This presentation explores how authors, publishers and literary agents Presented by Mark Coker at the Publisher's Launch eBooks for Everyone conference in San Francisco

3. … and profitable for our authors, publishers, agents and retail partners

5. What Matters to Readers? “ Foo foo” is the frilly stuff most readers won’t miss if it’s not there, like drop caps. Kind of like lint in the belly button. Readers want well-formatted, accessible and quality books with great words. This is what I think. You’re welcome to think different.

6. How are simple books working for us?

7. 31,000+ Number of authors, publishers, agents served by Smashwords

8. 7,000+ ebooks released at Smashwords last 30 days

9. 82,000+ ebooks published at Smashwords

10. Indie ebooks published at Smashwords 140 6,000 28,800 82,000 (11/2/11)

11. How did we do it?

12. Bags of VC Money? No. We haven’t accepted a penny of venture capital money, nor do we want it. We’ve been profitable for 13 months.

13. Army of super-hero ninja squirrels ? No. We’re 11 people (up from 3 one year ago).

14. Did we shake down authors? It’s against our DNA to charge fees. We earn a commission if we sell something, and earn nothing if we don’t.

15. No bags of money, squirrels or shakedowns. We provide FREE publishing and distribution tools We never stop making our tools faster, simpler, better

16. Here’s how we make books

17. Step 1: BYO Word Processor & Manuscript Microsoft Word Open Office Writer

18. Step 2 – Implement our Formatting Tips (over 130,000 copies downloaded!)

19. Step 3 – Instant, FREE Conversion Smashwords Meatgrinder High-quality multi-format conversions for narrative & narrative + images, fast/free updating

22. Step 4 - Distribution to Apple, B&N, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, others

24. Thanks for listening! Connect with Mark Coker: Web: www.smashwords.com Blog: blog.smashwords.com Twitter: @markcoker