Quote:
Originally Posted by John F
Smashwords began public operations in 2008. They were acquired by Draft2Digital in 2022.
I would guess for a lot of authors on Smashwords, it does matter: one less thing for them to do.
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It really doesn't. It's an extra 10 minutes (most of that simply filling in metadata, which is nothing on the time involved publishing*. Apple distribution (already) is much more hassle saving (and used to need Apple Mac) .
* Post Writing activity.
Assuming Proofed and Edited:
Cover
Blurb
Metadata
convert MSS files to ebook and edit, esp image CSS
Check TOC
Check all Links
Check all images
Test on a range of ereader and ereader apps.
On each of Smashwords, Google and Amazon
Enter the metadata
Upload Cover
Upload epub
Set pricing for each marketplace. You might want to still do this direct on Amazon even if Smashwords/D2D did distribute
Download the ebook incase they mangled it**
Upload book details to Nielson (ISBN database)
Upload book details and cover to Goodreads and other places.
Then
Marketing!
** A problem with Amazon as they convert to customers based on Customer (mobi, azw3, kfx etc) from your epub, so if any fresh format/style you not only need to test calibre converted mobi and azw on real Kindles, but also buy downloads from Amazon on maybe 3 kinds of Kindle. The Amazon Author/Publisher download is simply the epub you uploaded unless you are mad enough to have uploaded doc or docx. They used to give you a sort of dual mobi/azw3 file, but now want you to send the epub to 'Send to Kindle' which isn't exactly the same process as conversion for sales, or at least wasn't in the past!