I'm very happy with everything except for the .rtf version, and I'm sure that's because of a formatting issue on my end. I haven't had any feedback from people who have ereaders, however, and I won't try to tweak the formatting until/unless I get complaints.

AnemicOak · 07-18-2010, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valmore Daniels

I use the PC versions of the different readers, and I've checked each version of the Smashwords edition of my novel, An Old Fashioned Folk Tale. I'm very happy with everything except for the .rtf version, and I'm sure that's because of a formatting issue on my end. I haven't had any feedback from people who have ereaders, however, and I won't try to tweak the formatting until/unless I get complaints.

I just looked at the ePub and Mobi versions. I guess it depends on what you like for formatting I didn't find them bad, but before I personally were to read it I guess I'd personally be spending some time doing thing to the file(s). I don't like that the Mobi file's paragraphs are only indented one space, it's barely noticeable. I don't like that the Mobi version doesn't have chapter breaks or a cover. I don't like that neither version has a table of contents. I don't like books with a blank line between each paragraph. Picky? Yeah I can be, I'm used to having to reformat stuff from Smashwords and sometimes elsewhere before I read it. I'm sure for most folks it's just fine as is, I mean I wouldn't really change anything if I were you unless you can give the Mobi a cover, but I think that's a Smashwords problem in general.

Hellmark · 07-20-2010, 02:09 PM

Word, in my experience, is a bad place to start writing a book at, things can get tricky in a hurry. You can produce good work, but it just takes more work. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone here. There are a number of people who've worked with Smashwords, and know how to get things done there.

JSWolf · 07-28-2010, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlaricAdair

Sadly, I too have given up on Smashwords. Their meatgrinder interface seems so clunky. Yesterday it rejected a genuine MS Word .doc file with some obscure unrelated report about pdf files. I'd previously managed a few months ago to get one file converted.
I've turned instead to Amazon's Kindle. Their interface is a breeze in comparison and it accepts multiple formats.

So where will we be able to buy your eBook in ePub format?

J. Strnad · 07-29-2010, 01:43 AM

I just tried to put Risen up for a 75% discount on Smashwords (which brings the price to $1.24) as an experiment. My hypothesis is that anyone who is not interested at $4.95 will also not be interested at $1.24. I figured I'd try it out from now until 7/31.

Unfortunately, Smashwords hung up and wouldn't process the sale, so the experiment ended a bit more abruptly than I'd intended!

Meanwhile, Kobobooks has it for $1.00-and-a-few-cents off, but I don't know that anyone's bought it there. Sony offers a small discount, but again, no sales that I know of.

Most of my sales are through Amazon, for the Kindle, at full price. They're outselling all of the other outlets combined by a margin of 2.5-to-1. Maybe the fact that Amazon is the only retailer that has any ratings/reviews for Risen has something to do with it.

I don't know what it all means. I'm just throwing the info out there.

07-18-2010, 02:59 PM	#41
Valmore Daniels Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,592 Karma: 2822668 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle	I use the PC versions of the different readers, and I've checked each version of the Smashwords edition of my novel. I'm very happy with everything except for the .rtf version, and I'm sure that's because of a formatting issue on my end. I haven't had any feedback from people who have ereaders, however, and I won't try to tweak the formatting until/unless I get complaints. Last edited by Valmore Daniels; 10-10-2010 at 01:35 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Help me find this Smashwords book	ficbot	General Discussions	5	09-18-2010 10:45 AM
Free book - Smashwords - The Book of Adam: Autobiography of the First Human Clone	Purple Lady	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	13	08-20-2010 04:35 AM
My Husband's Book is at Smashwords	DixieGal	Reading Recommendations	16	03-25-2010 03:12 PM
Free Book at Smashwords - Boomerang	koland	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	55	12-30-2009 09:17 PM

06-20-2010, 06:20 AM	#31
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	*I believe the poor signal-to-noise ratio of self-published books is really detrimental to that 2%. People aren't willing to wade through 98% crap to find the 2% gems* Exactly, Marcy. Until self-published PoD and ebook garbage flooded the net, this filtering process was handled by professional acquisitions editors (of course errors were made -- but hardly 98% of the time). Many self-published works are an insult to the reader, serving only to make good books like needles in an ever-growing haystack. Nel

06-20-2010, 06:40 AM	#32
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	I find 5 minutes worth of reading is enough to know if it is something I want to read the rest of or not. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to only being able to read books that someone thought they could make a big profit on.

