Smashwords and Shortcovers Sign Ebook Distribution Agreement

At Smashwords, our mission is to make it free and easy for any author, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute their ebook.

So I'm excited today to announce a distribution agreement with Shortcovers, a large ebook retailer that operates online ebook stores in 189 countries. This deal follows similar distribution agreements we announced recently with Barnes & Noble and Sony.

If you haven't heard of Shortcovers, they're a hot startup created by Indigo Books, Canada's largest book retailer. They offer a family of free e-reading apps supporting all major smart phone platforms, including the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre and Google Android. They also support several eInk devices.

The mobile channel, Shortcovers' strength, is extremely important to the future success of all authors and publishers. Already, more ebooks are read on cell phones than on dedicated e-reading devices. Over the next few years, billions of ebook-ready smart phones will be in the hands of consumers around the world, dwarfing the number of dedicated e-reading devices.

For Smashwords authors and publishers, this agreement will make your books discoverable and purchaseable by millions of customers.

Before dollar signs start flashing in your mind, remember we make it easy to publish and distribute your book, but bookselling is always difficult. The success or failure of your book in the marketplace will ultimately come down to the quality of your book (does it touch your audience in such a way that they want to tell all their friends about it) and how well you market it (for helpful marketing tips, check out the Smashwords Book Market Guide).

All Smashwords Premium Catalog books will begin shipping to Shortcovers this Wednesday November 18.

If you're not already publishing with Smashwords, learn how at this page, How to Publish on Smashwords.

To learn more about the Shortcovers relationship, check out the joint press release issued today by Smashwords and Shortcovers.