Learn how fast, free and simple it is to self-publish an ebook. This presentation by Mark Coker was given at the Sunnyvale Public Library on January 26, 2015. It's the first part in a two-part seminar series sponsored by the library. The presentation provides a step-by-step checklist of how to publish a book and how to get it distributed to major retailers. In part two, also on Slideshare, we explore ebook publishing best practices where you learn the secrets of the bestselling authors. Part two is available at http://www.slideshare.net/Smashwords/ebook-publishing-best-practices-16-secrets-of-the-bestsellers-part-two-of-two-in-sunnyvale-public-library-series

1. Introduction to Ebook Publishing
How to Publish an Ebook Fast, Free and Easily
Sunnyvale Public Library
January 26, 2015
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

2. Welcome
• What you’ll learn
• How SIMPLE it is to publish an ebook
• An ebook publishing checklist
• Who this presentation is for
• Aspiring authors, published authors, library
staff
• No technical experience required!

3. My Backstory

4. My wife is a former soap opera reporter. Together we wrote a
novel about the soap opera industry.

5. We were repped by a top NY literacy agency. We had a great
agent.

6. 2004-2005: Publishers Said “No”
• Despite great efforts of our
agent, every major NY
publisher said NO (TWICE!)

7. My Epiphany
• Publishers unable, unwilling and
disinterested to take a risk on every
author
• Publishing industry was failing to serve
 Authors
 Readers
 The future of books
• Judging books based on perceived
commercial merit
• Publishers guess what readers want to buy
• Spaghetti against the wall

8. I evaluated our options
1.The rational option
 Admit we sucked, accept failure.
1. The irrational option
 Believe in ourselves
 Mortgage the house and try to fix the
problem for all writers

9. My solution: Smashwords
• FREE eBook Publishing Platform
 Free ebook printing press
 Distribution to major ebook retailers and
libraries
 Free educational resources – best practices
knowledge - to help writers publish like
professionals

10. How Smashwords Works
1. UPLOAD
• Upload a Microsoft Word file, formatted to
our Smashwords Style Guide
• Ready for immediate sale online
1. DISTRIBUTE
• Distribution to major retailers
1. GET PAID
• Author receives 85% of net

11. Get Started at the SPL
ePublishing Portal
Visit http://GetePublished.inSunnyvale.com to access
the portal and resources

12. Smashwords Distribution Network
Upload/Update Once, Distribute Globally

13. Ebooks published at Smashwords

14. THREE BIG EBOOK TRENDS

15. #1: The Rise of Ebooks
Source: Association of American Publishers, publishers.org. 2012-13 Smashwords estimate

16. Ebooks as a percentage of US
wholesale trade market
Source: Association of American Publishers, publishers.org. 2012-2014 Smashwords estimate

17. Follow the Eyeballs
Print books
Ebooks
UnitsDollars
Print books
Ebooks

18. #2: Indies hitting the bestseller
lists
• Indie ebooks scaling all the bestseller
lists
• Retailers giving indies seat at
merchandising table
• Indie titles on the NYT list nearly every
week

19. #3: Stigmas reversing:
percentage of authors who aspire
traditional vs. indie
Aspire
Traditional
Aspire
Indie
Today?
Aspire
Indie
Aspire
Traditional
6 yrs ago
Near future?
Last year

20. THE GREAT RECKONING

21. Publishers losing their monopoly
• Writers no longer need publishers to
publish, distribute and sell
• Writers asking two questions:
1. “What can a publisher do for me that I can’t
do for myself?”
2. “Will a publisher harm my ability to reach
readers?”

