Libraries have long provided an essential community service by making books and other information products freely available and accessible to local community patrons. Libraries play a critical role in promoting literacy, a culture of books and the joys of reading. With the rise of ebooks, public libraries are at a crossroads. Some large traditional publishers, which fear digital lending might cannibalize retail sales of both print books and ebooks, have been hesitant to supply ebooks to libraries at the very time that library patrons are clamoring for access to such products. This three-part presentation outlines the opportunity for libraries to expand their community role by developing programs that promote a culture of authorship. By holding seminars and classes, and by bringing local authors together with readers and aspiring authors, Libraries are uniquely qualified to orchestrate community resources and talent to help local writers become professional self-publishers. Unlike traditional publishers, self-published authors are pro-library. By developing community publishing initiatives that promote best-practices for professional self-publishing, libraries will help ensure a steady and diverse supply of high-quality books for library patrons and readers worldwide. This series of three presentations was delivered by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, on March 21, 2013 at the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services symposium held in Lansing, Michigan.The presentations have been combined here for ease of access. Additional text has been added so viewers will gain contextual background for information that was delivered verbally.

1. How Libraries Can Launch
Community Publishing Initiatives
with Self-Published Ebooks
Fostering a Culture of Authorship
Lansing, Michigan
March 21, 2013
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

2. The opportunity: Build a better
future for readers, writers and
library patrons:
Libraries have long provided an essential community service by making
books and other information products freely available and accessible to
local community patrons. Libraries play a critical role in promoting
literacy, a culture of books and the joys of reading.
With the rise of ebooks, public libraries are at a crossroads. Some
large traditional publishers, which fear digital lending might cannibalize
retail sales of both print books and ebooks, have been hesitant to
supply ebooks to libraries at the very time that library patrons are
clamoring for access to such products.
This three-part presentation outlines the opportunity for libraries to
expand their community role by developing programs that promote a
culture of authorship. By holding seminars and classes, and by bringing
local authors together with readers and aspiring authors, Libraries are
uniquely qualified to orchestrate community resources and talent to
help local writers become professional self-publishers. Unlike
traditional publishers, self-published authors are pro-library. By
developing community publishing initiatives that promote best-
practices for professional self-publishing, libraries will help ensure a
steady and diverse supply of high-quality books for library patrons and
readers worldwide.

3. About this Slideshare deck:
This series of three presentations was delivered by Mark
Coker, founder of Smashwords, on March 21, 2013 at the Midwest
Collaborative for Library Services symposium held in
Lansing, Michigan.
The presentations have been combined here for ease of access.
Additional text has been added so viewers will gain contextual
background for information that was delivered verbally.
USAGE RIGHTS:
The creator of this presentation, Mark Coker, gives librarians and
library patrons permission to re-use and repurpose any information
in this presentation for the development of educational community
publishing events held a libraries. Contact Smashwords for
updated presentations.

4. Part I: The Future of Publishing
Libraries Have an Opportunity to Foster a Pro-Library
Publishing Industry of Tomorrow
March 21, 2013
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

5. Let’s begin with an over-
simplified history of storytelling

6. In the beginning…
… stories were told with pictures

7. … or with grunts, spoken language
or physical gestures
Image source: http://readpole.blogspot.com/2010/07/firearms-and-firey-legs-camping-tale-of.html

8. … and then written words were
invented

9. … and then monastic scribes
added words and illumination to
vellum (animal skin)

10. … and then Gutenberg brought
moveable type to paper

11. … which enabled the development of a
mass market for books (and then
ebooks)

12. … which inspired readers to
acquire, read, collect and write
books
… which brings us to my
personal backstory

13. My wife is a bookworm, just like me. She moved in with a lot
of books. She’s a former reporter for Soap Opera Weekly
magazine. I suggested she write a book about the wild and
wacky world of the soap opera industry. She suggested we
write it together. So we moved to Burbank and started
interviewing industry insiders for their stories. We then
fictionalized the stories into a novel, BOOB TUBE.

14. Our first draft was 920 pages. Yikes! Like most writers writing
their first book, we had a lot to learn before we were ready to
publish. We read a lot of books on how to write books. We hired
professional editors and book doctors to help us identify our
flaws and learn how to improve our writing. We completed
dozens of revisions and multiple beta reader rounds. At each
stage the book got better, and we grew more excited.
Finally, when it was ready, we shopped it to literary agents and
quickly landed representation by one of the world’s most
respected NY literary agencies. After investing thousands of
hours, we felt closer than ever to realizing our dream of seeing
our book on the shelves of bookstores across the country.

