Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Smashwords Partners with ScrollMotion to Deliver Indie Ebooks to Major Mobile App Marketplaces

Smashwords books are coming to an app store near you.

Today we announced an agreement with ScrollMotion that will transform over 33,000 Smashwords Premium Catalog ebooks into individual mobile apps for distribution to the largest app marketplaces for smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices.

The relationship will gain Smashwords authors and publishers free entry into the app marketplaces for Apple, Android, Windows Phone 7 and WebOS.

Our partnership with ScrollMotion expands the distribution of our books to the largest, fastest growing app marketplaces, and will enable Smashwords authors and publishers to reach new readers.

According to Gartner Group, worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010. Apple, Android and Windows Phone 7 above power 63 percent of all smart phones in 2011, and this will rise to 85 percent by 2015. Separately, in the all-important tablet market, which Gartner estimates will reach 69 million devices this year, Gartner predicts Apple, Android, WebOS will collectively power over 92 percent of tablets sold. Gartner estimates sales of tablets will grow to 294 million units by 2015, of which Apple, Android and WebOS are expected to command a collective 89 percent market share.

Over 47,000 books are published at Smashwords today, with over 5,000 new releases in the last 30 days. Over 34,000 of these titles have been accepted into the Smashwords Premium Catalog for distribution to major retailers.

Shipments to ScrollMotion will commence on Friday, and titles will begin appearing in the app marketplaces later this month. All Premium Catalog books are automatically opted in for ScrollMotion distribution. To modify distribution preferences, log in to your Smashwords Dashboard's Channel Manager. Like all Smashwords retail relationships, authors and publishers will earn 60 percent of the list price.

Read the official press release here.

If you're not yet working with Smashwords, learn how at our page, How to Publish and Distribute with Smashwords.

77 comments:

Jason Matthews said...

Great news, Mark! Another reason no to worry about creating a specific book app and just sell through all the major players.

Unknown said...

That is wonderful news! Thank you, Smashwords and Mark, for working so hard to increase distribution. :)

Ben Campbell Novels said...

What a great surprise. Movers like you, Mark, keep the ebook platform a mainstay.

Todd Russell said...

This is great news, Mark. Keep up the good work! :)

RodC said...

That's great news. I'm new to Smashwords - and announcements like this make me really glad I joined! Good luck :o)

Leah B said...

I love working within the publishing industry now that innovators like Mark Coker are putting the power back in the hands of creative people.

Inkling said...

Not everyone is writing novels. I'd appreciate a post about the formatting options available with these apps. What can it handle other than standard paragraph text?

Nick said...

Booyaahh!!!

Anonymous said...

You never cease to offer us delightful surprises, Mr. Coker.

I think e-book apps are a great idea. It's like selling paperbacks at a grocery store: people who would never think of entering a bookstore will stumble across the books while searching for something else.

(For those who are interested, the key to finding ScrollMotion e-books at the Apple app store seems to be to do a search on the word Iceberg.)

Jake said...

Great news, Mark. Thanks for always being on the go for us authors. That's why we all love you and send you our best thoughts all the time.
--Jake

Lucy Kevin said...

Wow, Mark! That's FANTASTIC news! So excited about this.

Great work!
~ Lucy Kevin

rdlecoeur said...

Well done, Mark. Guess I'll have to get a smart phone now. lol.

Dan Absalonson said...

This is wonderful! Thank you so much Mark! Smashwords was already amazing. Now I'm at a loss for words.

G. J. Lau said...

Congratulations. Really means a lot to all of us indie authors. You guys are the best.

Alejandro said...

One more big step for your Smahswords authors and publishers. Well done, Mark. Congrats from a spanish publisher.

Shayne Parkinson said...

Great news, Mark! Congratulations on this.

David Derrico said...

Excellent! This is an area where it would be very difficult (and prohibitively expensive) for authors to expand on their own. It really opens up a whole new avenue. I look forward to seeing the results!

Kippoe said...

Very cool news I was just thinking yesterday how great it would be if Smashwords had an App and here it is

Joseph Barbaccia said...

This is good news. Thank you. Will this open the capabilities for our books? Meaning can I now place video, narration or music into my work?

backpackerbill said...

