Distributing Your E-Book via Smashwords

You may choose to simply have your e-book for sale on the Smashwords site. However, in most cases, you can take advantage of Smashwords’ links with big-name online stores. By adding your book to the Smashwords premium catalog, you can reach a wider audience.

Joining the Smashwords premium catalog

After your book is published on Smashwords, it’s available via Smashwords itself. Although some readers like to buy e-books from Smashwords (for its multiple e-book formats), others prefer to use a retailer’s site, especially if they have that retailer’s e-reader device.

To distribute your e-book to major retailers (including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Sony), go to your dashboard. The rightmost column, labeled Premium Status, should show you a link to enroll your e-book in the premium catalog.

If the status is Needs Modification, you should see a note indicating why your e-book can’t yet be added to the premium catalog (such as needs cover image) or a link you can click to open a page with more details. Read the Current Status section carefully to find out what changes you need to make.

Opting in and out of different channels

Smashwords now distributes to Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Diesel. It’s also seeking to arrange distribution to Amazon and Baker-Taylor. By default, when you submit your e-book to the premium catalog, it’s listed for distribution to all these stores. (It will be sent to Amazon and Baker-Taylor only if Smashwords finalizes an agreement with these stores in the future.)

You can omit some of these stores, described as channels, from your distribution list by logging in to Smashwords and following these steps:

1. Click the Dashboard tab at the top of the page.

2. Click the Channel Manager link on the left side.

This step should open a page of information. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the channel manager, as shown in Figure 14-4.

3. Omit a channel by selecting the appropriate option button.

Unless your book is already in one of the stores via a separate arrangement, you probably shouldn’t omit any channels. I choose to opt out of the Amazon channel because I already publish my e-books there directly — and I don’t want to create confusion if Smashwords suddenly starts distributing to Amazon.

4. Click Submit Changes to save your selection.

Assigning an ISBN after publication

Opting in to distribute to a particular store doesn’t necessarily mean that your e-book is being distributed to that store. If your e-book doesn’t have an ISBN, Apple, Kobo, and Sony won’t accept it into their stores.

To add an ISBN after publication, log in to Smashwords, and follow these steps:

1. Click the Dashboard tab at the top of the page.

2. Click the ISBN Manager link in the left column.

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click the Assign an ISBN link for your book.

You should see the ISBN assignment form, shown in Figure 14-5, with three options to choose among.

4. Select one of these options:

• I Already Have a New, Unused ISBN: Enter the ISBN itself and then enter your publisher contact details at the bottom of the page.

• Free ISBN: Click Review Order at the bottom of the page without filling in further details.

• Premium ISBN: This option (which costs $9.95) is available only for e-books that have been accepted into the Smashwords premium catalog.

Use either your own ISBN or the free Smashwords ISBN. (You gain no particular advantage by using the premium ISBN, and you can do so only if you live in the United States.)

5. Click Review Order.

After you’ve assigned an ISBN to your e-book, it make take a couple of weeks for your e-book to appear in the Apple, Kobo, and Sony stores.