15. Publishers Said “No”
• Despite the great efforts of
our agent, every major NY
publisher said NO (TWICE!)

16. I imagined hundreds of thousands of
other writers just like us
Silenced

17. I evaluated our options
1. The rational (conventional) option
 Acknowledge we sucked and weren’t
good enough to become published
authors
 Curl up in fetal position and cry
 Give up
2. The irrational option
 Believe in ourselves
 Get mad
 Try to fix the problem

18. How to fix a problem
1. Identify the problem
 Big 6 Publishers!!!
 Toxic to the future of publishing
 Don’t value all writers
 They judge books based on perceived commercial potential
 Unable to take a risk on all writers
2. Visualize the utopian solution
 Every writer should have the right and the ability
to publish
 Readers should have the power to judge what’s
worth reading
3. Create the Solution

19. My Answer: Smashwords
• * FREE * eBook Publishing Platform
• Free ebook publishing tools help writers
become ebook publishers
• Free learning materials to help writers
adopt best practices of professional
publishers
• Open up distribution to ebook stores and
libraries

20. Ebooks published at Smashwords
191,000
92,000
28,800
6,000
140

21. How Smashwords Works
• UPLOAD
• Author uploads their manuscript to
Smashwords (Word .doc or epub)
• Instant, free ebook conversion
• For sale within 3 minutes
• DISTRIBUTE
• Distribution to retailers and
libraries
• GET PAID
• Author earns 60-80% list
• Quarterly payments

22. Enough about the past and present.
Let’s talk about the future

23. But first, let’s bust a dangerous myth

24. Am I referring to the Easter Bunny?

25. The tooth fairy?

26. Santa Claus??? NO, no and no. I thinking of a
bigger myth…

27. What myth should we bust?

28. The Myth of Big Publishing

29. Writers (and libraries) were taught to
bow subservient before the altar of
Big Publishing

30. Publishers were the bouncers at
the pearly gates of book heaven
• They promised these Afterlife perks to
writers
• editing
• printing press
• distribution
• marketing
• royalties
• fame and respect
• readers
• “published author” inscribed
on their tombstone

31. writers taught they couldn’t become an
author until a publisher blessed them as
such
… and unless they got a book deal, they
were a failure

32. … and in a sense it was true
Publishers held all the power to connect
books with readers

33. Writers were told to keep toiling, and
waiting…
Rejection would make them stronger
“You’ll get published when you perfected
your craft like these other great writers” …

34. Justin Bieber got a book deal

35. Snooki got a book deal

36. Kourtney, Kim and Khloe got a book deal

37. Stop
Don’t sell your soul

38. The old model of
publishing is broken
It has become harmful
to writers
to readers
to libraries
to the future of books

39. Publishers have amassed too
much power
• Publishers Decide
• What writers can publish
• What readers can read
• What libraries can buy
• limiting ebooks at libraries
• outrageous pricing of ebooks

40. Big Publishers Not Friendly to
Libraries
• Reluctant to sell ebooks to libraries
• Publishers fear
• Library ebooks will cannibalize print books
• Library ebooks will cannibalize retail ebook
sales
• Library ebooks don’t wear out

41. Big Publishers Fail to Understand
that Libraries Drive Discovery
and Sales
• Libraries help reach new readers
• 41% of library cardholders who read
ebooks purchased their most
recently read ebook (Pew)
• 50% of library card holders go on to
purchase books by authors they first
discovered at the library (Library
Journal, Bowker)

42. Do publisher-controlled ebooks threaten the future
of libraries?

43. Yes.

44. Yet the future for ebooks
at libraries is brighter than
ever

45. WHY?

46. THE POWER CENTER IN BOOK
PUBLISHING IS SHIFTING FROM
PUBLISHERS TO WRITERS

47. AS WE’LL LEARN IN A MOMENT, WRITERS
ARE PRO-LIBRARY

48. FIVE TRENDS TO ROCK THE WORLD OF
LIBRARY EBOOKS

49. TREND ONE:
Reading Moving to Screens

50. Screens are the new paper

51. Ebooks as a percentage of US
wholesale trade market
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Source: Association of American Publishers, publishers.org. 2012 Smashwords estimate

52. Ebooks to overtake print
Print books
Ebooks
Print books
Ebooks
Dollars Units
Since most market share numbers measure dollar sales, and because
ebooks are less expensive than print, the market data UNDERESTIMATES
how quickly reader eyeballs are moving to ebooks. On a unit volume
basis, ebooks will likely surpass print within a year. Follow the eyeballs!

