The folks over at O'Reilly Media published a survey which examines publisher stats for titles in the Apple iBookstore as of April 26.They concluded Smashwords titles represent 5.2% of all titles in the bookstore, putting us in the #6 position in terms of title count.
It'll be interesting to see how the numbers trend over time. We now publish and distribute over 11,000 original ebooks, and to date we've only supplied the iBookstore a fraction of these.
We'll supply thousands more in the next 30 days.
This is great news for those of you who distribute with Smashwords. You're part of a quiet revolution that will democratize book distribution to the benefit of all indie authors and small publishers.
Read the O'Reilly story over at O'Reilly Radar.
Excellent!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive! Regardless of my personal feelings about Apple, Inc., I have to admire how smoothly and fast the iBookstore has added my company's titles. I've been sneaking into the Apple Store at my local mall, checking my titles and then casually strolling off and leaving By Light Unseen Media's "shelf" displayed on the demo iPad. :-) Three of our titles have been reviewed by Publishers Weekly and I just learned that one also got a review from Library Journal, so I'm a serious player here. It's nice to be taken seriously. Thanks, Mark!!
ReplyDeleteGreat result and going to get better!
ReplyDeleteWow, how cool is that! I'm about to republish one of my out-of-print romance novels, and was debating whether or not to use Smashwords. This sure helps me make up my mind.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who's curious, I'm blogging about the process of over at JuliesJournalOnline.com
There's a lot of exciting things happening in the word of ebooks for authors who are established in print.
Wow! Such good news for all of us (Smashwords crew and Indy publishers and authors). Congratulations and thanks for the hard work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Vyrdolak. I hadn't thought of slipping into an Apple store. That's what I need to do.
ReplyDeleteI have not been able to find my book in B&N or Kobo yet, although I check regularly.
I just found out about smashwords, and I'm a serious convert--spreading the gospel wherever I go. Good job. Great software. Great distribution channels. No wonder it's taking market share. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is outstanding. I cannot wait to be a part of this revolution. You have done a fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent news and I'm proud to be one of the indie authors of Smashwords.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Has Smashwords any data on Smarshword’s authors' works rejected by Apple for what The Huffington Post calls Apple's "storm of arbitrary rejections and strange censorship?" And has Smashwords an opinion about this?
ReplyDeleteApple reversed their unarticulated censorship policy after some of their more glaring idiocies came to light. (Moby Dick, Ulysses.) But what of the unknowns who were and probably still are being rejected by Apple for "objectionable language" or "gay themes" -- writing of the sort that genuine publishers discuss individually with their authors? Dare we eBook indies use the “f” word? The ”n” word? And -- My blushes, Watson! -- sex! What? No more merry, three-paragraph romps to spice up life mid-novel?
Say what we will – and we do – about the stultifying business model of traditional publishing. At least it springs from a humanistic tradition and is staffed by professional editors of some education. What a barren new world of letters the eBook will bring us if guarded by the babbitry of the small-minded.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/apple-censorship-from-the_n_645142.html