Smashwords 2022 Year in Review and 2023 Preview - Smashwords Blog

Today, Panzer made a trip over to the Smashwords Blog. There our intrepid kitty traveler found a new post about Smashwords' past and the company's future.

It's like losing a friend.

In the post Mark Coker explains the steps Draft2Digital (D2D) has accomplished in the takeover of Smashwords since the March 2022 purchase of Smashwords. He also explains the steps which remain to be finished in 2023. Once the takeover is complete Smashwords will no longer be an ebook publisher, but, instead, a bookstore.

Panzer says, "This little kitty will be sorry to see Smashwords publishing gone."

This is a long post. Bring a cup of cocoa and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to 2022 Year in Review and 2023 Preview

Draft2Digital Authors Can Now Distribute to the Smashwords ... - Smashwords Blog

Today, Panzer stopped in at the Smashwords site. There our adventuresome kitty traveler found a post by Mark Coker about Draft2Digital authors.

 

Not what this little kitty expected.

If you've been visiting here for a while, you know we've used Smashwords for our ebook distribution to all the ebook retailers except Amazon. You also know Smashwords has now joined Draft2Digital (D2D). It's no surprise then to learn that the authors and publishers at D2D will use Smashwords' ebook store since D2D doesn't have a store. The post includes a link to a post at D2D about Smashwords.

 

Panzer says, "You need to read both posts to see what the plan is for Smashwords in the future."  

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Draft2Digital and Smashwords

2022 Publishing Predictions by Agent Laurie Mclean - Anne R. Allen ... with Ruth Harris Blog

Today, Panzer made a trip to the Anne R. Allen ... with Ruth Harris Blog. With a little digging in the posts there he found one about publishing predictions for 2022 from an agent's perspective. Panzer had a post on Wednesday about publishing predictions from Smashwords founder  Mark Coker's perspective.

 

That Covid thingy again?

The guest post by Agent Laurie Mclean, about publishing predictions for 2022 is separated into twelve sections. Some of Agent Mclean's predictions, self publishing increases, ebook sales increases and audio book sales increases, are in agreement Mark Coker's predictions. The other nine predictions she makes are specific to traditional publishing and not part of the indie publishing realm. The predictions are extensions of how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted publishing in general.

 

Panzer says, "This little kitty loves predictions. I predict there's a nap in my future."

 

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of cocoa and three chocolate chip cookies for today's reading selection.

 

To read the post tootle over to Laurie Mclean publishing predictions

To read the Mark Coker post tootle over to Mark Coker publishing predictions

2022 Publishing Predictions - Indies Take Center Stage – Smashwords Blog

Panzer took a trip to the Smashwords Blog today. There he found a post by Mark Coker about publishing for the coming year.

 

Google narrated audio books?

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, is out with his annual publishing predictions. After the introduction the post is divided into two sections. The first is The State of the Indie Nation. In this section he addresses the Covid-19 pandemic, it's effect on humanity and how indie authors have helped and can continue to help humanity. The second section is Mark Coker's 2022 Publishing Predictions. This section is divided into twelve subsections.These cover the public's book reading habits, online buying habits, print on demand acceptance, audio books, and eight more predictions. There are some links to illustrate his predictions included in the post.

 

Panzer says, "This is a really interesting post."

 

Note: This is a humongous post. Bring a thermos of tea, four muffins and three chocolate chip cookies for today's trip into the future.

 

To read the post tootle over to   2022 Publishing Predictions

2021 Publishing Predictions – Pandemic Reshapes Publishing, Accelerates Consolidation - Smashwords

Panzer was sweeping the floor in the Panzermobile when he found a wadded up post under the pilot's seat. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty found it was a post from the Smashwords site about Mark Coker's publishing predictions for the coming year.

 

I agree with most of them.

In his annual publishing predictions post Smashwords founder Mark Coker has thirteen predictions for the 2021 publishing industry. These predictions cover everything from "nesting" and reading (Number 1) to the joy of reading (Number 13).

 

Panzer says, "Most years his predictions turn out to be true."

 

Note: This is a h-u-m-u-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea, six muffins, two brownies and three chocolate chip cookies.

 

To read the post tootle over to 2021 Publishing Predictions

Smashwords Author Day, Spring 2020 Now Online - Smashwords Blog

Today Panzer made a trip to the Smashwords Blog site. Smashwords is an ebook distributor. Our kitty author uses Smashwords to distribute his ebooks to Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other ebook retailers. With no digging in the posts at Smashwords Panzer found one about the Smashwords Author Day.

