Lesson 25

Writing Class 101 by Rick Kurtis
 Lesson 25
Smashword’s plug.
Are you back again? Thank you for your time. I have really enjoyed sharing these classes with you, and hopefully you are at least getting something from them.
I have found it. Some of you may already know, but I finally took that self-formatting step. Smashwords.com placed an ad, so I thought I would see what it entailed. How much would I have to pay? Where would my book end up? What would be the benefits?

My mouth dropped. Actually someone who was like us, rejected, and followed through with his dream. Not only that, he went one step further, and started Smashwords, all set up free to help other authors with their e-books. One simple format that can smash into any device, including Kindle. He explains it so perfectly, and if you still need help, he has Videos to actually show you.
I never knew that the word program had so many right click hidden icons to change so much. With his program, he says your book will hit more sites and markets all around the globe. When they are set up, you can change prices for special sales. He is also connected to 20,000 libraries for e-books, and fourteen countries.
On Amazon, my book ranks at 5 to 6,000,000 in a pile of 7 million books. It is shared with the United States, Canada, and may be the UK. If exclusive to Amazon, 12 other foreign countries. Through my vanity pubs I reach three or four European computer sites.
With Smashwords I would move up in the ranks to 550,000, even if I am on the bottom of the pile. His listings, besides the libraries are connected with fourteen other countries. Now that’s progress.
So, check it out. It’s open to all, and he will even give you an ISBN. I am still working on setting things up and getting my covers made for my books, but I am well on my way. The only problem is he doesn’t do paperback books. Amazon also wants your business, but they also want you to be exclusive. We shall see. Buried in a 7 million book pile, I haven’t seen any sales yet in over four years with four books. They say the average author sells 250 books their first year. I don’t even think I am on the average list.
Smashwords has only 550,000 books on their site and is growing. It’s only been around for like two years. This is a lot better ranking with more site sales opportunities, and connected to 20,000 libraries, which can only grow from there. Thank you, Dale L. Roberts. You are a man with great integrity and compassion.
Dale has over 400 videos on You Tube that explain and help us authors. He is my go to guy. This man has a heart of gold.
I will fill you guys in as I progress and I will let you know how things are going. So go out there and have fun this week until we meet again. I’ll have plenty more, and soon will move into helping with computer techniques, maybe. Until then,
 
Happy Writing from rickkurtisbooks.com
 
UPDATE:
 I did not go with Smashword and chose Amazon instead, because they do both paperback and e-books. After all the prep that I learned from Dale’s videos it was pretty much the same as amazon. They also give a generic cover template and a free ISBN. Who am I, nobody, and now both paperback and e-books are out there in up to fourteen countries. I don’t know about libraries, but amazon is the BIGGEST book retailer with over 4.7 billion paperbacks sold each year, along with 1.4 billion e-books. Go big or go home they say. I just want my books read and seen. Who could ask for more?