Thursday, January 27, 2011

Smashwords Process

I've found the Smashwords conversion process a better fit for eBook conversion if you follow a simple trick. Prepare your manuscript in the Smashwords .doc format for submission and when you're ready for the Kindle on Amazon.com, save your work in the filtered, HTML format. This will save time and allow you to prepare for all of the eBook formats without extra work.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Coupon Generation

Smashwords.com has an exciting feature for promotion of your book, a Coupon Generator. With this, you can set discounts of your work to a lower list price or even free if you so desire. Simply click on the "Coupon" option in your dashboard to enter the discount. The discount code is generated and the change takes effect immediately.

Here are the discount codes for my books that take the price for all down to $.99 each.

Emily's Unicorn = Coupon Code GF88G
Slipstream = Coupon Code KD88J
Pantera = Coupon Code LV59Z

The codes are not case sensitive and you can enter them when you check out.

Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Smashwords Conversion

The blogs on the Kindle site have been invaluable in researching other possible epublishing sites. Smashwords seems to be used by many of the posters on the site so I thought I'd give it a try. First off, the process to publishing on Smashwords is as simple as the Amazon site, only the directions are more detailed.

The process begins with the creation of your document and it's recommended that you save your work in an MSWord document, preferably, a.doc version, not the new 2010 format. I did find you need to strip out the automatically created Table of Contents and just create links to your chapter headers. Also, directions to cure the disappearing blank lines for scene changes suggested adding four stars (****) to those lines and three pound signs (###) at the end of your work.

 Posting to the site is a simple upload but the conversion process can take several minutes and up to a couple of hours depending on the amount of site traffic. Your upload is immediately available on Smashwords and once accepted in their Premium Catelogue, available on to Barnes & Noble plus the Apple site. Free ISBN numbers are issued to works that are accepted into their Premium Catalogue.

It took about three days for my work to gain acceptance into the Premium Catalogue and now I have three titles available for sale on the site. Of course,  book promotion  is my responsibility but as of now, I've sold two copies. Not a great start but a start non the less.