22. Advantages of Indie Authorship
• Indie ebook author advantages
 faster time to market
 total creative control
 better distribution to global market
 immortal ebooks never go out of print
 lower expenses
 lower prices to consumers
 earn more per book
Check out the Indie Author Manifesto to learn more about the indie author
movement - http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/04/indie-author-manifesto.html

23. QUADRUPLE +

24. Indie Ebook Authors Earn Higher
Percentage of List Price
• Indies earn more at lower prices
• At $3.99, indies earn ~$2.40. Traditional author
would have to price over $14.00 to earn $2.00
• Lower price = reach more readers = more sales at
higher profits per sale
• Traditionally published ebook authors at
disadvantage with high prices, low royalties
60-80% 12-17%
Indie Traditional

25. Let’s learn the basics of how to publish,
distribute and sell an ebook!

26. Checklist for Publishing an Ebook
 Finish a super-awesome book
 Format the book prior to conversion
 Prepare cover image
 Prepare the metadata
 Ebook conversion to multiple formats
 Pricing
 ISBNs
 Copyright
 Piracy
 Distribution to retailers, libraries
 Marketing

27. Finish Your Super-Awesome Book
• Ebook publishing tools make
publishing fast, free and easy …
• … but they don’t make it easy to write
a great book
• Your book must move the reader to an emotionally
satisfying extreme
• You (the author) are the publisher
• Edit, revise, edit, revise
• Involve beta readers (then revise again)
• Hire professional editor if you can afford it

28. Ebook Formatting

29. Formatting is the layout and design
process to prepare your book for
publication

30. Formatting for Smashwords
450,000+
downloads!
It’s FREE!

31. Formatting Secrets
• Forget (some of) what you know
• Don’t try to make e- look like p-
• Ebooks consumed differently than print
• Design for reflowability, small screens
• Less = more with ebooks

32. Reflowability: Ebook devices
(and customers) shape shift text
• Example of Smashwords novel, Heller
by JD Nixon as viewed in iBooks e-
reading app
• Users can select font style, font size and
nightime mode, or view in portrait or
landscape mode. Reflowability enables
this!

33. Cover Image

34. Create Your Ebook Cover
• Covers are important
• First impression
• Great covers make a promise
• Make it:
 engaging, matched to target audience
 professional
 good as thumbnail
 good as B&W, greyscale

35. DIY Cover, or Hire Professional?
• Your cover should look as good or better than
the covers from large NY publishers
• It should look professional, not amateur
• Unless you’re an expert graphic designer or
experienced cover designer, hire someone
(professional cover design is inexpensive!)
• Email list@smashwords.com for low cost cover
designers and formatters or go to
http://smashwords.com/list
• $50-$150 (Mark’s list) or under $300 elsewhere (still
cheap!). Before you hire anyone, check out their
online portfolio.

36. Great covers make a promise
Horror fans want to be scared. This cover promises to scare you, so it’s
a great cover.

37. Great covers make a promise
This is a scary post-apocalyptic novel. Note the bloody hands as two
friends walk down the road.

38. Great covers make a promise
This cover promises sweet romance and first love, perfect for its target
audience of teens and young women.

39. WE’LL REVIEW MORE COVER
EXAMPLES IN THE BEST PRACTICES
SEGMENT TOMORROW

40. Metadata

41. Metadata is data that makes your
book discoverable in a store
Book title
Book description
Author name
Book category
Price
Publication dateISBN
Language Tags

42. Backmatter
(the stuff at the end of your book)

43. Backmatter: Add three sections
to end of book
1. About Yourname Lastname
• Short bio
1. Other books by Yourname Lastname
• Title 1
• Title 2
1. Connect with Yourname Lastname
• Facebook:
• Twitter:
• Web site/blog:
• Smashwords author page:
• Learn more at http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/11/how-to-
add-navigation-to-smashwords.html or Google “Smashwords
navigation”

44. Ebook Conversion

45. Conversion = Turning your formatted
manuscript into an ebook file readable on
multiple ebook reading devices

46. E-reading Devices

47. Ebook Conversion at
Smashwords

48. Pricing

49. Pricing
• Determine objective
• Build readership, sales, or both?
• Non-fiction supports higher prices than fiction
• If you publish multiple books, cover multiple
price points to capture the most readers
• FREE, $.99, $2.99, $3.99, $4.99+
• $2.99 and $3.99 are sweet spots for full-length
fiction
• Pricing strategy is integral to building
readership
Learn more pricing strategy at the Smashwords Survey -
http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/07/2014-smashwords-
survey-reveals-new.html

