4 July 2011

SELF PUBLISHING - Part 2

eBook formating for Smashwords
As I said earlier, you can download the Smashwords Style Guide if you wish to do your own formatting, or alternatively, Smashwords will email you a list of people who can do this task for you.  At a cost.

I like to try things for myself so I made an extra copy of my manuscript and following the Style Guide meticulously, I went to work.  It took me a few days to complete, and after checking and rechecking everything, as well as deciding on the cost of my book, I took the plunge.  I clicked on the Publish tab on the Smashwords site and uploaded my cover and my book.  When you do this, your book and cover goes through what they call an Auto Vetter that inspects your book and gives you instant feedback on potential formatting problems.  Thankfully, I had none.

Once your book is uploaded successfully, it is available for sale straight away on the Smashwords site.  At the same time, it is placed on a pending list for entry into the Premium Catalogue.  This is a manual process and can take up to two weeks to complete.  Once again, if any formatting errors are found, you will be notified and given the opportunity to correct them.

It is important to get accepted into the Premium Catalogue because once there, Smashwords distributes your eBook to their retail channel partners such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, The Diesel eBook Store, Amazon and Scrollmotion.

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