There's a lot to think about in there.

According to the post by Smashwords founder Mark Coker, there was a Smashwords Author Day on April 18. Smashwords Marketing Director Jim Azevedo did a five and a half hour workshop for authors on that day. The videos of the entire workshop are posted on the blog site. There are also links to watch it on YouTube or the Smashwords Author Day page at the Smashwords site. All three viewing sites offer the option to watch the entire workshop in a five and one half hour video titled "Introduction" or to watch each workshop session in an approximately one hour+ separate video. The videos cover trends in indie publishing, marketing, ebook launches and more.

Panzer says, "This little kitty watched the individual workshop videos, not the great big long one."

Note: This is a long, long, long video series. You might want to watch each individual session, so you can take a break in between and have a cup of tea and a muffin after each one.

To watch the workshop, tootle over to Smashwords Author Day:

Post-Pandemic Publishing for Indie Authors - Smashwords

I'm really tired of this virus. Are you?

Panzer decided to make a stop at the Smashwords site today.  Our illustrious kitty boy uses Smashwords distribution for his ebooks so he likes to check the blog there to see what's happening. With hardly any digging at all he found a post about the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on indie ebook authors.

Mark Coker's blog post is divided into eight sections. The first sections of the post delve into the world health and economic and financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The next sections deal with how these will impact the indie author environment. The final section of the post is the "Indie Author Action Plan" and contains steps for authors to follow to maintain their long-term career goals.

Panzer says, "This is an interesting post."

Note: This is a humongous post. Bring a thermos of your favorite beverage and six muffins and six chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate fudge for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Indie Authors

2020 Publishing Predictions: House of Indie on Fire - Smashwords Blog

Today Panzer decided to make a quick trip to the Smashwords Blog site. Every year Smashwords founder Mark Coker begins the new year with a blog post of his publishing predictions for the coming year.

It's a new year. Are you ready?

This year's predictions for 2020 post by Mark Coker begins with a look back at what's been happening with indie authors in 2019. According to the post, a lot of indie authors saw their ebook sales and therefore their royalties decrease. Some authors income has even plummeted so low they have given up writing. The second section of the post details the predictions. These include government sanctions against Amazon, audio book sales, author mailing lists, and ebook pre-orders.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... The beginning of the predictions post doesn't look very good for indie authors."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a quart of tea and six muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to  2020 Predictions:

2019 Book Industry Predictions: The Butterflies Will Flap Their Wings - Smashwords Blog

Today as Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere he decided to make a stop at the Smashwords Blog. With no digging at all our traveling kitty found a post about Mark Coker's book publishing predictions for 2019.

He says Amazon is really bad for authors.

Smashwords founder Mark Coker begins the post with information about indie authors, the glut of ebooks on the market and Amazon's author business practices. Most of the information about Amazon concerns the company's perceived exploitation of indie authors and their ebooks. The section makes up approximately half the post. This is followed by a section of Mark Coker's annual predictions for ebook publishing in 2019. There are nine divisions in this section beginning with the need for authors to join the audio book market and ending with the effect of a possible recession on the sale of indie ebooks.

Panzer says, "There's a lot of interesting information in the predictions."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea and a thermos of cocoa and two dozen muffins and a dozen chocolate chip cookies (biscuits). Be sure to bring a sleeping bag for a nap in the middle of today's reading selection. 

To read the post tootle over to  Smashwords 2019 Book Industry Predictions:

Smashwords Unveils New Book Discovery Interface - Smashwords

Panzer was cleaning out the Panzermobile when he found something wadded up under the pilot's seat. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty boy discovered it was a post from the Smashwords blog.

According to Smashwords founder Mark Corker, Smashwords has a new feature called the New Book Discovery Interface. The company has added "book shelves" to the Smashwords Bookstore. There are nine different themes for the shelves, including Featured New Releases, Trending Now, Bestselling Books and six more. The post begins with the news Smashwords has published 500,000 ebooks. While ebook sales at other ebook retailers are down, Smashwords sales are up. The company decided it was time to make it easier for readers to find the ebooks they wanted faster and the New Book Discovery Interface was born.