50. ISBN

51. What’s an ISBN?
• What it is:
• Unique digital identifier
• A 13-digit number
• Helps supply chain communicate about book
• Required for Smashwords distribution to Apple,
Kobo, others
• Ebook ISBN must be different than print ISBN
• What it is NOT:
• Does not connote ownership or copyright
• Does not imply “professional” or “real”
• Not a common discovery method

52. Where to Obtain an ISBN
• Go to Bowker.com
• Purchase blocks of 10+ for $295
• Lists you as “publisher”
• Go to Smashwords
• FREE ISBNs

53. Copyright

54. Copyright Simplified
• By publishing something you created,
you have copyright
• Copyright entitles you to an exclusive
bundle of rights
• The notation of © is optional
• For best legal protection in
US, go to Copyright.gov
and register copyright online

55. Distribution to retailers and libraries

56. Smashwords Distribution Network
Upload once, reach multiple outlets
*

57. Avoid Exclusivity
• Ebook retailing is not like sports, politics or
religion where you pick one team.
• Distribute everywhere - if your book is not
available at every retailer, it’s not
discoverable or purchasable
• Exclusivity
• angers fans
• limits global audience and opportunity
• increases your dependence upon a
single sales outlet
• strips your independence

58. Two options for getting your book
on a retailer’s virtual shelves
1. Use a Distributor
• Helps you spend more time writing, less time fussing with
multiple upload platforms
 Upload one file or update, reach many retailers
 Centralized metadata management
 Consolidated payments and tax reporting
 Preorders to Apple, B&N, Kobo
 Access to retailers (Flipkart, Oyster, Scribd, others) and
Libraries require a distributor
1. Direct to Retailers
• Format for each specific retailer
• Upload to, and manage each retailer separately

59. Marketing

60. Marketing
• Marketing is a catalyst, not fuel
• Your book is your best marketing
• Reader word of mouth determines your success
• Book must take reader to an emotionally
satisfying extreme
• Focus marketing on activities that lead to
permanent discoverability and platform
building
• Viral catalysts amplify word of mouth

61. What’s a Viral Catalyst?
• A viral catalyst is something that makes your
book more available, accessible, desirable
and enjoyable to readers
• Read the Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (it’s
FREE!) to learn how viral catalysts spur word-of-mouth

62. Viral Catalysts
• Every thing you do right increases
virality
Great cover
Great book
Broad distribution
Fair price
Good categorization
Professionally edited
Great formatting
Great title
Great book description
Great marketing
Social media enabled
Sampling enabled
Multiple formats
LUCK!
• Fall short anywhere and you create
unnecessary friction

63. THE PLAN FORWARD

64. YOU have a right to publish

65. YOU are your own gatekeeper
YOU decide when your manuscript
graduates to published book

66. Honor your readers
Give them great books
(and do it faster with lower prices)

67. The task before you is not easy, yet…

68. The Opportunity to Reach Readers
Has Never Been Greater

69. SUMMARY

70. Summary
• The process of turning your manuscript
into a published ebook is…
 Fast
 Free
 Fun
 Easy
• It’s DIFFICULT to sell books!
• You are your own gatekeeper
• Honor readers

71. FREE RESOURCES

72. Learn Best Practices
• Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best practices of
successful authors)
• Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any
book)
• Smashwords Style Guide (how to format an ebook)

73. Learn how to e-publish like a pro with
Smashwords Tutorials at Youtube at
youtube.com/user/Smashwords

74. Q&A
Connect with Mark Coker and Smashwords:
Web: www.smashwords.com
Blog: blog.smashwords.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markcoker
Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker
HuffPo: huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker
Twitter: @markcoker