Over on Agent Query, the AQCrew has two fantastic guides on how to convert your MS Word manuscript into a Kindle ebook, and how to publish your ebook on Amazon's Kindle store. Reading through these, I thought "Hey, easy peasy, I can do that!" and that's where my initial inspiration came from. Of course, I still wanted to do plenty of research. In doing so, our other good friend Terry Gould (author of How Can You Mend This Purple Heart) reminded me that he'd e-published with Smashwords (how could I forget?!) So I started looking at the Smashwords site and the Amazon site and comparing features. Then it dawned on me: I bet my readers would appreciate a nice handy comparison between the two!
There are a whole lot of things to take into consideration - more than I expected. So I made this handy little chart for you to compare e-publishing through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords. I'm not sure yet whether I want to pursue a print version of my book, but if I do, I'll probably do a similar chart for the print options.
| | Smashwords | Amazon |
| Available publishing formats | Kindle, Sony eReaders, Nook, Kobo, iPad, PDF, RTF, Palm Doc, Plain Text | Kindle |
| Costs for author? | Free | Free |
| Royalty % | 85% of net, 70.5% of affiliate sales, 60% of list price from major ebook retailers | 35% of list price OR the 70% option, available only on sales to customers from the US, Canada, and the UK |
| Transaction or other fees | Transaction fee of approx. $.33 per shopping cart (so if customer buys your book and another author's book, the fee is split between the two books) plus a % fee (not specified) based on total sale price; VAT for sales in the UK | $.15 per megabyte of your ebook file; for sales to the UK, there is a 15% statutory Luxemborg VAT |
| Distribution Venues | Smashwords site; Barnes&Noble, Borders, Apple iPad iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, Diesel eBook store all available upon acceptance into premium catalog; Atom/OPDS catalog which reaches major mobile platforms; Amazon coming soon | Kindle store (on device, PC, and mobile), Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk |
| DRM? (Digital Rights Management) | No DRM | You can choose to include/exclude |
| ISBN? | Required for certain distribution venues, but not for standard catlog. Free ISBN can be assigned (lists Smashwords as publisher, you as author) upon acceptance into premium catalog. $9.95 premium ISBN lists you as publisher | Not required. Your work will be given an Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) automatically upon publishing (ASIN is 10 digits, standard ISBNs are 13 digits) |
| Print option available? | Yes, through affiliate Wordclay | Yes, through Createspace |
What I will probably end up doing is using Amazon's KDP to publish the Kindle version, and Smashwords for other formats. This should ensure maximum royalties on the Kindle version, but maximum exposure with the multiple formats and distribution possibilities of Smashwords.
Have any of you already traveled this path of digital self-publishing, or do you have any opinions/input on either Amazon or Smashwords?
Great comparison, and thanks for the shout-out! I do use both because indeed, this improves the chances of a sale on multiple fronts. Another benefit is that you are simply offering different formats for your readers to use and it gives you multiple avenues to distribute via promotions.
ReplyDeleteKeep it rolling!
I've done both Kindle and Smashwords. I prefer Smashwords only because it targets more eReaders. Although I found the Kindle format easier to use. If you download Mobipocket Creator (free) it will help you format for the Kindle. I am also doing Createspace for my current eBook. The most daunting thing to do is to make the cover look professional. Smashwords will send you a list of formatters and cover designers for you if you want.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kathleen A.
Thanks for stopping by, Andrew and Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteYes, I like the idea of being able to offer more types of files for the various ereaders as well, which is an obvious advantage of Smashwords. Kathleen, I do plan to format my Kindle file with Mobipocket as well. I've heard good things about that.
Would either amazon or smashwords want exclusive ownership in some way, i.e., if you publish try amazon first, would they then own the rights to the digital edition so you can't publish with smashwords, or the other way around?
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel! When you publish with either Smashwords or Amazon, you retain all rights. You can use both sites, or just one. They don't own any rights to your work, so if you were to publish with Amazon first, you could still sign up and publish an edition with Smashwords.
ReplyDeleteWhat you can't do, however, is take the Kindle file generated when you upload to Amazon and upload or sell it elsewhere. Same goes for files generated by the Smashwords meatgrinder. I assume this is to prevent people from simply using them to generate a file, then taking said file and selling themselves for 100% profit.
Thanks J. Lea!
ReplyDeleteHave you thought of including http://BookBaby.com in this comparison. I'm curious how they stand up.
ReplyDeleteMarc
Hi Marc. Thanks for stopping by. I know of BookBaby, though I don't have any experience with them. I know of one person who has used them and is happy. I only compared SW and KDP here because they are both free (though there are paid services available). BookBaby is something you have to pay for.
ReplyDeleteA lot has changed and developed even since I first posted this in March, so I may revisit the topic again soon. Perhaps I'll look into some additional paid epubbing services like BookBaby. I never did selfpub the book I mentioned at the start of this article, for various reasons, but I'm still intrigued by and interested in the process.
Great info and thank you for the comparison. I produced a kindle version in December (2011) and it's gone well. I am working on Smashwords now, however, amongst its publishing options is kindle. Should this be disabled as I already have a kindle edition?
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to disable the Kindle option for file conversion. That way you'll still have a .mobi file on Smashwords available for people who choose to purchase there rather than Amazon. Just make sure you deselect the Amazon option in distribution.
