smashwords

How to self-publish an ebook

A while back I wrote a column titled " Self-publishing: 25 things you need to know," which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. After folks asked me to do something similar for e-books, I created this article, which has now been updated a few times.

I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving, and a lot of self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It's all quite complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I've decided to offer a few basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an e-book quickly and easily. As things change -- and they will -- I'll do my best to keep this column up to date. … Read more

Indie book publishers call Amazon, not Apple, a 'predator'

A growing number of independent book publishers say that by tying the hands of Apple and the major publishers, the United States will enable Amazon to mow down competition in a price war.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit last week accusing Apple and the country's five major book publishers of colluding to raise prices that consumers pay for electronic books (e-books). Three of the five publishers have already settled, largely by agreeing not to prevent retailers from discounting titles. But the DOJ got it wrong, say the indies. According to them, Amazon, not Apple is … Read more

PayPal reverses its ban on 'obscene' e-books

After vocal outrage from authors, e-publishers, and free speech activists, PayPal has shifted its "acceptable use" policy on e-books containing certain erotica content. The online payment company announced today that mostly books with images will be under scrutiny.

"First and foremost, we are going to focus this policy only on e-books that contain potentially illegal images, not e-books that are limited to just text," PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayar said in a statement today. "The policy will prohibit use of PayPal for the sale of e-books that contain child pornography, or e-books with text and obscene … Read more

PayPal demands 'obscene' e-books be pulled

Mark Coker, the founder of e-book publisher Smashwords, got an alarming e-mail from PayPal's enforcement division last month. It was an ultimatum telling the company to pull certain books with "obscene" content from its inventory, Coker said in a blog post.

"Their hot buttons are bestiality, rape-for-titillation, incest, and underage erotica," he wrote. "PayPal gave us only a few days to achieve compliance otherwise they threatened to deactivate our PayPal services."

Smashwords isn't the only e-book publisher targeted by PayPal, according to the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), similar emails were also … Read more

B&N's PubIt self-publishing platform goes live

Back in May, Barnes & Noble announced that it would be launching a self-publishing platform, and now its PubIt service has officially gone live. The new DIY publishing option allows independent publishers and self-publishing writers to distribute their works digitally through BN.com and Barnes & Noble's eBookstore.

The new service will compete with Amazon's pioneering Digital Text Platform (DTP), which many writers have turned to for distributing their works to the Kindle and other devices that run the Kindle Reader software. Sony, too, has a DYI option for its Reader Store, and Apple is now allowing self-publishers … Read more