53. Why ebooks are hot
• Screens offering reading experience that
rivals – or exceeds – paper
• Changeable font size A B C D
• Ebooks offer better consumption experience
• Lower cost than print
• Convenient discovery, sampling and acquisition
• Huge selection

54. TREND TWO
The Rise of Ebook Self-Publishing
(a.k.a indie ebook publishing)

55. Number of books published indie
vs. traditional
Indie
books
New trad.
books
Today?
More ebooks are self-published than traditionally
published. This trend will continue. In the
future, most books will be self-published.

56. Readers are Embracing Indie
Ebooks
• Indies scaling all the bestseller lists
• Four Smashwords authors hit August 5 2012 NY
Times Bestseller list.
• Every week, indie ebooks are in the bestseller lists
of every retailer
• Every week, every retailer is featuring Indie ebooks

57. Indie Ebook Authors are Out-
Competing Big Publishers
• Indie authors have a greater ability to
satisfy readers
• faster time to market
• greater creative control
• lower expenses
• better distribution to global market
• immortal ebooks never go out of print
• lower prices to consumers
• economics: Indie authors earn more per
book

58. QUADRUPLE +

59. Indie vs. Traditional: The
percentage of list price earned by
the author
Indie Traditional
60-80% 12-17%
• Indies earn more at lower prices
• At $2.99, an indie author earns more (~$2.00) than
a traditionally published author selling an ebook
at $10.00 ($1.20-$1.70)
• Lower price = reach more readers = more sales at
higher profits per sale
• The economics will drive more authors to favor indie ebook
publishing vs. traditional methods.

60. TREND THREE
Publishers Losing Monopoly as
Writers Gain Tools to Self-Publish

61. Big Publishers Losing Their
Monopoly
• Publishing tools and know-how
are freely available (Smashwords):
• Printing press
• Distribution
• The knowledge of professional publishing best-
practices
• Writers asking:
• “What can a publisher do for me that I can’t do for
myself?”
• “Will a publisher actually harm my ability to reach
readers?”
• YES. Publishers charge too much, and limit distribution to
libraries

62. TREND FOUR
The Previous Stigma of Self-
Publishing is Disappearing

63. Stigmas to reverse: Soon, more
writers will aspire to join the cool
kids club of indie authors
Aspire Aspire
Traditional Indie
Aspire
Indie
Aspire
Traditional
5 yrs ago Today? Future?

64. TREND FIVE
As Publishers Turn their Backs on
Libraries, Self-Published Authors
Ready to Embrace Libraries

65. Self-Published Authors Are
Pro-Library
• Survey of 200+ Smashwords
authors/publishers (June 2012)
• 82% believe by exposing their books to
library patrons, they’ll sell more books at
retail
• 2/3 said they’d price their books for libraries
equal to or lower than the retail price
• 24% said they’d give their books to libraries
for FREE

66. The Plan Forward

67. The 5 Trends Create a Future that Benefits
Readers, Writers and Libraries

68. Patrons
• Patrons want
• Accessibility
• Discoverability
• Diversity

69. Authors (the new publishers)
• Authors want
• Availability
• Discoverability
• Readership
• Authors want to support
libraries

70. Libraries
• Libraries
• Promote a culture of reading
• Satisfy patrons with
• Accessibility
• Discoverability
• Diversity
• Curation
• Deliver readership to authors

71. Ebook self-publishing
aligns the interests of
libraries, patrons and
authors

72. Libraries have an exciting
opportunity to create a brighter
future for books

73. THE PATH FORWARD FOR
LIBRARIES:
1. Embrace ebooks
2. Promote a culture of
authorship

74. Embrace Indie Ebooks (Step 1)
• Implement ebook checkout
systems. Two options:
• Outsource
• Baker & Taylor Axis 360, 3M Cloud
Library, Overdrive, others
• Insource
• Douglas County Model + Smashwords Library
Direct + direct relationships with progressive
publishers
• Utilize crowd-sourced models of
curation

