The ups and downs of e-publishing

[Scott Prussing]

Well, I finally did it. After too many rejections in the increasingly competitive world of real books, I decided to publish my mystery/suspense novel, Tangled Webs, as an e-book on smashwords.com. The best things about e-publishing on this venue are that it's free and they take anything! (as long as it's formatted correctly) And smashwords gives the author about 80% of the book's price (match that, traditional publishing!) Another nice feature is that the author designates how much of the book readers can "sample" for free. I'm currently letting them read 20% (about 50 pages). By then, they should be hoooked. One of the downsides is trying to reach readers who have Kindles, Readers, i-pads, etc. I've had a few people read Tangled Webs on their desktops, but that's a tough way to go. If you want to sample Tangled Webs, go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13511

[Scott Prussing]

I tried to reply to I. J. Parker yesterday, but my words seemed to disappear into the electronic ether somewhere. So I'll try again.
Smashwords does hook up with Kindle, yes. It takes several weeks (at least) for the book to show up at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, the i-Store, etc. Even though reading devices are gaining popularity, there are still only a small percentage of people who own one. What I was trying to say is it is hard to reach THOSE people, who obviously are the best market for an e-book.

[I. J. Parker]

Doesn't Smashwords hook up with Kindle???