DeleteHi there, I wonder if you can help me. There's a great deal of talk in Australia at the moment that if a writer goes with KDP, for the 3 months they sign up for, they can't sell their book on any other site, even including their own website. would you mind clarifying that for me?
ReplyDeleteHi Danielle. What you're hearing about is the Kindle Prime lending program, which is something separate you can opt-in to when you publish through KDP. If you opt in, there is a 90-day exclusivity clause where you cannot sell your book anywhere else during that period. Simply publishing with KDP doesn't place you under any exclusivity.
DeleteSmashwords provides you with an ISBN number (either free or, as you note, for $9.95 for Premium services). My question is this: Are you permitted to use the Smashwords ISBN for your Amazon e-book?
ReplyDeleteWell, you don't NEED an ISBN to publish on KDP. But to answer your question, the short answer is no, you can't use the ISBN provided by Smashwords on your Kindle ebook. The reasons are a little more on the complicated side and would make for quite a long comment, so I think I'll do a separate post explaining it all. I'll comment back here when it's up. :-)
DeleteIf you haven't seen it yet, here's my post explaining why you shouldn't use the Smashwords ISBN elsewhere: http://jlealopez.blogspot.com/2012/02/can-i-use-isbn-provided-by-smashwords.html
DeleteWhat if it's the other way around? I have the ISBN from CreateSpace. Can I use that for Smashwords?
DeleteIf you have the ISBN from CS, that has been assigned to your print book, so you can't use that for your ebook on SW.
DeleteGlad to have found you and your blog. I just published my first book to Smashwords yesterday and am looking at KDP right now (in terms of whether the formatting is different). I like your comparison chart. Nice to meet you!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found me, Susan! If you've formatted your Word document according to the Smashwords style guide, you should have no problem with KDP.
DeleteThank you SO MUCH for this! This really clarifies a lot for me as a first time author. Once again, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just have one additional question for you and all others who have already published eBooks on both SW and KDP. Which outlet (SW or KDP) do you sell more? and by how much?
Thanking you all very much in advance. :)
This I think has a lot to do with MANY factors. Marketing, genre, the quality of the book itself. There will be people who'll say KDP (and especially the new Select program) is a godsend, others who won't touch it with a ten-foot pole and see lots of royalties from other places.
DeleteAmazon has a big chunk of the market, obviously. Lots of people buy there. Especially as a self-published author, being on Amazon can put you in front of a lot of potential customers. Depending on the genre, you may have other popular websites to take advantage of (like All Romance eBooks, to name one) that can give your Amazon numbers a run for their money. Literally ;-)
If you promote well, and you only ever give an Amazon link, you might see skewed results. If you make sure customers know they can buy your book in various locations, they'll choose the most convenient one for them.
I'm personally of the mindset that more outlets selling your work just plain makes sense. If you're thinking about joining the Select program on Amazon with a NEW book, you'll have to think about whether you'll lose readers anticipating this release but don't/won't buy from Amazon. Will they wait around 90 days for you to be able to sell in other outlets? It's your gamble. If you're thinking about the Select program for a book you already have for sale in various locations, you need to look at your royalties from all areas and decide if giving those up for 3 months is worth the potential (because it's only potential, not guaranteed) benefits of the Select program.
i travelled this path without any awareness of this blog and comments and ideas herein...and as i stumbled this blog right now, you guys have bought me a whole lot of confidence and encouragement. I really appreaciate you all.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck Everyone....Will see your names on the bestseller list this year.
Best of luck to you!
DeleteGlad to have found this forum. I am currently published with Amazon and am considering the Smashwords site too. My only area of uncertainty has to do with pricing. With Amazon/Kindle there is a price guarantee in effect whereby Amazon meets any other price out there. Does this mean the books would have to be priced the same at each site or does the royalty rate paid somehow factor into this?
ReplyDeleteYou are free to set the price to whatever you want when you upload to Smashwords, but as you noted, Amazon will match any lower price. It really just makes sense to price the same across the board. Smashwords can be an effective tool in getting Amazon to list one of your titles for free, also, if you're going for that. I know several people who used Smashwords, set the price to free, and had Smashwords to distribute to Barnes & Noble. Then when the Amazon bots crawled B&N and found the book for free there, they price-matched.
DeleteOkay, thank you. What has your experience been as a comparison? How do Smashwords sales compare to Amazon? I am currently enrolled on the lending program so am exclusive for a 3 month period. Do you think it's worthwhile trading off that for Smashwords? My results on the lending end have been fairly minimal - about 10% of regular sales.
DeleteThanks for a helpful post! Just getting started so I appreciate the clarification, and love your blog!
ReplyDeleteYour post was very informative! I found you at the perfect time. I am planning on self-publishing my book of must see places in Alabama and was torn between these two publishers. You, as well as your followers, have help me make my decision. I am working on my marketing plan, while writing my book. What are your suggestions on self-promoting and marketing?
ReplyDeleteWell, I suspect they would be very different for fiction (which is what I write) and non-fiction. Social media like twitter and facebook are good for networking and building a platform. Since your book has to do with local(ish) attractions, it would make perfect sense to attend activities and visit places where you'd likely encounter people traveling who'd be interested in a book like yours.
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