Time to get back to cleaning.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... We've been looking for a place to put one of the stories from Cats and Crime up for free. Maybe it's time to put the story up at Smashwords for free."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea and six muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Smashwords

Smashwords Enters Audiobook Market with Findaway Voices - Smashwords

Panzer was shaken from his morning nap by loud noises coming from the Catosphere. Our intrepid kitty jumped in the Panzermobile to see what was going on. Once he got into the Catosphere the cheering and clapping nearly deafened him. Following all the excitement took our poor kitty boy to theSmashwords Blog. There he found a post about Smashwords entry into the audiobook market.

According to the post by Smashwords founder Mark Coker, Smashwords has signed a partnership agreement with Findaway Voices. Smashwords authors are now able to use Findaway to produce and globally distribute audiobooks of their ebooks. The post says Findaway narrators charge between $150.00 to $400.00 per hour to produce the finished audiobook. It also says, if you have a professional audiobook already finished, you can upload it to Findaway for distribution. Findaway distributes to 20 sites globally including Audible.

I see an audiobook in my future.

Panzer says, "This little kitty thinks he needs to get and account with Findaway for production and distribution of Cats and Crime."

Note: This is a longish post with several links. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links in the post, bring a thermos of tea and six muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Smashwords Enters Audiobook Market with Findaway Voices:

Smashwords 2017 Year in Review and 2018 Preview - Smashwords Blog

I am so tired.

Our poor little kitty boy just can't seem to get a nap today. He was just dropping off to sleep when cheering and clapping noises jarred him out of his kitty bed. Dragging himself to the Panzermobile, he followed all the noise to the Smashwords site. Digging around in the blog posts he discovered a post about Smashwords' indie author sales in 2017.

According to Smashwords founder Mark Coker, Smashwords sales were up in 2017 even as the rest of the book market saw a slowdown. A few of the other topics covered in the post are Smashwords' new Special Deal and Global Pricing features and the Smart Author Podcast. There is a lot more 2017 information included, plus a look ahead to new projects planned for 2018.

Panzer says, "Some of those new projects for 2018 look interesting."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring two thermoses of tea and a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Smashwords 2017 Year in Review and 2018 Preview:

Smashwords End of Year Sale Starts December 25

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the Smashwords blog. Our very good kitty boy got a new Kindle PaperWhite for Christmas. He needs some new ebooks for it and found where to get them at the Smashwords blog.

I need a nap after all those books.

According to Mark Coker's blog post, Smashwords is having an end of the year sale. A large number of Smashwords authors are discounting their ebook prices from 25 percent to 100 percent (free) off. The sale runs from December 25 - January 1. At the Smashwords site on the left side there is a link to go to the ebooks included in the year end sale.

Panzer says, "Time to fill up my new ereader."

Note: The Smashwords site is h-u-g-e. Bring three thermos of tea, two dozen muffins and a sleeping bag for a nap during your search.

To visit the Smashwords' sale site, tootle over to Smashwords End of Year Sale

Introducing the Smart Author Podcast - Smashwords

Today's trip in the Catosphere took Panzer to the Smashwords blog site. There our intrepid traveling kitty found a post about Smashwords new podcast.

Finally ... Nap time.

According to the post by Smashwords founder Mark Coker, the ebook distributor is introducing a new podcast called the Smart Author. The podcast will launch on October 27 with four episodes. After the launch it will become a one episode a week podcast. The post includes a schedule with episode titles and signup information.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Four episodes all at once. That's two and a half hours. This little kitty better make sure he doesn't make any plans for October 27."

Note: This is a long post. Bring half a thermos of tea and three muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: Introducing the Smart Author Podcast

Draft2Digital is Adding Kobo Plus as a Distribution Option, But Not Smashwords - The Digital Reader

Today, Panzer's quiet trip in the Catosphere was interrupted by clapping and shouting. Following all the noise took our intrepid kitty explorer to The Digital Reader site. There he found a post about Kobo Plus. Panzer told you about Kobo's new subscription service yesterday.

According to the post by The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, Draft2Digital (D2D) has a new distribution agreement with Kobo Plus. D2D's authors' Dutch language ebooks will be distributed to Kobo Plus. Until this agreement between D2D and Kobo Plus books were required to be published via Kobo Writing Life. D2D is an ebook distribution service similar to Smashwords. The Digital Reader post states Smashwords' Mark Coker said they will not be extending distribution to Kobo Plus.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Maybe I should find a translator and use Draft2Digital."

Indie publishing is always changing.

