Barriers to Purchasing Books on Smashwords

[ChuckMiceli]

Originally Posted by altworld

I don't think I can add anything here that hasn't already been said. The verification bug may be caused by Smashwords recovering from the site outage at that third party server host. I think it even killed Meatgrinder for awhile.

If there were problems you could of pointed your Reader to the book on Amazon, B&N, Kobo etc... Sadly you wont find one eBook selling service that doesn't make you sign up, and fill out a profile to get your book, this is pretty typical

I agree re. the potential cause of the verification bug. Unfortunately, I am still receiving e-mails from people who cannot overcome the process. I am re-directing them to Amazon. Unless I can get some acknowledgement from Smashwords that the probelem has been addressed, in the future I will have to direct new readers to Amazon instead of Smashwords.

Thanks,

Chuck Miceli

[ChuckMiceli]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

I am not writer. I buy books on Smashwords. Many ecommerce sites let someone buy as a guest - no account required. There is no reason Smashwords could not do the same.

ChuckMiceli you are lucky you fans can contact you on Smashwords. I have been trying to contact an author on smashwords and cannot find any way to do that.

In the Smashwords style directory, it suggests adding a section to the back of each book giving readers options for communicating with the author. These could include a Facebook or Twitter account, the Smashwords author's page, a blog, a website, and other means. If you have purchased the book already, I would suggest looking for that kind of material in the back. You might also check out the author's Smashwords Author's Page for information on how to contact him/her. I can't speak for the specific author you are trying to reach, but more than anything else, I look forward to hearing from my readers. After all, they are the reason I wrote the book in the first place. Some of us worry that, at some point, the volume of reader feedback will become so large that it will become overwhelming. That is a problem we should all pray for and, untill it happens, we should be thankful for any reader taking the time to contact us. Good reading.

Thanks,

Chuck Miceli
Author, Amanda's Room

[dadioflex]

Here's another barrier, if you write fiction with incest or were-sex in it:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/...erotic-content

Just reporting it as seen - I find both subjects distasteful, but without these subjects we wouldn't have Flowers in the Attic or the entire paranormal romance genre so... nope, still not caring.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

Here's another barrier, if you write fiction with incest or were-sex in it:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/...erotic-content

Just reporting it as seen - I find both subjects distasteful, but without these subjects we wouldn't have Flowers in the Attic or the entire paranormal romance genre so... nope, still not caring.

But that is not Smashwords fault. Nothing they can do about it, unless they can find a replacement payment gateway and transition to it, but that will take a lot of time to do.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

Here's another barrier, if you write fiction with incest or were-sex in it:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/...erotic-content

Just reporting it as seen - I find both subjects distasteful, but without these subjects we wouldn't have Flowers in the Attic or the entire paranormal romance genre so... nope, still not caring.

For clarification, it only applies to erotica with that content in it - depictions for the purpose of titillation. Those subjects can be depicted in other types of fiction. V.C. Andrews fans are safe. And the were-sex restriction only applies if there is a species mis-match during the act.

But to the topic at hand - I don't find the sign-up process unwieldy (any occasional technical issues aside, as I did not encounter any at the time), but I find the site itself (organization, layout of book pages) to be somewhat unpleasant to use. Obviously, that's an individual thing, but it occurred to me that folks might take issue with having to sign up because they don't plan on returning. I mean, I wouldn't want to go through the registration process of a site I don't like just to get one book from there. If they found the site appealing, that resistance might not be there.

So, perhaps the complaint about having to register points to a larger issue they have with Smashwords. That's obviously not something you can make go away, but maybe you can talk up some of the positive aspects of Smashwords to compensate. I like to think that part of the reason Smashwords' user interface is awkward from the buyer's perspective is because it's only part of what they do - on the other side of things, they are innovating the way publishing works and paving the way for independent authors to try to find their place in a crowded market.

[anamardoll]

You can also, I've just learned, load your book for sale on GoodReads. I *think* they don't have to have a GoodReads account to buy and download, but I've not tested that.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

You can also, I've just learned, load your book for sale on GoodReads. I *think* they don't have to have a GoodReads account to buy and download, but I've not tested that.

I tried that a while ago, before I found out about Smashwords. The result was ineffably bad. They seem to have a double standard; ebooks uploaded by major publishers can be formatted professionally, while those uploaded by mere mortals have to be block formatted and look horrible.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by teh603

I tried that a while ago, before I found out about Smashwords. The result was ineffably bad. They seem to have a double standard; ebooks uploaded by major publishers can be formatted professionally, while those uploaded by mere mortals have to be block formatted and look horrible.

Huh? [Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR] is formatted fine (I check through obsessively), and they uploaded it within an hour, so they can't have been doing much to it. I doubt I got special treatment.

[anamardoll]

OK, it's considered promotion for me to link to my example. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I don't know what you're talking about with block formatting on GoodReads uploads. My experience with them is that they just took the book "as is" and didn't reformat it. If you'd like a direct link as proof, you can PM me, I guess.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

OK, it's considered promotion for me to link to my example. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I don't know what you're talking about with block formatting on GoodReads uploads. My experience with them is that they just took the book "as is" and didn't reformat it. If you'd like a direct link as proof, you can PM me, I guess.

Y'know, I deleted the stuff I'd uploaded? I remember it was particularly horrible, though. I was uploading .txt files for some reason.

[ChuckMiceli]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

Here's another barrier, if you write fiction with incest or were-sex in it:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/02/...erotic-content

Just reporting it as seen - I find both subjects distasteful, but without these subjects we wouldn't have Flowers in the Attic or the entire paranormal romance genre so... nope, still not caring.

Your comment reflects a different kind of barrier, specifically censorship. While that is an important topic, it goes off in a direction that I am not prepared to address at this time. I have noticed, however, that it did spark several other comments and I am grateful to all those who took the time to clarify the issue. Thanks for your input.

[ChuckMiceli]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

You can also, I've just learned, load your book for sale on GoodReads. I *think* they don't have to have a GoodReads account to buy and download, but I've not tested that.

I have not investigated GoodReads yet. Can you upload a Smashwords edition to GoodReads or do you have to reformat the book as you would for Amazon or others?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ChuckMiceli

I have not investigated GoodReads yet. Can you upload a Smashwords edition to GoodReads or do you have to reformat the book as you would for Amazon or others?

You upload an ePUB file. If the ePUB file that Smashwords gave you is clean, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[ChuckMiceli]

Originally Posted by teh603

Y'know, I deleted the stuff I'd uploaded? I remember it was particularly horrible, though. I was uploading .txt files for some reason.

I'll check out GoodRead's site. I apprecited the feedback.