75. Promote Culture of Authorship
(Step 2)
• Facilitate Community Publishing
• Orchestrate workshops, seminars, panels
to promote best practices for writing and
publishing
• Help your community of writers to publish
locally, distribute globally
• Smashwords can help
• Free training materials
• “Publish to the library” with co-branded
publishing platform (see next part of this
presentation for LGPL example)

76. Welcome to the new world of
publishing

77. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• NEW! 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)

78. Thank you for considering the
future!
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

79. Part II: Ebook Publishing 101
How Libraries Can Promote a Culture of Authorship
March 21, 2013
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

80. Part II: Ebook Publishing Primer
for Libraries
1. Overview of Smashwords community
publishing pilot program with Los
Gatos Public Library
2. Introduction to ebook publishing
• Ebook self-publishing checklist

81. Community Publishing Pilot Program
with Los Gatos Public Library
• Kudos to Henry Bankhead of LGPL for his
mentorship and encouragement
• Working with LGPL, we developed a 3-part
seminar series to promote a culture of
authorship
• Introduction to ebooks (for patrons, writers, library
staff)
• Introduction to ebook publishing (for writers, staff)
• The next part of this deck covers this primer.
• Ebook publishing best practices (writers, staff)
• Part III of this deck covers the best practices
• LGPL co-branded publishing portal (NEW LAST
WEEK!)

82. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 1)
• Local writer asks
• How do I publish an ebook?
• How do I make my ebook available to my
community library?

83. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 2)
• Custom hyperlink from LGPL web site leads to
Smashwords

84. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 3)
Writer signs up for free Smashwords account. Note co-
branding.

85. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 4)
Smashwords manages end-to-end relationship from publishing to
payments
For the life of this writer at Smashwords, each time they
publish, they’ll be reminded of their connection to their
community library.

86. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 5)
• Smashwords provides a FREE publishing platform, and
free best-practices resources:
• Smashwords Style Guide (how to format and publish an ebook)
• Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book)
• Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best practices of
successful authors)

87. LGPL Publishing Portal (Step 6)
• Future plans
• Once LGPL implements an ebook checkout system, the
building blocks will be in place for local authors to
“Publish to the Library”
• With over 50,000 authors, Smashwords has authors in
nearly every zip code in the US.
• These authors can be invited to the library to for
seminars, workshops and panel discussions to mentor fellow
writers about ebook self-publishing
• The co-branded publishing portal is free to the
library. Contact Smashwords to learn how. Or, if
the co-branding element isn’t important, simply
link to Smashwords without the co-branding.

88. Let’s learn how to publish and distribute an
ebook!
(Note to librarians: This is an updated version of the Ebook
Publishing Primer, presented by Smashwords in the LGPL
seminar series. Libraries are welcome to use this for their
own community publishing initiatives, or contact
Smashwords for the most up-to-date version)

89. 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
 Distribution to retailers, libraries
 Piracy
 Marketing

90. 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
• You (the author) are the publisher, act
like one
• Edit, edit, edit, revise, revise, revise
• Involve beta readers (then revise again)
• Hire professional editor if necessary

91. Ebook Formatting

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

93. Formatting for Smashwords
300,000+
Downloads!

94. Formatting Secrets
• Forget (some of) what you know
• Don’t try to make e- look like p-
• Ebooks consumed differently than print
• Less = more with ebooks
• Remove narrative from images
• Liberate text from complex formatting
and layout
• Design for reflowability, small screens

95. Reflowability: Allows text to
shape shift (reflow) across all
screen sizes
• Example of Smashwords novel, All Good
Things Die in L.A. by Anhoni Patel
• iPhone, using the Stanza reader. User-
selected options: Font: Verdana;
Background pattern: Stone carving; text
color: Dark Violet; Font size: larger than
normal

96. Cover Image

97. Create Your Ebook Cover
• Covers are important
• First impression
• Covers are both marketing and content
• Make it:
 engaging, matched to target audience
 professional
 good as thumbnail
 good as B&W, greyscale

98. DIY Cover, or Hire Professional?
• Unless you’re an expert graphic
designer or cover designer, hire an
expert
• Email list@smashwords.com for low cost
cover designers and formatters
• It’s inexpensive: $50-$100 (Mark’s list) or
$100-$300 elsewhere (still cheap!)
• Cover design is the lowest-cost, highest-impact
investment an author can make.

