Smashwords

[Tim Murray]

How does Smashwords work for any of you fellow chroners? Can you use it if you already have an account with create space/kindle? How are the results?

 

[thaddeus6th]

Pretty well, yes, and depends.

I had a Smashwords account first. You won't get many sales directly through the site but it distributes to just about everyone (Amazon is trickier, so I always just had a separate KDP [and now CreateSpace] account anyway). The formatting is pretty similar to that for Amazon, so it shouldn't create many problems.

Obviously, you can't be a member of KDP Select/Unlimited or whatever it's called and release the book through Smashwords as well.

Personally, I've never had a serious problem. I've used both Word and (now) Open Office, although I did have to fiddle a little with chapter heading sizes for the last book.

 

[tinkerdan]

As long as you haven't made exclusive deals with others . Such as amazon. And you haven't forfeited your copyrights.
I did a POD that left me as the Copyright holder of my work so I was able to use SmashWords with no problems.
I use smashwords to do most of my giveaways because it's easier for me to keep track of them that way.
Also it's easier to do updates when I have things I fix in the novels, than it is when I work with my POD because the POD charges for changes.
I will do smashwords and amazon directly next time and likely some other option for my hard copies.

 

[pambaddeley]

Draft2Digital is an alternative aggregator to Smashwords and I'm considering them when I do publish for handling Apple and probably B&N as there are a lot of hassles there apparently. David Gaughran discusses this in his book and links to related blog posts - Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should: Volume 1: Amazon.co.uk: David Gaughran: 9781475212600: Books and probably talks more about it in the followup Let's Get Visible.