tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post6922862513048190211..comments2024-03-25T21:30:28.970-07:00Comments on <b>Smashwords</b>: Smashwords 2018 Year in Review and 2019 PreviewDovetail Public Relationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05039664167177159146noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-81668521716542321162019-01-07T15:42:03.488-08:002019-01-07T15:42:03.488-08:00Good work, Mark and team! I especially like the wa...Good work, Mark and team! I especially like the way that series have been highlighted now on the author profile page. That's helped me. Also, was thrilled to see my book as a featured special deal on the home page. Stuff like this means a lot.<br /><br />I also put my first audiobook into production this year, and was happy that the Findaway Voices production fee got waived for going through Smashwords. You should publicize that more...<br /><br />A pet peeve, though: I don't want to use you guys for a preorder again because what seems to invariably happen every time is my book gets kicked back for a formatting or navigation error. But when I publish the regular way, not preorder, my books go through review every time. Making it MORE difficult to do preorder, which is time-sensitive, doesn't make much sense. What I mean by navigation error is having to go through and code every chapter by hand to get the table of contents for epub right. I have only ever had problems with a book I submitted for preorder. Not fun!Gabriella Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06332053035849562689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-6261512177534168362019-01-03T17:27:36.421-08:002019-01-03T17:27:36.421-08:00For a while, I uploaded directly on B&N and Ko...For a while, I uploaded directly on B&N and Kobo because other authors swore it was best to upload directly whenever possible. That was a horrible decision. I can't count how many times I forgot to update a cover, a new formatted version with Table of Contents, a book description, etc on B&N or Kobo. I have over 70 books now. It is HARD to keep up with all of the retailers. <br /><br />I have to upload directly to Amazon and Google Play, and that is all I can handle. Smashwords saves me a lot of hours that is way better spent working on the next book. The more books you publish, the more valuable a place like Smashwords becomes. Ruth Ann Nordinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15277679843442868070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-53668925812964758172019-01-01T19:12:50.920-08:002019-01-01T19:12:50.920-08:00My satisfaction with SW has increased over the yea...My satisfaction with SW has increased over the year, and I have spent way more money at SW this year too.....<br /><br />Indeed, I have started to write monthly columns about Smashwords finds (<a href="http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/2018/12/roberts-roundup-of-smashwords-ebook-deals-post-christmas-edition/" rel="nofollow">here's the latest ebook deal roundup </a>). <br /><br />My biggest complaint is on the publishing side: if you allow authors and publishers to upload epubs directly, why not allow them to upload MOBI files as well? This allows consumers to have access to both formats and lets publishers handle quality control issues. I manage ebooks both on the Kindle app and Google Play Books, but because GPB doesn't support collections, I end up preferring to read things on Kindle.<br /><br />I use Google Play Books mainly for reading epubs on my android tablet. Even though that app looks really nice, they still haven't built collections into Google Play Books?! Geez, how hard can that be!? <br /><br />Alternatively, why not partner with a company which builds a cloud-based reading system. You might even work out a way for SW epubs to be dumped directly into this reading system after purchasing. <br /><br />ALSO; some kind of price alert system would be helpful. ("Click here to be notified when the price goes below a certain point").Robert Naglehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09244278749337954786noreply@blogger.com