99. Most of us design terrible covers

100. So I Hired a Pro for $45.00
Send email to:
list@smashwords.com
for “Mark’s List”

101. Metadata

102. Metadata is information about
your book
• Metadata enables
• Categorization
• Discovery
• Sales reporting
• Author payments
• Some metadata you or your publisher
will create
• Some is auto-generated

103. Metadata = Data About Your
Book
• You Determine: • Auto-generated post-
publication:
• Book title
• Publication date
• Contributors
• Sales rank
• Book description
• People who bought X bought Y
• Tags
• People who viewed X viewed Y
• Category
• Reviews
• Price
• Page views
• Cover image
• Sales data
• ISBN
• Language
• Formats

104. Ebook Conversion

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

106. E-reading Devices

107. Ebook Conversion Options
Conversion Options
1. Automated
(Smashwords, Amazon)
2. DIY conversion tools
(Calibre, Sigil, Adobe InDesign)
3. Hire ebook formatter/
designer/coder
(Complex books)

108. Pricing

109. Pricing
• Determine objective
• Platform building, sales, or both?
• Low prices generate more sales volume, and more
volume = more readers
• If you don’t care about making money, price it at
FREE, where you’ll get ~100 times more download
volume than a priced book.
• Think like a fisherman
• Blended strategy of chum and hooks, low prices and
higher prices
• Publish multiple books, and play at multiple price points
• Non-fiction supports higher prices than fiction

110. ISBN

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

112. Where to Obtain an ISBN
• Go to Bowker.com
• Expensive unless you purchase blocks of
10+
• Lists you as “publisher” in Books in Print
• Go to Smashwords
• FREE ISBNs

113. Copyright

114. 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, go to
Copyright.gov and register copyright
online
• Learn more at the Copyright Clearance
Center at www.copyright.com

115. Distribution to retailers

116. Ebook retailers and library
aggregators want indie ebooks
(partial list)

117. Support ALL your retailers
Diversify your exposure, avoid exclusivity,
think globally

118. Two options for getting your book
on a retailer’s virtual shelves
1. Use a Distributor (such as Smashwords)
• Upload one file, distribute to many retailers
• Benefits: Centralized sales reporting and
payments, simplified tax reporting, time savings
from centralized publishing, distribution and
metadata management. Spend more time writing!
2. Direct to Retailers
• Format for each specific retailer
• Upload to, and manage each retailer separately
• Apple, Amazon, Pubit and Kobo offer direct
platforms
• Sony, Diesel, libraries usually require distributor

119. Distribution to libraries

120. Libraries and ebooks
• Libraries are important to the future of
books. Libraries…
• Make books available and accessible to
everyone
• Promote literacy and a culture of books to
children and adults alike
• Facilitate community around books
• Bring readers face to face with authors
• Beginning to offer ebook lending

121. Libraries Drive Discovery
• Libraries help reach new readers
• 41% of library cardholders who read
ebooks purchased their most
recently read ebook (Pew)
• 50% of library card holders go on to
purchase books by authors they
discovered at the library (Library
Journal, Bowker)

122. Big publishers are not friendly to
libraries
• Big publishers refuse to sell ebooks, or
charge outrageous multiples of the
retail price
• Publishers fear library ebooks will
• cannibalize print books
• cannibalize retail ebook sales
• never wear out

123. Smashwords and our 50,000+
authors and publishers see
opportunity
• Smashwords library initiatives:
• Custom library pricing
• Smashwords Library Direct (direct sales to
libraries operating their own checkout
systems [DCL model])
• Distribution via major library aggregators
• Baker & Taylor Axis 360
• 3M Cloud Library
• Overdrive (coming soon!)

124. Piracy

125. Everything you need to know
about piracy
• Don’t worry about piracy
• Obscurity is your biggest risk
• Black hat pirates who steal your book
wouldn’t have purchased it anyway
• Most piracy is accidental – it’s
enthusiastic fans marketing your book
for you
• Combat piracy by making your book
easier to purchase than steal

126. Irrational fear of piracy leads
leads to obscurity
• The only reliable method of piracy
prevention is to NEVER PUBLISH
• Anti-piracy measures such as DRM only
limit availability, accessibility and
enjoyment

127. Marketing

128. Traditional marketing isn’t as
important as you think it is
• Marketing is a catalyst, not fuel
• Your book is your best marketing
• Reader word of mouth determines your
success
• Viral catalysts amplify word of mouth
• Build permanence
• Platform building
• Platform is your ability to reach readers, or people
who can help you reach readers