Thanks for the up-date, Mark. You are doing an excellent job. I've got three more titles I'm going to be putting up on Smashwords shortly. Just a mnatter of getting them formatted. Keep up the good work.

Linda A. Lavid said...

Merry Christmas to me. Graci!

Unknown said...

I love Smashwords.

Paul said...

That's Great!!, I have been telling a number of people about Smashwords, I had a question will this help those on Kindles? It seems from the distribution page that books still haven't shipped to Amazon. Is it true that if they just came to Smashwords they could buy books for their Kindles? Thanks, I think you're doing a great job of getting us out there. Thanks You

Coral said...

This is huge... huge I tell you! :)

Myne said...

This is really great news. I was wondering how to publish an app for my books and now that is case solved. Thank you Smashwords.

PhoenixAuthor said...

Smashwords just keep getting better!

BFuniv said...

All we need is opportunity; thank you for supplying it.

Dovetail Public Relations said...

Thanks for the enthusiastic feedback, everyone! I probably should have put in the post that we have no idea how big (or small) of a retail channel this will ultimately become. I scoured the Internet for hard numbers on the percentage of ebook sales derived by standalone book apps and no one seems to track it (maybe we'll be the first!).

Paul, yes, although we're not officially distributing to the Amazon Kindle store yet, we do support Kindle users who want to purchase directly through Smashwords.com. They download the MOBI format.

Ted Summerfield said...

Very nice news, Mark. I'll put a post about it on the Smashwords Forum.

Gina Black said...

Fantastic!

Alisha said...

This is exciting news, Mark. Thank you so much! And thanks for helping me when I had problems uploading my book. Good to know you are the helm. :)

Annette said...

OMG, Mark! You're the best. When do you sleep? Give Lesleyann a hug so she recognizes you!

Thanks for all your tireless work.

Annette Langer

Unknown said...

Fantastic news! I'm so impressed with the job Smashwords has done to help authors and publishers reach readers.

Steve said...

That's great! Yet more platforms (like Kobo, B&N, Sony and iPad) where people will download my books if they're free but will only buy a copy every month or two!

Anonymous said...

And poof, just like that, another four (at least) markets. Seriously cool.

Thanks for all you do, Mark!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic news!! Thank you, Mark, for continually supporting your authors and helping our readership grow.

Joseph Zitt said...

Wonderful! But could you point us to a sample app (of a free book?) once one is ready, so we can get a further sense of what we're getting? And will we be getting notifications of when our book aps are available?

Unknown said...

So glad I chose smashwords to publish my work! Thank you, Mark, for the working so hard for all of us!

Roger said...

Brilliant!

I saw some book apps in the Android market a few months ago, vaguely thought it would be a good idea to be there and then forgot. You saw the same thing and made it happen. Well done.

Unknown said...

Smashwords rocks yet again. You have definitely found your calling, Mark Coker. Thank you for the chance to go with the best distributor in the world of e-publishing.

Angela said...

Excellent work, Mark!

Art in Poetry said...

That's a good as it gets, Mark. Thanks for working on our behalf. I'm delighted that all my books qualified.

J.A. Laughlin said...

This is great news, Mark. I really appreciate what you do with Smashwords. Keep up the good work!

Unknown said...

This is an amazing bit of news! Huge step forward for Smashwords!

Bonnie Rice said...

Great news. Smashwords always seems to stay ahead of the curve.

Lindsay Buroker said...

I can't imagine reading a novel on something as small as my phone, but I'm all to happy to have others do so. Especially if it's *my* novel. ;)

Meb Bryant said...

I'm proud to be part of Mark's Smashwords, especially since I went into the Meatgrinder and came out alive. Can't wait to move forward from "pending approval." Meb Bryant, Harbinger of Evil

Oswald Bastable said...

Great news- you simply CAN NOT get too much exposure!

Debashis Dey said...

This is indeed a milestone development. The only thing we now look forward to Smashwords is a faster approval system for the Premium Distribution. Thanks.

romu said...

Super! Je suis très content.
;-)

Unknown said...

Great news, Mark. I'm very grateful to you, and so are (I'm sure)all Smashwords authors. Riccardo Maffey

Anonymous said...

Great, Mark!

