Scribd? I'd Like Opinions If Anyone Has Any

[Stacy]

Hi All,

I'll be putting up a free read on my website for folks to download soon. I was thinking of also putting it on Scribd because I wanted to be able to track the downloads.

Does anyone have any experience with Scribd? Anything they'd like to share or opinions? Know of any other sites that are just as good or better? I don't wanna deal with Smashwords or some site where the formatting becomes a headache. I only wanna be able to track downloads and I also think Scribd is a good way unless I'm wrong.

I welcome all opinions and advice. Thanks in advance!

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net
"Giving up the Ghost" Coming April 1, 2011

[Barbara C. Johnson]

I went to Scribd once or twice. I could not figure how to use it. Never returned.

[Stacy]

Thanks, Barbara. I appreciate you chiming in. I can understand how it seemed confusing. I haven't been able to read up on the main site yet because they got all that black stuff that pops up around the screen. LOL! It's very annoying. I'm gonna continue to check it out though just to see. I haven't really had a chance to learn about it.

What I like is it's very popular, people get tons of hits and it's hooked to Facebook.

[I. J. Parker]

Not only is there all the black stuff, but it freezes my screen and I have to close down the computer.

[Jacqui Murray]

Scribd is my man retailer for my ebooks. They're textbooks and don't convert well to epub, so I leave them in pdf format. I love Scribd. I found it easy to upload, easy to maintain, lots of activity. It did take about six months to get my first sale (I'd pretty much given up) and then they rolled in. I like the connection to Facebook and Twitter, though I don't have much of a community going there like I have on Twitter. They also make it very easy to embed your book in a blog, etc., so visitors can take a peek at your writing. To date, it's my second-largest sales outlet, Amazon being first.

[Barbara C. Johnson]

As a result of this thread, I visited scribd yesterday. but I found it awkard to find books.  For instance, Dan Coleman wrote that his books were on scribd.  I was unable to find any.

Soooooooooooooo, how does find books on scribd?????

[Jacqui Murray]

It's under Explore. Then you search by Documents (fiction/non-fiction, etc) and People. That being said, though, I do agree. It's not the most user-friendly interface. What I can tell you as an author is, I sell books on it. I am so excited that Google ebooks has finally arrived. If I can sell on Scribd--where it is oh so hard to find anything--imagine what I'll sell on Google!

[Barbara C. Johnson]

As a fan of Scribd, perhaps you should notify them about their user-UNfriendliness.

[Jacqui Murray]

Haha. I'll bet they'll work overtime to fix it!

[Barbara C. Johnson]

Thanks, Dan.  I did not know your middle initial.  Suggestion: Use the "L." in your profile name . . . because my search on Scribd for "Dan Coleman" came up with nothing.  I always use "C." in my profile name 'cuz there are soooooo many Barbara Johnsons.

[Barbara C. Johnson]

Hi again.  Putting in Dan L. Coleman withOUT quotes brought up scores of pages with the name Coleman.  I then searched for "Dan L. Coleman" -- the quotes part of the search -- and it brought up FOUL SHOT, which I began reading.  Because I do not know how long or short it is, I'll put it on my list later today.  I've got to finish first reading the real-life transcript of a recantation hearing in 2001 in a case involving real-life, wrongly convicted Native Americans. 

FOUL SHOT has an exciting first and second pages!!!!

[Barbara C. Johnson]

Such a great beginning, Dan, that I succumbed and read the rest of the first chapter,  Great!!  Conflict, tension.  Definitely moved along.  With good reviews and decent marketing, and if the rest of the book moves as quickly, it should sell very well.  Bravo!

[Barbara C. Johnson]

I'd love to read it and would love getting a copy from you.  Amazon does not, unfortunately, send books to Costa Rica.  I've heard -- true or not -- that there is no copyright agreement between the two countries.  On occasion, I've downloaded Kindle directly to my PC, but then I cannot take the book to bed with me.  Broke, I cannot afford a Kindle machine at any price.  So my options are limited.