129. The Plan Forward

130. The Publishing Industry is in flux. These
changes will…
Benefit Indie Authors
Disadvantage Traditionally Published
Authors

131. Writers are the future of publishing

132. Every writer’s words have value

133. Writers possess stories and
knowledge that deserve to be shared
Writers have a right to publish

134. Indie authors are their own
gatekeepers

135. Honor your readers

136. Give readers great books that are as
good or better than those released
by Big Publishers
(and do it faster with lower prices)

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

138. The Opportunity to Reach Readers
Has Never Been Greater

139. You’re in charge now.

140. Key points to remember
• Free tools make ebook publishing
fast, free and easy to publish a book
• Although it’s easy to publish, it’s
difficult to write a great book
• Honor your readers with a great book!
• A great book is your best marketing
• Study and implement best practices
• Iterate
• Support libraries!

141. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• NEW! 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)

142. 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

143. Part III: The Secrets to Ebook
Publishing Success
Ebook Publishing Best Practices
March 21, 2013
Mark Coker
Founder, Smashwords
Twitter: @markcoker

144. Summary of Parts I and II
• Part 1 – The Future of Publishing
• Power in publishing industry is shifting to
writers
• Writers are pro-library
• Libraries should assist local writers to
publish more, better books
• Part II – Ebook Publishing 101
• How libraries can facilitate community
publishing
• Ebook publishing checklist

145. Part III: Best Practices
• We’ll build upon the foundational
knowledge of Parts I & II and
learn:
• The best practices of the most
commercially successful indie ebook
authors
• How to get your book discovered amid a
glut of books

146. Let’s talk best practices
(Note to librarians: This is an updated version of the Ebook
Publishing Best Practices talk, presented by Smashwords in
the LGPL seminar series. Libraries are welcome to use this
for their own community publishing initiatives, or contact
Smashwords for the most up-to-date version)

147. Self-publishing platforms like
Smashwords make ePublishing and
eDistribution Easy…

148. Reaching Readers is Still Difficult *
* but achievable if you emulate best practices

149. Let’s review the best practices of
the best-selling indie authors

150. Secret One

151. #1 Your best marketing is a
great book
• With the power to publish comes
the responsibility to be a great
publisher
• Honor your reader with a great
book
• Turn readers into evangelists
• Be fanatical about quality
• Edit, revise, edit, revise, repeat, proof
• Leverage beta readers

152. Secret Two

153. #2 Create a Great Cover image
• Invest in a quality cover image
• Your first impression on path to discovery
• Look professional
• Resonate with target audience
• Makes a promise to the reader
• Should arrest reader with thumb nail

154. Don’t create an ebook cover image
by photographing your print book_

155. Great covers make a promise
A good cover image tells the reader – with image alone – what
they’re going to experience with the book. Covers should be
genre-appropriate, and carefully targeted to your target reader.
More on this (see the comments too) at
http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/03/six-tips-to-read-reader-tea-
leaves-how.html

156. Here’s another promise

157. And now a case study…
Look what happened when the
author went from this cover

158. … to this cover…

159. The cover sparked a multi-week
breakout at Apple

160. And landed her on the NY Times Bestseller
List

161. Secret Three

162. #3 Publish Another Great Book
• The best-selling authors on
Smashwords offer deep backlists
• Each new ebook offers
opportunity to
• cross-promote other titles
• build trust with your reader
• build your brand

163. Secret Four

164. #4 Give (some of) Your Books
away for Free
• Most misunderstood, underutilized
market development tool
• If you have a deep backlist, offer at
least one full-length book for free
• Eliminates financial risk for first-time
readers
• Turbocharges a series
• The highest grossing
authors/publishers at Smashwords offer
at least one free book

165. Secret Five

166. #5 Patience is a Virtue
• Ebooks are immortal
• Never go out of print
• When your book lands at retailer, it’s a
seedling, nourish it
• Never pull out by the roots
• Ebooks develop differently
• Traditional print books – big sell-in, then yanked
from shelves, then sales go to zero
• Ebooks – can start small and grow slowly before
breakout
• Let’s look at some examples…

167. Slow boil, breakout, slow
boil, bigger breakout

168. Slow boil, slow build, breakout,
slow boil

169. Slow boil, breakout, slow
boil, smaller breakouts

170. Slow boil to breakout
Ruth Ann Nordin’s An Inconvenient Marriage. This book broke
out at another retailer a year before it broke out at Apple.
Ebooks break out at different retailers at different times. It’s
one reason it’s important to maintain broad, non-stop exposure
to multiple retail channels.