Note: This is a shortish-medium post. Bring a cup of tea and half a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Draft2Digital

To read Panzer's post about Kobo Plus, tootle over to Kobo subscription service

Smashwords to Supply Nearly 300,000 Titles to Bibliotheca cloudLibrary - Smashwords

Panzer was shaken from his afternoon nap by cheering and clapping. Jumping into the Panzermobile our sleepy kitty followed all the noise to the Smashwords site. There he found an announcement about Bibliotheca.

Libraries are good for readers.

According to the post by Mark Coker, Smashwords announced an agreement with Bibliotheca to distribute ebooks to the 3,000 libraries in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia that use Bibliotheca's cloudLibrary service. Mr. Coker points out that because of the large volume of Smashwords ebooks to be uploaded to the cloudLibrary system, it will be several weeks before all ebooks will be available. To use the service a patron to log into the library through the service and "checks out" their ebook. The ebook then resides on the patron's computer, tablet or device for a specified amount of time and is then "checked back into the library."

Panzer says, "There are several links in the post, including one to download the app."

Note: This is a shortish-long post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin to read the original post and, if you plan to follow the links, bring an extra cup of tea for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to  Smashwords:

2017 Book Industry Predictions: Intrigue and Angst amid Boundless Opportunity - Smashwords

Panzer was shaken from his nap by loud noises coming from the Catosphere. Stumbling to the Panzermobile, our sleepy kitty followed all the crying and yowling to the Smashwords blog site. There he found Mark Coker's predictions for indie publishing for the coming year.

Back to my nap.

Mark Coker's post begins with a 10 year retrospective of indie publishing. This is followed by Mr. Coker's 10 predictions for indie publishing in 2017. The predictions range from indie authors developing a greater market share, an even bigger growth of the glut of ebooks in the market, and an Amazon anti-trust investigation. The final section is a wrap-up of the other two. A lot of the post is an indictment of Amazon's business practices and Kindle Unlimited and Select.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Most of the predictions don't paint a very good picture for indie authors. ... But ... Cats never pay any attention to what our humans say anyway."

Note: This is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g post. Bring a thermos of tea and a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: 2017 Book Industry Predictions: Intrigue and Angs...

Smashwords Coupons Enhanced to Enable More Flexible Book Promotions - Smashwords Blog

Panzer stopped in at the Smashwords site today. With only a little digging, our traveling kitty discovered a post about new coupons generated by Smashwords' Coupon Manager.

Planning a Christmas sales campaign?

According to the post by Smashwords' founder Mark Coker, Smashwords has added metered coupons to the Coupon Manager feature for authors (and publishers). The metered coupons allow an author (or publisher) to designate a specific number of coupons available to readers. Previously added to the Coupon Manager was the ability to place a descriptive label on each coupon. This allows for tracking the use of specific coupons during a campaign.

Panzer says, "These labelled coupons make tracking the success of a promotional sales campaign easy."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords Coupons:

2016 Smashwords Survey Reveals Insights - Smashwords

 Panzer had barely made it into  the Catosphere when he heard clapping and laughing. Following all the raucous noise, our kitty boy found himself at the Smashwords blog. It didn't take any digging at all to find the post that made everyone so happy.

In the post Smashwords founder Mark Coker discussed the results of the annual Smashwords survey. The survey showed that once again romance fiction is the top seller, boxed sets are also big sellers, and pre-orders are a major driver for bestsellers. Several other findings from the survey are also discussed.

 Also included in the post was Mr. Coker's slide show presentation of the survey results at the April 14 RT Booklovers Convention which is included below. If you would rather read the post, the link is after the slide show.

Here's the slide show:

2016 Smashwords Survey - How to sell more books from Smashwords, Inc.

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post. You'll need a cup of tea and two muffins for your reading today.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: 2016 Smashwords Survey Reveals Insight into the Ha...:

Smashwords: A Call to End the Cuban Book Embargo

Leave me out of it. I have no opinion.

Today Panzer made a stop at the Smashwords Blog. Our intrepid traveling kitty found a post there about U.S. and Cuban relations and what some consider the continuation of an unfair embargo on "books."

According to the post by Smashwords founder Mark Coker, he and others in the publishing industry have started a petition asking the U.S. government to lift the Cuban embargo. The post lists several of the publishing industry supporters of the move which writers will be familiar with including Publishers Weekly, Smashwords, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Simon and Schuster and several others. The post includes a link to the petition.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty doesn't get mixed up in politics. Today's post is for humans who do."

Note: This is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g post. You'll need a thermos of tea and a dozen muffins.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: A Call to End the Cuban Book Embargo