I'm about to self-publish my book and am unsure whether to go with Smashwords, which appears to publish on Kindle as well, or whether I should publish on Kindle separately (if this is possible). Does anyone have experience of both?
I'm about to self-publish my book and am unsure whether to go with Smashwords, which appears to publish on Kindle as well, or whether I should publish on Kindle separately (if this is possible). Does anyone have experience of both?
That's what I did - Smashwords first, Kindle after. Though really I might just as well not have bothered with SW given the sales. We live and learn! :)
The paperback was POD published via Youwriteon.com (now www.feedaread.com) beause it was very inexpensive (I think it cost £40 at the time for ISBN and online + wholesaler distribution) which was less than both Createspace and definitely Lulu (retail price for my 396 page novel was ridiculously expensive). That's a really important point IMHO - mine retailed for £7.99, from YWO, which seemed a fair price for a good quality gloss cover 9x6 paperback and gave me around £1 a copy. And you do retain all copyright.
BUT - I had to provide my own cover, blurb and titling (they do generic covers but they're not that great), do all my own editing (horrible job, though some profess to love it) and, of course, all marketing, which is a never-ending job. Fortunately a publisher have picked up the sequel which ought to be a big help with the latter.
Thanks, Jonathan. This is probably the most comprehensive and sensible response I've had to my conundrum/confusion/kerfuffle. Many people say that they make very little money with Smashwords, but I did think to myself that it would at least be good practice getting my book out....and then doing it all again with KDP, by which time one hopes that one is a tad more au fait with e-publishing. Did you also publish your book using POD? I'm getting mixed responses with this too: I thought Createspace was the most obvious route to go, but others seem to think Lulu is better.
In the end, it seems you end up with a 50/50 response on any question!!
I did both with my first book.
Smashwords have a really easy-to-follow formatting guide, though I found it time-onsuming going right through the manuscript (again, lol) to remove a lot of my usual formatting. Kindle was more straightforward, though because they use different conversion software you can't upload the same source file to both. Well, I couldn't.
Sales-wise, even though Smashwords distribute to loads retailers, numbers have been very poor. Kindle is far better in that respect but you need to take full advantage of their keyword feature to get exposure in your genre. And having experimented with pricing I think if you want any volume at all you need to keep it low (though others will disagree). Even then, sales can be slow to start with, especially when no-one's heard of you!
I'm not a fan of giving work away free so I've not tried this. Some say it increases paid sales after the free period. I think I'd only be prepared to give it a go if I had a series available - first book free as a taster and the rest paid for. Maybe.
Best of luck whichever route you decide to take :)