06-21-2010, 02:16 AM	#33
J. Strnad Guru Posts: 915 Karma: 3537194 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo, Kindle 3, Paperwhite	Mark Coker, thanks for the invitation. I've taken you up on it and have uploaded Risen to Smashwords. I read and followed the style guide and the conversion worked first time out. I checked it out on my Kobo and the teeny-non-sizeable type problem afflicts it, but I'm confident that Kobo's firmware upgrade will take care of that. If not, I'll want to take advantage of the future opportunity to upload an epub file directly, which I might do anyway to give readers a clickable table of contents. About editing: Absolutely agree about the need for copyediting, and I deeply value the contribution of a good editor. (Bad editors exist, too, and they can ruin an otherwise good story.) Unfortunately, even at the professional houses, editing ain't what it used to be. Your book has to be virtually ready to go or they aren't interested. I well understand the reluctance people have to sample self-published work, having self-published Risen initially. Eventually, Time-Warner picked it up for their short-lived ebook venture, iPublish, which was not a self-publishing house (the "i" stood for "internet") but you can see from the name how astute their business plan was. Later I obtained an agent and he sold Risen to Kensington Publishing in NY, who issued it under their Pinnacle Books imprint. Risen has been optioned for films five times without a film ever being made. The last producer to option it was Ralph Singleton, who has made three Stephen King movies. I've now made more on film options than I made from book publication (which, all together, still total less than $10,000). Considering all the time I've put into Risen, I'd have made more money per hour flipping burgers...but that's okay. I'd rather write than flip. What just killed me was that my book wasn't available at any price for about six years. Now, it's out there and I'm grateful to everyone who is making that possible.

06-21-2010, 02:24 AM	#34
nomesque Snooty Bestselling Author Posts: 1,485 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ipswich, QLD, Australia Device: PRS-650	Great to hear that it's out, now - and good luck with it!

06-21-2010, 02:29 AM	#35
cbell Frenetic Posts: 590 Karma: 8181 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Australia Device: iLiad V2	Smashwords is one of my favourite sites. I wouldn't read your (self-published) book if you didn't upload it there, Jan. I've had no problems with the ePubs I've purchased/downloaded from Smashwords (and there's a lot of them!). http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/17214

07-16-2010, 03:57 AM	#36
AlaricAdair Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: kindle	Sadly, I too have given up on Smashwords. Their meatgrinder interface seems so clunky. Yesterday it rejected a genuine MS Word .doc file with some obscure unrelated report about pdf files. I'd previously managed a few months ago to get one file converted. I've turned instead to Amazon's Kindle. Their interface is a breeze in comparison and it accepts multiple formats.

07-16-2010, 04:04 AM	#37
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	AlaricAdair Welcome to mobileread ....

07-16-2010, 09:35 PM	#39
J. Strnad Guru Posts: 915 Karma: 3537194 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo, Kindle 3, Paperwhite	Agree totally with Marcy, though I don't have any experience with Fictionwise. My Smashwords edition of Risen seems to work just fine, although the nicety of a clickable table of contents isn't there. Also, the HTML preview, for some reason, presents each line as centered, which is NOT the case in the actual ePub, and without proper breaks between sections. Since I followed the style guide to the letter, I have no idea what to change. I hope people go the extra step of downloading the sample to see that the text is, indeed, formatted properly. I'll be happy to send my "refined" ePub version, which includes a clickable table of contents, to anyone who buys it on Smashwords and emails me with the request. But I would MUCH RATHER be able to download my tweaked ePub to Smashwords. This is the feature I would most like to see implemented at Smashwords!

07-17-2010, 08:17 AM	#40
nomesque Snooty Bestselling Author Posts: 1,485 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ipswich, QLD, Australia Device: PRS-650	Clickable TOC is possible, you just need to create it using bookmarks rather than the automatic heading-reference used by Word. Counter-intuitive, but it does work.

07-20-2010, 02:09 PM	#43
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,592 Karma: 4290425 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Foristell, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3, Kobo Libra 2	Word, in my experience, is a bad place to start writing a book at, things can get tricky in a hurry. You can produce good work, but it just takes more work. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone here. There are a number of people who've worked with Smashwords, and know how to get things done there.

07-29-2010, 01:43 AM	#45
J. Strnad Guru Posts: 915 Karma: 3537194 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo, Kindle 3, Paperwhite	I just tried to put Risen up for a 75% discount on Smashwords (which brings the price to $1.24) as an experiment. My hypothesis is that anyone who is not interested at $4.95 will also not be interested at $1.24. I figured I'd try it out from now until 7/31. Unfortunately, Smashwords hung up and wouldn't process the sale, so the experiment ended a bit more abruptly than I'd intended! Meanwhile, Kobobooks has it for $1.00-and-a-few-cents off, but I don't know that anyone's bought it there. Sony offers a small discount, but again, no sales that I know of. Most of my sales are through Amazon, for the Kindle, at full price. They're outselling all of the other outlets combined by a margin of 2.5-to-1. Maybe the fact that Amazon is the only retailer that has any ratings/reviews for Risen has something to do with it. I don't know what it all means. I'm just throwing the info out there.