Smashwords is a wonderful place for us authors/publishers!

Kudos to you for making it even better!

Anonymous said...

Kudos, Mark!

As a new member to Smashwords, I thank you for making your empowering service for authors even better!

Kristie Leigh Maguire - Indie Author said...

Fabulous news! WTG, Mark!

Stephanie Zia said...

Fantastic! Onwards and upwards for Smashwords. Thanks for all you're doing for authors.

Anonymous said...

This is so AWESOME!!! Yet another avenue for people to find my writing. Thank you Smashwords!

Raul Vejar said...

Very cool
Your friends @CollegeProwler

Yasmin Morais said...

Congratulations, Mark. Thank you for your enthusiasm, energy and leadership. I am so happy that I found Smashwords and published with you. You make Smashwords authors proud!

Questar Chronicles said...

Wonderful news and thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication to helping your authors!!
Blessings and Peace.
Lauren Zimmerman

Ráyel said...

Parabéns Mark e a toda equipe Smashwords envolvida. Aqui no Brasil nós acreditamos na importância de iniciativas capazes de democratizar o acesso das pessoas aos livros e é exatamente isso que a smashwords faz.

Joleene Naylor said...

Fantastic! I love how Smashwords continues to expand!

Anonymous said...

Iiiiiinteresting! I look forward to finding out how this works for everyone!

E Mena said...

Great news. I too would love to see a sample book as app, to get a sense of what the final thing will look like.

Oswald Bastable said...

Of topic a little- that 2 billion word mark has come up real fast!

Unknown said...

Wow! This is wonderful, thank you for all your hard work.
Jewel

Jake said...

YESSSS!! Thank you Mark and all the Smashwords employees working so hard on all these things so we authors don't have to (Not that I would even know how to begin with something like this, eh?). This is why we love SW and Mark Coker (Well, besides the "little" fact that we are able to publish our otherwise forgotten books to the web).

bowerbird said...

congratulations mark!
(although i'd say that
scrollmotion got the
better part of the deal,
if you ask me, anyway.)

and i will add that i am
a great admirer of your
unflagging persistence
and tenacity. you are a
big champion for writers.

-bowerbird

bowerbird said...

congratulations mark!
(although i'd say that
scrollmotion got the
better part of the deal,
if you ask me, anyway.)

and i will add that i am
a great admirer of your
unflagging persistence
and tenacity. you are a
big champion for writers.

-bowerbird

Grimdux said...

Fantastic! More exposure is always welcome, congratulations Mark!

Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer said...

This is such amazing news, Mark, and the best part? You GIVE it to us FREE FREE FREE. Thank you so much for working so hard to make all of OUR books a publishing success. You have to be the best distributor out there!

-sry
Coming Home (Dicky's Story)
A Romantic Comedy / Jewish Inspirational by Sarah R. Yoffa (March, 21, 2011)
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/29309

Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer said...

p.s. to Paul re the question of getting Kindle books from Smashwords: SUPER EASY!! When you set up your Kindle device, you get an email address. Once you buy a book from Smashwords, you just email the MOBI file to that free Kindle address and your book is fully-loaded on your Kindle device the next time you turn it on. Like magic :)

Anonymous said...

This is certainly the best site of its type. Well done!

Unknown said...

This whole ebook revolution has been so exciting to me. I keep wondering what's coming next? I hope I can become acquainted with some of my fellow Smashwords travelers.
www.GuardinosWrite.com/conartist.html

Saundra L. said...

What a delightful surprise Mark. I am so impressed with all that you and your partners are doing that I really do not know how to express what I feel. I believe in this win/win revolution and so proud to be apart. God bless you and all the writers on Smashwords.

Anonymous said...

GREAT results from your efforts Mark.Well deserved Imho.
RE:DOWNLOAD stats---they are for Total d/l---right? Any chance we could see the total /month stats ranking. Some shown with high d/l figures here have been available for YEARS!
Thanks in advance.

Ernesto Panamá Escritor. said...

Great, well done. I am happy to be working with Smaswords and Mark!

Shannon Meadows said...

Mark, keep up the great work. I'm very excited to be part of the ebook revolution/evolution. I don't think we'll realise until we look back just how important the current developments have been.