171. Secret Six

172. #6 Maximize Availability, Avoid
Exclusivity
• Ebook retailing is not like sports, religion or politics
• Don’t try to pick a single winner. Play the field.
• If your book is not available at every retailer, it’s not
discoverable or purchasable
• Retailers, libraries & device-makers invest millions of
dollars to attract readers to your books
• Maximize availability at retailers AND libraries
• Exclusivity angers fans, limits audience, increases
your dependence upon a single sales outlet

173. Ebook retailers want indie
ebooks (partial list)

174. Secret Seven

175. #7 Trust Your Readers and
Partners
• Don’t worry about piracy
• Copy protection is counterproductive
• If you don’t trust your readers to honor your
copyright, you’ll reach fewer paid readers
• Trust your supply chain partners
• If you limit distribution due to lack of
trust, you’ll limit your sales

176. Secret Eight

177. Secret #8 Architect for Virality
• Books have always been a word of
mouth business
• Your readers determine your success
• Understand the power of your “First
Reader”
• Reach First Readers with marketing

178. The Viral Dream
First reader
More Readers

179. Viral Decay, The Reality
First reader
Readers

180. Negative Virality
This book
sucks!!!!
First reader
= Last reader
Fun fact: 29 of 30 recent Apple bestsellers
had rating of 4.5 stars of 5. Write a book that moves the reader
to an emotionally pleasing extreme if you want to generate word of mouth.

181. How to Architect for Virality
• Implement the Secrets
• Eliminate friction that limits
• availability
• sampling
• purchasing
• enjoyment
• Leverage viral catalysts

182. What’s a Viral Catalyst?
• A viral catalyst is anything 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

183. Viral Catalysts
• Every thing you do right increases
virality
Great cover Social media enabled
Great story Sampling enabled
Professionally edited Multiple formats
Great title Broad distribution
Great book description Quality formatting
Great book Good categorization
Great marketing LUCK!
Fair price

184. Secret Nine

185. Secret #9 Unit Volume is Lever
for Success
• Unit volume (sales and downloads)
increase readership, drives readers to
your backlist, increases fan base
• Unit volume X royalty per unit = profit
• Pricing strategy essential to maximize
both

186. How Price Impacts Units Sold
In a 2012 study, Smashwords found that a book priced at $2.99 sells
6.2 times more units than a book priced over $10.00. Low prices drive
unit volume. But at what price does the author net the most earnings?

187. What Price Yields Highest
Earnings?
Under $1.99 underperforms. $2.99 and up earns about the same. Q: if given the
choice to price at $2.99 or $10+, what’s the best option? A: For most
authors, especially genre authors, the $2.99 gets more 6.2X more readers and
about the same earnings. Readers, in the long run, will drive future earnings
because they’ll buy all your books, and will spawn word of mouth. This is why
indie authors have platform-building advantage over traditionally published authors
(whose books are priced too high by their publishers). Once a true fan is
earned, they’ll be willing to pay more. Several SW authors have started with low
prices, then increased prices after they built fan base.

188. Secret Ten

189. Secret #10 Practice Partnership
and Positivity
• Your fellow authors and service providers are
your partners
• Help them be successful
• Learn from them
• Share your secrets
• Positivity trumps negativity
• Relationships give you upper hand
• Internet rants are permanent
• Google alerts keeps no secrets

190. Secret Eleven

191. Secret #11 Think Globally

192. Apple, B&N, Kobo, Amazon and
others are going global
You Have the Tools to Reach a
Worldwide Market Today
The tools are FREE

193. The market for your English-language books
outside the US will soon dwarf the US market
Apple operates iBookstores in 51 countries.
We distribute to Apple. In January 2013,
~48% of Smashwords Apple iBookstore sales
were outside the US

194. Secret Twelve

195. Secret #12 Pinch Your Pennies
• You’re running a business
• Profit = Sales minus Expenses
• Most books don’t sell well (!!!!)
• NEVER borrow money to publish a book
• NEVER spend or invest money you
need for food and shelter
• DIY then reinvest

196. Thanks for Listening, and Good Luck!

197. Free Ebook Publishing Resources
• NEW! 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)

198. 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