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User:Feedmelit/Smashwords

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Feedmelit (talk | contribs) at 07:37, 24 April 2009 (added a couple links to demonstrate notoriety (there are dozens more)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Smashwords (Smashwords, Inc.), based in Los Gatos, Calif., operates an ebook self-publishing service and online bookstore. The company began public operation in May, 2008.

The company gained notoriety by claiming the traditional book publishing industry was denying quality authors the opportunity to publish, based purely on perceived commercial merit. Instead, the company advocated that every author should have the right to publish, and the quality of written works should be decided by readers, not by agents and publishers.[1]

While Smashwords offers the ability for any author to publish their book online, it does not provide many benefits typical of traditional commercial print publishers. For example, it does not provide editing, quality control, proof reading, or book cover design. Instead, Smashwords publishes manuscripts on an as-is basis and requires author to assume responsibility for the quality of the book and for their own book promotion.

Smashwords is a self-serve publishing service. Authors upload their manuscripts as Microsoft Word files to the Smashwords service, which converts the files into nine ebook formats for reading on most ebook reading devices. Once published, the books are made available for sale online at a price set by the author. Books are sold without digital rights management (DRM) copy protection. Authors are paid 85 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of their works. Smashwords takes 15 percent of the net.

Books published with Smashwords are available for sale in the Smashwords bookstore, and are also distributed on the iPhone and iPod Touch devices via a relationship with Lexcycle, makers of the Stanza e-reading app.

Smashwords was founded by Mark Coker. Coker was previously the founder and president of BestCalls.com, a directory of earnings conference calls. The story behind the founding of Smashwords is similar to the story behind the founding of BestCalls[2][3].

Coker was quoted in the Globe & Mail newspaper as saying he founded the company to offer self-published authors an alternative to mainstream commercial publishing.[4]


References

  1. ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11409483?IADID
  2. ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11409483?IADID
  3. ^ http://industry.bnet.com/media/1000723/smashwords-takes-ebooks-mobile/
  4. ^ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080513.WBmingram20080513112738/WBStory/WBmingram/
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